Seeing Bristlecone Pines on a cross-country trip about 10 years ago was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. Students are fascinated by them.
Here is an article from the Times about a alien fungus that may kill them, after nearly four and half millenia:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/science/28pines.html?_r=1
Today, I used this article to compliment a book we are reading called "To Spoil the Sun". In it, Europeans indirectly bring disease to a group of Cherokee living in the Appalachian Mountains in the early 1500's. Obviously, the majority of the Cherokee attribute the disease to an imbalance in the natural world and the result of several omens early in the book.
We discussed the plight of the Bristlecones as an example of an invasive species taking hold and upsetting the balance of nature. The conversation got pretty deep (for 7th grade) as we agreed that there are spiritual, moral, and natural consequences/implications of cultures merging throughout the world.
