How tall is the western white pine

White pine forests of or more years of age were common, but so were newly regenerated small trees and shrubs resulting from recent bums, as were forests of an intermediate age. Mixed severity fires that killed only part of the stand occurred at about 60 to 85 year intervals. After a long absence of fire, western red cedar, western hemlock, or grand fir-species most tolerant of shade would eventually dominate a site.

Prior to fire suppression, these species rarely predominated except on the wettest sites because of their susceptibility to fire. Today, the amount of western white pine is 93 percent less than 40 years ago. The causes of change include outbreaks of the mountain pine beetle, fire suppression and harvesting. The primary agent of change, however, is the white pine blister rust.

The rust, a disease of white pines, did not formerly occur in North America until accidentally introduced into Vancouver Island, British Columbia in about By the s, the disease was epidemic in Idaho. Today, a combination of blister rust, mountain pine beetle and harvesting has nearly eliminated mature western white pine stands. Remaining large western white pines now exist mostly as scattered individuals. Distribution based on herbarium collections and iNaturalist observations; open left map panel for details.

A common garden experiment using quantitative traits and genetic analysis linked to a large selection of climate variables was used by Richardson et al. Trees south of this line experience warmer, drier summers, have lower tolerance for low temperatures, and have lower growth potential; there is also a gradient in cold tolerance from maritime to continental sites.

This amounts to a scientific confirmation of something that has long been noted, a clear distinction between the white pines of the Pacific Northwest and those of California including the Warner, Klamath, and Siskiyou Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada.

In the northwest, the species' ecology is largely as described above, but in the Sierra, it becomes a species of the high mountains, sharing its habitat with other conifers of California's mixed subalpine cover type, including Abies magnifica, Tsuga mertensiana, Pinus contorta subsp. As such it is a generally more xeric habitat than in the northern populations, with lower biomass loadings and lower plant species diversity.

It is also a habitat largely without fire, likely due to open forest structures and low fuel loadings. Formerly, all the really big white pines grew in Idaho, but they have been largely destroyed by logging and white pine blister rust Ethnobotany , below.

For instance, Peattie reports harvest of trees feet tall and 8 feet dbh The remaining giant Idaho pines are in the Floodwood State Forest, where you can find the Floodwood Giant 52 m 3 stem volume, dbh cm, height Harlow and Harrar report a maximum age of years.

The source is not stated, but most of their measurements are from ring counts on stumps. Some of the Sierra Nevada trees appear older, but I have found no data. Aboriginal uses were both material and medicinal. Material uses focused on the pitch, which was used to coat whaling and fishing equipment, and to fasten arrowheads to shafts Arno and Hammerly Medicinal uses mainly involved boiling the bark and drinking the infusion.

The Quinault used this for disorders of the stomach and to purify the blood, while the Lummi and Skagit used it to treat tuberculosis, and the Skagit also use it for cuts and sores. Skagit suffering from rheumatism are bathed in water in which very young foliage shoots have been boiled. Both the Lummi and the Skagit chew the pitch-like gum Gunther The western white pine was formerly much desired by lumbermen, especially in the forests of northern Idaho, where it grew to great sizes.

Its straight grain makes it a preferred wood for match sticks Little ; though that sounds like a trivial thing, in Peattie could write of this tree that "every American handles its wood an average of times a year! Additionally, the white, nonresinous wood is easily worked and cut, both with and across the grain, and takes nails easily without splitting.

It was much desired for window and door frames, moldings and trim, pattern stock heavily used by foundries , cabinetmaking, veneer base, and woodcarving Arno and Hammerly All in all, few trees have constituted such a useful and desirable source of lumber. The era of white pine exploitation began early, with the first sawmill built by Rev. The market only began to really flourish when the transcontinental railroads reached the northern Rockies, beginning with the Northern Pacific in This was prior to the establishment of federal forest reserves, besides which Congress had made enormous land grants to the railroads, and intensive logging and clearing of those lands began immediately.

The harvest of western white pine reached a rate of million board feet per year from sawmills in the Coeur d'Alene watershed by the early s Peattie , Arno and Hammerly At about that time, the Roosevelt administration began setting aside large tracts of land in forest reserves, leading at least to a more regulated exploitation of the species, and a slowing of harvest rates.

In , though, two disasters occurred that spelled the end of western white pine as a dominant species in the Rocky Mountains. One was one of the largest forest fires in United States history, centered in northern Idaho's white pine country, and devastating over 3 million acres so completely that the regeneration was dominated mainly by lodgepole pine. This proved to be a pivotal event, triggering a nationwide campaign of fire suppression that was to completely transform the structure and ecology of western U.

Also in , the white pine blister rust was introduced to North America, entering from Asia via the port of Vancouver, BC; that tale is told HERE ; suffice it to say that this disease was mortal to the principal white pines of North America, none more so than P.

It took until the 's for the blister rust to reach the white pine country of the northern Rockies, but once there, the mortality was almost complete, and white pine virtually disappeared from the forest. A few trees, however, had some resistance to the disease, and survived. Those survivors have been artificially propagated in seed orchards and now millions of resistant white pines have been planted out, and this species is once more becoming a noteworthy component of the forests within its native range Arno and Hammerly The tree also has high amenity value, and thus has been widely planted as an ornamental; and at times, collection of the large and attractive cones has been popular Graham It is the only big pine in western Washington and northwest Oregon, and seems to be easily found in inland coniferous forests throughout that area.

It is also reasonably common in the high country of the Sierra Nevada, growing along many popular trails in the national parks and along the Pacific Crest Trail. I have heard that the species' eastern range limit, near the Avalanche Campground in Glacier National Park, is particularly interesting because of the strong resemblance those trees bear to their Pinus strobus counterparts in Minnesota, km to the east.

White pine blister rust Cronartium ribicola , an introduced fungal disease, has decimated formerly extensive stands of this and certain other white pines Little This species is the principal host for the dwarf mistletoe Arceuthobium monticola Hawksworth and Wiens Western white pine is the state tree of Idaho Kral This is another of the many North American conifers first described by David Douglas , who collected it during his first trip to western North America in , in "the mountains near the base of Mount St.

It is best in large open spaces. Because the cones can drip pitch in warm weather, it should not be planted next to patios or where cars will be parked. However, the virtues of this pine make it worth growing despite the risk.

Resistant strains are becoming available. Cones mature in August to September; seed dispersal begins in September. Fresh seed is best. Although seed may remain viable for up to 4 years, germination rates decrease dramatically in older seeds. Cuttings are difficult but are possible using single leaf fascicles with the base of a short shoot taken from very young trees.

Pinus monticola has also been propagated using micropropagation techniques. Use by People: Western White Pine was an important timber tree, particularly in northern Idaho and surrounding areas prior to the introduction of infected seedlings from Europe. The rust disease had previously been introduced to Europe from Asia. Many early pioneers were familiar with its eastern cousin, Eastern White Pine, Pinus strobus, and were happy to discover this larger relative.

It is prized for its soft, easily worked, fine textured wood. It is good for moldings and window and door frames. Native Americans boiled the bark and used it medicinally for stomach aches, and tuberculosis; it was also applied on cuts and sores. The pitch was chewed like gum. Use by Wildlife: Nationwide, pines are second only to oaks in their food value to wildlife.

In the Pacific region, pines are the most valuable.