Coniferous Trees of the West, part two.

Yesterday we saw what life is like above the deserts and below the mountain forests throughout much of the west.  Junipers and pinyons of various species take advantage of increasing moisture and lower temperatures that are associated with the elevations from 4,500 to 6,000 feet above sea level and grow in a delightful succession of near-shrubs to a good looking dry forest.  Passing though such open woodlands, if one gives them a passing thought, what might be reflected upon is the tenacity of life.  Tenacity, and probably the question "how can trees be so picky?"

Well, picky might not be the best word to use for these two species.  They range all across and the west and are not exactly confined to certain elevations.  They can tolerate drought, varying soil conditions, and would even grow farther east into the high plains if frequent fires would not clear out seedlings.  Even so, some of the braver trees can withstand fire and the heavy blanket of snow on the open grasslands.  Travelers on I-40 heading east from Flagstaff notice that all of a sudden, the trees do start to yield to grasslands, but also see lone pines and junipers growing far past the lower treeline.  Pinyons and Junipers are not alone in this regard, in fact, as said last post, the Ponderosa Pine is one of those braver trees that can sometimes be found down amongst the shorter trees at lower elevations.  In fact, here is a real treasure, which I have reported to the US Forest service.

 Apparently this picture felt like staying on its side.  Anyway, this is the base of the tree, nearly six feet in diameter at chest height.

And this would be the canopy.  For some reason I never feel the need to take a full shot of the thing and am fascinated by the parts.  As you can see, it is tall, spread out, and probably very old.









Well, it turns out this particular tree is not that old as trees go. It was planted back in the 1950's.  The tree is about 90 some feet tall, and stands out in the neighborhood where most of the other trees are bluegum eucalyptuses or palms of some sort.  As you may have guessed by that remark, the plant is in Southern California.

Now, Southern California is a diverse place with lots of... climates.  Yes, climates.  In fact, in the various mountains around the Los Angeles basin, you can find all sorts of pines and a good amount of snow for the colder months of the year.  Take a look at this full grown beauty:

Now that is a nice Ponderosa Pine, over six inches at chest height and over 120 feet tall.  Not the tallest pine around, but not bad for growing somewhere that can have bad years of less than 30 inches of precipitation.  This one (and its friends and that incense cedar growing on the right) is growing off of California highway 38 near the first visitor center you come across coming up from the west.  By the way, if you ever go to a park of any kind, go to the visitor centers.  They are informative, have good things to buy, and usually have a decent informative film to show.  They also tend to have native vegetation (and sometimes even animals!) nicely in touch and clearly labelled.  In fact, if you even talk to the rangers and are polite and friendly, they enjoy being able to tell you about their "workplace" park instead of simply directing yet another person to the toilet.

Anyway... nice trees.  But they are also just over 7,000 feet above sea level. This gives them moisture at the right times of the year (usually), good growing soil, and a wonderful temperature range similar to what one would expect from the lower Great Lakes (20-30's in the winter, 70-80's in the summer, but with much cooler nights all around).  Their friends farther inland in Utah and Colorado see roughly the same conditions, with maybe a bit more moisture and colder winters.  As a rule, they tend to favor such climates and can be found as such anywhere from around 5,500-8,000 feet.  But as we saw from our mystery tree, they can also break the rules quite a bit.

Now, that tree I showed you?  Unlike the other specimen up in the San Bernardinos, it is not naturally occurring.  It was planted by someone and likely watered as a seedling, though the planter does not remember.  However, it has thrived outside of its natural range.  To be specific, it has endured 100 degree heat and has had access to maybe 15 inches of precipitation a year.  Yes, it has roots, but the ground water table in Fontana, California or any other part of the eastern Los Angeles Basin is not much better than the rain.  The place is a practical desert in some ways, although not nearly as bad as the surrounding Mojave and Sonoran deserts on the other side of the mountains.  I have seen many cactuses grown with gusto in area gardens, and orange trees, palms, bougainvilleas, you name it... but Ponderosa Pines?  Not so much.  The point is that the tree is nothing if not adaptable.  This one, albeit planted, is growing at a mere 1,271 feet above sea level.

They creep out naturally as far as the seeds will travel once out of the cones by various means.  They do need some sort of winter chill to properly set, and as such, you are more likely to find one out on a bluff in Nebraska than in the warmer parts of the lower elevation west, but they are an adaptable tree that can take advantage of diverse conditions.  You could probably grow one in Oklahoma or Mississippi if you tried.  I would love to see how it could handle North Bay, Ontario.

So what do they look like at face level and not from the focused position of an awe-struck Brent?  Quite a bit like Red pines actually, with big globes of needles.

 Taken on US 36 between Lyons and Estes Park, Colorado, west bound.

They are big enough to fit the bill for a true tree for most people, and even at their smallest where they can be growing in marginal conditions, Ponderosas tend to be at least 30 feet tall.  Their trunks are fairly fireproof. They are as ubiquitous in the west as Red and White pines are in the Great Lakes region and St. Lawrence valley, and tend to find as much use in landscaping as well.  In the high plains area of Colorado, they frequently see use where tree shade is called for, especially at rest stops.  

Remember Utah 12 and that transitional segment I talked about in the last post of this series?  Well, they pop up with the Pinyons and Junipers as noted, but then start to form pretty pure stands that let you know you have pretty much left the desert and scrub behind.  

No sagebrush there, just some grasses, wildflowers, and yep, a whole big mat of pine needles and cones.  It might even pass for a red pine grove if you ignore the trunks, and, well, the views.

Down there you see some Ponderosas and the Pinyon Juniper forests around the lake, with the lower desert visible beyond the second ridge about twenty miles away.  The Englemann spruce just off to the middle is an intruder from a world a bit higher up, starting at around 8,000 feet.  That's where the next post on the series will take us.

In the meantime, some easy places to see Ponderosa Pine woodlands and forests are just about anywhere, plus a thousand feet, you will find Pinyon-Juniper forests, as well as in the same oddball places out on bluffs and hills in Nebraska and New Mexico, as mentioned before.  Some good spots:

• I-25 heading north from Cheyenne towards Douglas, Wyoming, especially more so towards Douglass.  The plains get really high here at around 6,000 feet or so, and the soil and topography turns it into more of a pine barrens.  
• New Mexico 53 between Ramah and Grants, New Mexico.  This route also passes by and through El Morro and El Malpais national monuments, respectively.  
• I-70 heading west once you hit the foothills and climb into the Front Range of the Rockies east of Denver.

And for the not-so traveled path?  The desert side of the San Bernardino mountains.  Here you can find Ponderosas mixed with Joshua Trees!