Ponderosa

Ponderosa
Big Pine of the Southwest

Sylvester Allred

tucson
The University of Arizona Press
www.uapress.arizona.edu
© 2015 The Arizona Board of Regents
All rights reserved. Published 2015
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15  6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-(paper)13: 978-0-8165-3143-1
Cover designed by Leigh McDonald
Cover photo by Sylvester Allred
All photographs are by the author unless otherwise noted.
Publication of this book was made possible in part by funding from
The Arboretum at Flagstaff, the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort
Lewis College, the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern
Arizona University, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, the Landscape
Conservation Initiative at Northern Arizona University, and The
Southwest Center at the University of Arizona.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Allred, Sylvester, 1946– author.
Ponderosa : big pine of the Southwest / Sylvester Allred.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8165-3143-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Ponderosa pine—Southwest, New. 2. Forest ecology—Southwest,
New. I. Title.
QK494.5.P66A52 2015
577.30979—dc23
2014030798

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992

(Permanence of Paper).
 In memory of my parents,
Mildred Ella Skinner Allred and
William Sylvester Allred, and
my father-in-law, James W. Nelson
Contents

List of Illustrations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Author’s Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Where Are the Ponderosa Pine Forests?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Pinus ponderosa, Cone-Bearers, and Naked Seeds. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Yellowbellies, Blackjacks, and Spiral Growth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
One House, Winged Seeds, and Golden Pollen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Tiny Seedlings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Energy Factories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The Rest of the Tree—Alive or Dead?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Sculptures of the Forest.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Pine Scents, Sapsuckers, and Naval Stores. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Roots, Underground Fungi, False Truffles,
and Mushrooms.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Residents of the Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forest.. . . . . . . . 38
Who Owns the Forests?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Tree Scars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Uses of Ponderosas from Past to Present.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Plant Neighbors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Mistletoe and Witches’ Brooms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
viii Contents

A Bit of Geology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Bark Beetles.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Other Insects and Fungi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Fire and Flood.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Climate Change—It’s Real. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
The Beginning (Not “The End”). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Taxonomy and Scientific Name of the Ponderosa Pine. . . . . . . 61

Checklist of Some of the Mammals of the
Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Checklist of Some of the Birds of the Southwestern
Ponderosa Pine Forests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Brief History of the Establishment and Responsibilities
of the U.S. Forest Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Suggested Readings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Literature Consulted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Illustrations

Figures

1. San Francisco Peaks, Arizona, and ponderosa

pine forest, 1890. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. The distribution of ponderosa pine forests in
North America and Mexico.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3. Geological time scale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4. Cross section of a tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5. Mutualistic association of tassel-eared squirrels,
hypogeous fungi, and ponderosa pine trees.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Plates

1. Ponderosa pine trees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

2. Tassel-eared squirrel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3. San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4. Open female ponderosa pinecone showing bracts. . . . . . . . . . . 9
5. Yellowbellies and blackjacks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6. Tree-coring tool and a tree core. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7. Growth rings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8. Yellowbelly with a forked trunk in the Kaibab
National Forest near Jacob Lake, Arizona.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
9. Shapes of ponderosas showing the tree’s age and
growth pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
10. Lightning scar showing the tree’s spiral
growth pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
11. Young green ponderosa pine conelet cluster at the
tip of a branch.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

ix
x Illustrations

12. Slightly older purple ponderosa pine conelet cluster

at the tip of a branch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
13. Mature female ponderosa pinecones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
14. Longitudinal section of an opened female ponderosa
pinecone showing the woody structures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
15. Bottom end of an opened female ponderosa pinecone
demonstrating the Fibonacci series. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
16. Male ponderosa pinecones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
17. Ponderosa pine seedlings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
18. Dog-hair thicket of ponderosa pine trees in the
foreground with yellowbellies in the background.. . . . . . . . . 23
19. Ponderosa pine needles on a branch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
20. Fire scar on the trunk of a ponderosa pine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
21. A lone ponderosa pine snag.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
22. A downed ponderosa trunk slowly disintegrating
into the various elements that were stored inside
its tissues.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
23. Northern flicker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
24. Female northern goshawk feeding young. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
25. Long-eared myotis bat.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
26. Spotted bat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
27. Red-naped sapsucker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
28. Sap wells in a yellowbelly ponderosa pine trunk. . . . . . . . . . . 34
29. Ponderosa pine uprooted by a flash flood at
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
30. A false truffle, Rhizopogon sp., found beneath
the litter layer attached to the lateral roots of a
ponderosa pine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
31. Amanita muscaria, an epigeous fungus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
32. An elk in ponderosa forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
33. Mule deer resting in a sunny opening in the forest.. . . . . . . . 39
Illustrations xi

