Grizzly-feeding mountain pine tree threatened

BILLINGS, MONT. » Climate change, voracious beetles and disease are imperiling the longterm survival of a high- elevation pine tree that’s a key source of food for some grizzly bears and found across the U.S. West, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

A Fish and Wildlife Service proposal scheduled to be published Wednesday would protect the whitebark pine tree as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, according to documents posted by the Office of the Federal Register.

But the agency said it does not plan to designatewhich forest habitats are critical to the tree’s survival, stopping short of what some environmentalists argue is needed.