If you’ve traveled through mountain forests in western Wyoming, you’ve seen a gazillion of these tall, skinny conifers.  They’re called lodgepole pine because they were used for tipi poles by Native Americans.  Since then they’ve been used for thousands of log homes and miles of buck-rail fence.

Lodgepole pine is usually found in dense, even-aged stands because they are one of the first trees to re-colonize sites after a forest fire.

Lodgepoles are generally vigorous for 80 to 120 years.  However, when their trunks reach a certain size, they attract

small insects called Pine Bark Beetles.

These beetles burrow under the bark, forming tunnels that destroy the tissues that conduct food and water for the tree and allow it to grow…eventually killing the tree.

Because the trees grow close together and are of similar age and stature, beetle kills usually becomes epidemic.

Mature lodgepoles have shallow roots, long trunks and high canopies.  That creates a lot of leverage for Wyoming’s winds to work with, so they often blow down.

This creates a great fuel source for fire.  It’s only a matter of time until a lightning strike ignites a fire and starts the whole cycle all over again.

Lodgepole pine is one of Wyoming’s dynamic native forest types.  I’m Gene Gade of the UW CES.