Clark's nutcrackers and white bark pines share a mutualistic relationship where the birds cache white bark pine seeds in the ground, and approximately 99% of white bark pines grow from these forgotten caches; however, this ancient tree species is now threatened by white bark pine blister rust, an invasive fungus that has infected over 85% of white bark pines, prompting conservation efforts to protect both the trees and their essential seed disperser.
Install our extension to search inside any video instantly.
Yellowstone's Smartest Bird That Saves Forests | Dennis Quaid: Saving YellowstoneAdded:
Yellowstone.
There's no name more iconic in America's natural world.
It captivates and inspires us.
It's a massive ecosystem that includes these very mountains and this gorgeous valley.
It's a beautiful place my family was lucky enough to call home.
This was the best playground a kid or big kid like me could have asked for.
Well, my kids aren't young anymore.
Time truly changes everything. Even a place like this.
one that looks like a time capsule, but it faces constant threats that could forever change what makes it special.
Today, a group of citizens and scientists like wildlife biologist Doug Smith, business leaders, and outdoor enthusiasts like me, we're working to preserve this priceless natural resource.
And we're finding solutions for a 21st century Yellowstone.
So where do you start?
Right up at the top.
In a place where few humans ever tread a bird is saving the ecosystem, one tree at a time.
It's a pristine wilderness of mountains, forest, and rivers.
Here, geologic wonders create an impossible pallet of color and texture.
The Yellowstone ecosystem returns us to a time before cities and towns.
Before the spread of humanity, when the laws of nature ruled over this country today, this extraordinary world sprawls across millions of acres and three states.
But its grandeur can't protect it from every danger.
This landscape relies on teams of people fighting every day, using cuttingedge science to save our last frontiers.
rising over Granite Peak, the highest point in the Beartooth Mountains.
The morning sun signals the start of a new day and a new season.
Spring has arrived, though the snowpack will hang on a bit longer at this altitude.
It may seem like a gentle restart to the cycle of life, but for the grizzly bear, it's anything but.
He hasn't eaten in 5 months. He's lost 30% of his body weight and he is ravidous.
His nose, 2,000 times more sensitive than a humans, is telling him that a meal may be close.
The smell is coming from a nearby pool.
Perhaps the carcass of a bison or elk has been freed from the melting ice.
The question is, can he get his prize without getting too wet?
He'll need to stretch just a little further.
Well, so much for staying dry.
Looks like this opportunity wasn't worth the effort after all.
With their impact felt across many habitats, grizzly bears are more than just common predators.
They are a measure of this great wilderness itself.
Yellowstone is not simply a park.
Comprised of over 22 million acres, it is the largest nearly intact temperate zone ecosystem on the planet.
Within its boundaries, two national parks, six national forest, three national wildlife refuges, and millions of acres of public and private land.
The original boundaries of the national park were established in 1872.
They were organized around the landscape's iconic thermal waters.
But scientists have long known that the value of this ecosystem goes well beyond its geology.
In the 1970s, they began mapping the territory of Yellowstone's resident grizzly bears.
And with that information, redrrew the boundaries of the Yellowstone ecosystem.
This patchwork of habitats covers some 34,000 square miles, over 70% government protected, and it's still evolving.
The ecosystem holds 11 different mountain ranges.
They range from over 9,000 to 13,000 ft in elevation.
Their snow cap peaks provide water for the region and recreational areas for skiing, hiking, and repelling.
The alpine tundra may seem barren, but it's not.
Lodgepole pine, subalpine fur, and kickan sew in fertile pockets.
Change is a part of everyday life for the plants and animals that call this ecosystem home.
Even on the edge of a sheer cliff face, big horn sheep spend most of the year above 7,000 ft.
Isolated and treacherous to human eyes, it is the ideal habitat for the big horn.
Now that winter is broken, they begin to journey even further up the mountain.
It's a journey these sheep are perfectly equipped to make. Their hooves have hard edges which they use to punch through packed dirt or ice or to take advantage of the tiniest toe hold on this mountain side.
The center of their hooves is soft and spongy, allowing them to grip stony surfaces.
