Meet Nick Zahler

By Sue McMurray

Year: Junior
Program: Forest Products
Hometown: Sweet Home, Oregon

Tree hugging may be a political statement for some eco-minded citizens, but for Nick Zahler, it’s just part of the job. Zahler, a forest products junior, spent his summer days in the Powell Ranger District, scaling White bark pines as a U.S. Forest Service silviculture crew member.

Zahler also conducted timber stand improvement, natural regeneration and survival plantation exams, pruned branches and planted trees. One of his duties included collect cones for blister rust genetic studies occurring in the U.S.D.A. Forest Service Coeur d’Alene Nursery. The lab assessed the cone seeds’ genetic resist to blister rust and sent seeds back to the district for future planting.

“I loved every bit of the job,” said Zahler. “It was a great summer field experience that will open doors for a career.“

White pine seedlings infected with the blister rust fungus were brought into western North America from a nursery in France in 1910. The disease quickly spread throughout the range of western white pine. Currently, there are five species of white pines (five-needle pines) in the Intermountain West, and all are susceptible to white pine blister rust infection.

Zahler’s efforts fit into a larger effort to keep white pines in the Intermountain West region healthy because they provide stability for hydrologic functions, habitat and food for numerous birds and mammals, and aesthetic values for humans.