A reported 14–16% of whitebark pine trees taller 1.4 meters tall are infected with blister rust in the Greater Yellowstone region. As of 2017, 1,502 of the more than 5,300 monitored trees had died, including 67% of those in the >10 cm in diameter size classes. (The mountain pine beetle prefers larger trees for laying their eggs; the larvae feed on the inner phloem of the bark.) In addition, the Greater Yellowstone Network has estimated that by the end of 2015, 26% of whitebark pine trees >1.4 meters tall had died.
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