These custom climbing shoes allow them to reach the willows and evergreens they like to eat or to take shelter under a lone white bark pine.
Even at the highest altitude, this ecosystem flourishes.
Yellowstone's collage of overlapping habitats team with life.
And with spring now arrived, plants and animals are in their full glory.
Blooming loopin provides a fresh meal for the big horn. Grizzlies have made their way down to lower elevations to feed where mountain juniper berries grow year round.
While chipmunks scan the forest for nuts, seeds, or insects, a martin is on the lookout for small prey.
Tree trimming deer welcome the lush greenery around them as ravens patrol the landscape from above.
Further up on the mountain, the female Clark's Nutcracker takes the stage.
Clark's Nutcrackers are large social birds, and they are the unsung heroes of this habitat.
While she may nest in pines, furs, or other trees, she does have a favorite, the white bark pine.
Like the other creatures around her, she's taking advantage of the mild weather to stock her pantry and feed her young.
Fortunately, she has positioned her nest close to her favorite food source.
Perched on a white bark's branch, she surgically removes the seeds tucked in the center of one of its pine cones.
She's not eating the seeds, however.
Instead, she stores them in a pouch beneath her tongue.
These seeds are larger than other pine seeds, but she has plenty of storage space.
She goes in for another and another. Her pouch won't be full until she's pinched off 50, 100, maybe 150 white bark seeds.
and there is some urgency to her task.
These seeds are well known to many of Yellowstone's other creatures, including grizzly bears.
Some of these will be for her nestling, but most will be set aside for the coming winter.
She finds a secure spot on the forest floor and starts digging.
Nutcrackers stay in Yellowstone year round and during the winter months, she will rely on cashes like these.
That Clark's Nutcracker is an overachiever.
Just in case, she will create multiple caches, storing tens of thousands of seeds in total.
Like their cousins, ravens and crows, Clark's nutcrackers are remarkably intelligent.
Studies have shown that they will remember the precise locations of their countless seed caches up to 9 months later.
This pair, the nutcracker and the white bark pine need each other.
99% of white barks grow out of forgotten seeds and those trees in return feed the nutcracker.
Scientists call this mutualism.
Both species are rewarded by the other's success.
For this seed snacker, the day's work is finally done, and she can now deliver that hard-earned meal to her young.
One day, they'll appreciate what it takes to have a meal like this delivered to their nest.
Doug Smith has spent the majority of his professional career in Montana.
I had already studied wolves for about 15 years and I've been here for roughly the last 30.
My life here kind of morphed into more than just wolves, though. I worked with elk. I worked with birds. I've really tried my best to learn the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
Doug worked as a senior wildlife biologist in Yellowstone National Park for 28 years.
He supervised various programs, but is most known for the successful wolf reintroduction into the Yellowstone ecosystem.
Doug is now the chief biologist for the Jackson Fork Ranch and oversees a variety of conservation projects.
Today, his work takes him up the mountain to check on the health of the high elevation habitats.
A key element to think about is how can the high country be connected to the low country where you and I live and we rarely get up there.
It's by a tree called the white bark pine which is part of our lives low but connected to the life high up. And that's an odd thought at how a tree can be the connector to do that. Here, high above the Lamar River in northern Wyoming, life looks a bit different than it does down below.
The white bark pine grows in some of the planet's harshest terrain.
It may not share the towering majestic appearance of its more familiar neighbor, the lodge pole pine, but its unique look gives us some clues about its ability to survive.
Like the big horn's hooves, the white bark's form is made for these rugged mountains.
Its branches spread outward, not upward, creating a broader, sturdier canopy than a lodge poles or an aspens.
It's a stately tree growing high. It can take on any form, tall and straight or battered and torn by the wind. It's slow growing. It can live centuries, maybe even a thousand years. So, it's out of sight and out of mind.
Throughout their lives, white barks provide shelter beneath their branches for animals like big horn sheep and for snow.
As temperatures rise, the shaded snow lingers beyond what it would have out in the open.
By preserving the snowpack, the white bark allows melt water to flow through the spring and into the summer months.
This is crucial for the survival of life that depends on this mountain water like bison, wolves, elk, moose, and beaver.
