COLUMN: Iowa's native pine

     Did you know that white pines are native to Iowa? White pines are one of five evergreens considered native to the state of Iowa – others include red cedar, balsam fir, common juniper, and yew. Many are descendants of their kind from a much colder time during Iowa’s last ice age 10,000 years ago.

     Evergreens are different than hardwood trees due to their needle or scale like leaves that stay on the tree during all seasons.

     White pine trees are easy to identify with their 3-5 inch needles in bundles of five alternating along the branch. Pine cones from the white pine are quite long at 3-6 inches with the outer scales often tipped in white sap, giving them a Christmassy appearance. Although they are soft to the touch, they are often also very sticky. Cones on the tree will open and disperse their seeds when the weather is hot and dry but keep their precious cargo protected inside by staying closed during cold and wet weather. Cones fall from the tree after most of the seeds have been dispersed.

     White pines shed their old needles during autumn, giving the inside layers of the branches a yellowish tinge of color before creating a soft carpet of brown on  the ground. White pines grow rapidly often growing 2-3 feet per year, observable by noting the spaces between the branch whorls along the pines trunk. Although young trees have a typical Christmas tree, shape old trees often have an asymmetrical and windblown appearance – especially if growing in open areas.

     Naturally white pines are found growing on bluffs, ridges, and wooded slopes along our states river valleys. Some of Iowa’s oldest stands of towering white pine can be found at White Pine Hollow State Preserve northwest of Dubuque. These trees have reached heights of 125-140 feet with circumferences of 10-12 feet.

     White pines are a very popular ornamental landscape and windbreak tree and are often used as Christmas trees. White pines have also been an important timber production tree in the northeastern United States. In colonial times the very best trees were set apart by the king for masts on British ships.

     The wood of the white pine is light, soft and easily worked. It has been used for boxes, crates, toys, furniture, and is ideal for doors and sashes as it shrinks very little. Many early American homes were built with white pine.

     White pines are important to many species of wildlife including red/jack squirrels, chipmunks, mice, many insects, and many bird species for both food and nesting habitat. Some local birds attracted to white pine include red breasted nuthatch, brown creepers, sapsucker woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, pine siskins, black caped chickadees, mourning doves, common grackles, American crows, bald eagles, and great blue and green herons.

     How old are the white pines in your neighborhood?