Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is an important, high-elevation tree species that provides critical habitat for wildlife and supplies valued ecosystem services.  These trees currently face multiple threats, including attack by mountain pine beetles. The project team, including Polly C. Buotte and Jeffrey A. Hicke (University of Idaho), Haiganoush K. Preisler (US Forest Service), and Kenneth F. Raffa (University of Wisconsin), aimed to increase the understanding of the causes of the recent mountain pine beetle outbreak, and to estimate future outbreak potential given future climate change. As Polly will discuss in this webinar, researchers developed generalized additive models of the probability of tree mortality from mountain pine beetles, and then applied the best model to future climate projections.  The team determined the presence of whitebark pine mortality from mountain pine beetles using USDA Forest Service aerial surveys.