Everything out here is kind of in a struggle to survive. White bark pine is no exception. Their struggles recently have increased. Their populations have declined. They face multiple threats.
Bark beetles, a long-term threat, has gotten worse because of climate change.
Fire regimes have changed due to climate change, but now they face a new threat.
White bark pine blister rust.
Blister rust is an invasive fungus that is native to Asia where local trees have built up a resistance to it.
It arrived on this continent in the early 20th century.
The fungus enters the tree through its pine needles or anywhere its surface has been broken.
It then seeps inward to the treere's core and before long telltale blisters appear on the tree's surface.
And when they burst, clouds of spores are released into the environment.
Once infected by blister rust, white bark's seed production begins to decline.
It may take years for the fungus to kill the tree, but the impact on the environment is felt immediately.
In the place of nutcrackers, the trees may soon find opportunistic pine beetles attacking their branches, a fate that few can survive.
In all, scientists estimate that more than 85% of white bark pines have been infected with blister rust.
This ancient essential tree is in trouble.
Oh boy.
I remember this stand a couple decades ago. So, I was here and all these trees were alive and now everything's dead.
Probably dead because of looks like to me from a combination of things.
This is eerie to see these century old trees like that.
It's devastated.
People call this a ghost forest.
And it feels that way to me.
All these standing dead skeletons everywhere.
But I do see signs of hope here.
These three saplings are the result of a nutcracker cache.
This is really cool. It's exactly what nutcrackers do. They take the seeds, they bury them in the ground, thousands of them, and they recover well over 90 95% of them, but they don't get them all. And this is how white bark get reestablished.
For a nutcracker to play its role, it needs healthy trees.
And for the white barks to regain their health, they are going to need some help from scientists.
A stand of fungus resistant trees is an important discovery.
through here. We're looking at these trees to climb in because they're determined to be genetically superior and resistant to blister rust.
>> These trees play a central role in their plan to bring the white bark back.
>> This is a very healthy stand of white barks. So, these are the cones we're going to be caging in today later on to be collected.
The scientist's plan features two important steps. The first is to gather cones from resistant trees.
>> Climbing trees is awkward.
>> The cones will be brought to a tree nursery where their seeds will be extracted, planted, and nurtured until they become viable seedlings.
>> You ready for cages?
>> Ready.
>> Ready. For the second step in their plan, they need to protect the remaining good cones still on the trees. Small metal cages will keep Clark's nutcrackers and other animals from stripping the seeds from the few healthy trees that remain. Two more.
>> Each white bark pine cone can hold up to 50 seeds.
A single tree could spawn an entire pine grove.
These cones after they're collected will be shipped to the Cordelane nursery in Idaho and they'll be sorted through and eventually used to grow seedlings in the nursery and then brought back out here later on when they're big enough to be planted so that we can bolster the white bark population.
The future of the white birds.
>> Scientists know they need to protect the white bark, but they also need to support the treere's hero, the Clark's Nutcracker.
When we were here last time, they preferred going into the traps because we had the chunks of sew it.
>> Diana Tombach is one of the foremost researchers of the Clark's Nutcracker.
She studied them for most of her career.
>> No free lunch.
>> But they don't make it easy for her.
Nutcrackers have probably the most developed spatial memory capacity of any bird and I hesitate to say maybe any animal.
So, let's start off by saying nutcrackers are very difficult to catch.
Okay, got it.
There is a sweet spot in the timing and the conditions to be able to catch them.
You have to have enough snow pack remaining on the ground that they are taking an easier route than digging up cashaches. To date, we have trapped and tagged 11 nutcrackers. It may not sound like a lot, but that represents several years of work.
She's here tracking the movements of the Clark's Nutcracker. The goal, identify population numbers so scientists can identify robust habitats for both the bird and the white bark pine.
>> White bark pine occurs entirely within the range of Clark's nutcracker. It depends on nutcrackers. They're the primary seed dispersal agent.
An individual Clark's nutcracker could place 30,000 or more seeds in the ground each year in about 10,000 seed caches.
All of these seeds are potential germinance of white bark pine.
>> The impact of the white bark pine die off in other ecosystems shows that the mutualism between the two species is a delicate balance.
