Associated Press: The latest mountain pine beetle infestation appears to be slowing down in Eastern Oregon, but not before becoming the leading killer of the signature tree of Crater Lake National Park - the whitebark pine.
Park botanist Jennifer Beck says the beetle now kills more of the gnarled trees that grace the highest elevations of the park than an invasive fungus called white pine blister rust that also attacks them.
"The older trees they are attacking are centuries old," said Beck. "They are often the...