We already have some examples of where we don't want to be. Overall, say in Glacier National Park, most of their white bark pine is dead at this point.
And what isn't has a very high infection rate of white pine blister rust.
That is the epicenter of the white bark pine decline.
>> Okay, Walter. Good to go.
>> Okay, good.
>> Walter Wetchett has joined her today. He too is passionate about the special partnership between the Clark's nutcracker and the white bark pine.
>> One of the things that's really interesting about these birds is that they put their cashes everywhere.
They're looking at where can I put a cash where it'll survive the winter, where I can access it early the next year. You'll see them growing in the most crazy inaccessible spots and that's because the Clark's Nutcracker put them there. And I think that is the really the joy of looking at these landscapes and seeing white bark pine and knowing that every single white bark pine seed that created that tree at one time took a flight in the throat pouch of a Clark's nutcracker.
Some early results from their multi-year study have shown that the Clark's nutcracker is still thriving in the ecosystem.
That's a good sign for the white bark pine.
Changing seasons have a way of marking time and the cycle of life in the Yellowstone ecosystem.
Winter comes early in the high country.
It's a time of year when life in these mountains becomes a struggle for survival.
And the white bark pine is missionritical for every living thing in the Yellowstone region. From the big horn sheep to an apex predator like the North American grizzly to the people that live in the valleys below.
The Clark's nutcracker depends on the white bark pine, but it's not the only one.
Meet the red squirrel.
There are two ways to tell the difference between this squirrel and its gray cousin.
First, he has the distinctive red coat surrounding his white belly. Second, red squirrels are highly territorial.
Outside of mating season, he leads a solitary life.
Enter his territory at your own risk.
Even a porcupine can't escape his wrath.
squirrels feed on a variety of things.
Berries, nuts, fruit. But here in Yellowstone, his favorite food is like the Clark's Nutcracker, the white bark pine seed.
Wherever he finds a cone, in a tree, or on the ground, he'll take it. Instead of a beak, the red squirrel uses its claws to nab the seeds. And just like the Clark's Nutcracker, he jams as many as he can into his mouth.
Red squirrels store their seeds among decaying trees and underbrush. And there is a good reason for that. These storage sites, called midens, act like underground refrigerators.
They are temperature controlled and usually safe.
By the time winter sets in, he may have squirreled away nearly 100,000 seeds.
He understands that there is no such thing as having too many seeds because you never know what might happen.
Autumn in Yellowstone.
Life prepares for the upcoming winter.
Animals move towards warmer and more fertile lands.
Months of warm temperatures have dried out the landscape. It can be as unpredictable as it is beautiful.
Some days will feel like summer, others a winter wonderland.
The mountaintops are the first to feel the cold.
The change in temperature drives the big horn sheep down to lower elevations.
By September, they reach the foothills and valleys where they will remain until spring.
This annual pilgrimage brings together normally isolated bachelor groups use and fawns.
These autumn herds can number in the hundreds.
But they can still be fragile.
In 2016, much of the region's big horn sheep population contracted a deadly form of pneumonia.
Scientists believe it was transmitted via nearby domesticated sheep.
Over 85% of the big horn sheep died.
The devastation wiped out adults and juveniles alike.
Experts from the National Park Service, US Geological Service, US Fish and Wildlife, local universities, and conservation groups united to save the local herds.
Infected sheep were removed. Big horns were relocated further from domestic sheep flocks. Large herds were split, creating smaller populations and fewer opportunities for the infection to spread.
By treating the big horns individually, the team has helped the big horns bounce back and thrive.
Winter draws closer. The change can be felt in the air.
It can also be observed in the animals behavior.
The grizzly has moved back up the mountain closer to his den.
He has just a few weeks left before he begins his hibernation.
He's at his peak autumn weight and he's still hungry.
A fat bear is a happy bear.
He's not likely to find a carcass or a fresh trout at this elevation, but he knows where he could find something almost as good.
As long as he's willing to get some dirt in his snout, he'll be rewarded.
And there it is, a mitten teeming with white bark pine seeds.
The bear of course didn't cash these seeds. That was the work of the red squirrel.
A very unhappy red squirrel.
These squirrels are always on alert, but unfortunately there is little he could do about the many animals that enjoy the fruits, I mean the seeds of his labor.
He vents his frustration, but the grizzly is unmoved.
Every seed is worth the effort it takes to get it into his mouth.
And for the red squirrel, at least the local bears will be heading into their den soon.
He has likely been through this drill before, so he will continue to do what he does best, gather seeds and try his hardest to hide them from his hungry neighbors.
And if he forgets about one of those hiding places, well, that's okay, too.
Those seeds could grow into a new cluster of white bark pines.
Now we're going to start above the road here and work this piece and then work below the road. And we want to look for the best micro sightes, right? So we want to be focusing on the down logs, the stumps.
Saving the white bark pine requires scientists from the US Park Service, the US Forest Service, and local conservation organizations to know each seedling intimately.
The seedlings are sorted by their origin and their elevation tolerance.
Once organized, the seeds are then planted where they are most likely to succeed.
That is one nicely planted tree and a good little micro site.
>> The team looks for sites with the right balance of shelter from the elements and exposure to the sun. It will be some 50 years before seedlings like this are fully grown.
The scientists who raised them thus far may never see them reach this stage.
Days like today make me think.
I've always been kind of an animal guy.
Wolves, beavers, elk have kind of defined my life.
You know, my dad was born 1911.
These trees are older than that. And this ecosystem has evolved with them.
Everything's been held together. I really didn't think about the high country and these trees and what they meant.
But seeing them alive than seeing them dead makes me think about what's their role. How are they connected to this?
They help the water.
That's where the snow falls, the deep snow of the winter. And it takes a while into June sometimes, July even for that snow to come off because those white barks when they're healthy hold it. They have shade. They're green. They're thick. They keep that snow cover so it comes off in a trickle.
So the trout, the beavers, the birds have water through most of the summer.
And it didn't dawn on me until I just saw these dead trees that they have a role in holding all of this together.
The high country connected to the low country and everything in between.
If there's anything that White Bark Pine has taught me is that it's a human-dominated world and most of the problems White Bark are facing are caused by us.
So, if anything, this is a call for action for us to do something to save the white bark. We can mitigate some of the things that we've done. So, now's the time to do something before it's too late.
You know, looking up at these mountains, it really humbles you.
generations of native people, explorers, frontiersmen, they've all taken in this same view, and you feel a sense of that energy here.
We used to find signs of old teepee rings and even arrowheads that were thousands of years old right here on this property.
Reminders that life has thrived here for centuries.
You know, Yellowstone has always been more than a park. It's much more than that. It's a place for every living creature, no matter how large or how small.
And up there, standing watch above it all, is the white bark pine. Proof that even in the toughest environment, life finds a way. That's why this is a place conservationist, scientists, all of us, we need to preserve one creature and one tree at a time.
The Yellowstone ecosystem. It's the planet's largest nearly intact temperate zone habitat.
Rugged, symbolic, iconic.
Now it's under threat. Allies have come together, working every day, using cuttingedge science to protect this unique ecosystem. Find out more at savingstone.org and join the movement to protect this land.
Related Videos
Secrets of the Sea: The Ocean’s Most Powerful Creatures & Their Amazing Abilities! 🌊🦈
SwampyTales
3K views•2026-05-29
POV: You're a Shark. The Octopus Already Knows You're There.
tentacleeeee
297 views•2026-05-28
How Do You Know If You're Getting Enough Vitamin D?
DrPeterKan
765 views•2026-05-29
800+ New Species Discovered in the Pacific!
raizen05-j6k
295 views•2026-05-30
Why Running Is Killing Your Strength Gains
GarageStrengthClips
928 views•2026-06-01
@CreatureCases - 🌊☀️ 🌈🦊 Kit & Sam’s Sunny Adventures! 💖🐝 | Best Friends in Action 🌴✨| Compilation
CreatureCases
1K views•2026-05-28
Bird Nest Monitoring | Hidden In Plain Sight!!
thegeordierambler4373
251 views•2026-05-30
Seedling under seize #pest #plant_predators
Makeitsimple99
181 views•2026-06-01