34. A beautiful Steller’s jay perched on a rock.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

35. Turkeys foraging for seeds and insects beneath a
ponderosa pine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
36. Granary tree of an acorn woodpecker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
37. Greater short-horned lizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
38. Black rattlesnake concealed in a ponderosa stump. . . . . . . . 41
39. Ponderosa pine trees in Zion National Park, with
Checkerboard Mesa in the background.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
40. Ponderosa pine sapling with an antler-rubbing scar
made by a deer or elk.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
41. Culturally modified ponderosa pine tree at
Target Tree Campground, San Juan National Forest,
near Mancos, Colorado. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
42. Ponderosa pine log in a wall at Pueblo Bonito
at Chaco Culture National Historical Park in
New Mexico. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
43. Pile of logs that will be milled into lumber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
44. High-cut stumps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
45. Mullein growing in a sunny opening surrounded by
grasses and ponderosa pine trees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
46. Woodland pinedrops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
47. Dwarf mistletoe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
48. Witches’ broom caused by dwarf mistletoe infection. . . . . . 48
49. Bark beetle.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
50. Bark beetle galleries beneath the bark of a
ponderosa pine tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
51. A ponderosa pine tree girdled and killed by
bark beetles.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
52. Schultz fire, Flagstaff, Arizona, summer 2010. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
53. Fire-scarred stump. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
54. A saunter in a ponderosa pine forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Preface

In 1911 Albert W. Palmer published accounts of some Sierra

Club summer outings in The Mountain Trail and Its Message.
Mr. Palmer’s description of an encounter with John Muir, one
of my heroes, is an ideal guide for reading and using this book:

There are always some people in the mountains who are known
as “hikers.” They rush over the trail at high speed and take great
delight in being the first to reach camp and in covering the great-
est number of miles in the least possible time. They measure the
trail in terms of speed and distance.
One day as I was resting in the shade Mr. Muir overtook me
on the trail and began to chat in that friendly way in which he
delights to talk with everyone he meets. I said to him: “Mr. Muir,
someone told me you did not approve of the word ‘hike.’ Is that
so?” His blue eyes flashed, and with his Scotch accent he replied:
“I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter
in the mountains—not hike!”
Do you know the origin of that word “saunter”? It’s a beau-
tiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on
pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages
through which they passed asked where they were going, they
would reply, “A la sainte terre.” “To the Holy Land.” And so
they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these
mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through
them reverently, not “hike” through them.
John Muir lived up to his doctrine. He was usually the last man
to reach camp. He never hurried. He stopped to get acquainted
with individual trees along the way. He would hail people passing
by and make them get down on hands and knees if necessary to
see the beauty of some little bed of almost microscopic flowers.
Usually he appeared at camp with some new flowers in his hat
and a little piece of fir bough in his buttonhole.

As you saunter through the ponderosas making new dis-

coveries and memories, follow John Muir’s advice. Stop often,
look around, feel the furrowed bark of the blackjacks and smell

xiii
xiv Preface

between the deep furrows of yellowbellies. Touch the pine nee-

dles, both the green ones on the branches and the yellow-brown
ones underfoot. Pick up a prickly brown pinecone and marvel
at its intricate architecture. Allow your eyes to find unnamed
colors that do not appear in those boxes full of wax sticks with
artificial names.
Let your saunter begin.
Acknowledgments

Authoring a book requires numerous individuals who provide

support in many ways, from the initial idea to the final copyedit-
ing. The following are among those who assisted me.
Donna Nelson, my wife, spent many hours going through
each page of every new draft of this book—and there were many.
She was always ready with wonderful ideas, creative suggestions,
ever-flowing encouragement, and editing advice.
Meribeth Watwood, chair of the Department of Biological
Sciences at Northern Arizona University, contributed generous
departmental backing for this endeavor.
John Westerlund planted the seed that grew into this book.
Six reviewers gave their comments and recommendations.
Numerous individuals granted permission for the use of their
artwork and photographs. Each is acknowledged in the caption.
Copyediting of the final manuscript was expertly done by
Mindy Conner.
Numerous individuals at the University of Arizona Press from
the planning, marketing, production, and distribution depart-
ments provided their expertise. I began the conversation about
this book with Allyson Carter, the press’s editor-in-chief, in the
late fall of 2008. Allyson was receptive from the beginning and
always offered me encouragement. I am grateful.

xv
Author’s Note

The trees are large and noble in aspect and stand widely
apart, except in the highest part of the plateau where spruces
predominate. Instead of dense thickets where we are shut in by
impenetrable foliage, we can look far beyond and see the tree
trunks vanishing away like an infinite colonnade. The ground
is unobstructed and inviting. There is a constant succession of
parks and glades, dream avenues of grass and flowers winding
between sylvan walls, or spreading out in broad open mead-
ows. From June until September there is a display of wildflow-
ers which is quite beyond description.
— Clarence Dutton, Physical Geology of the
Grand Canyon District (1887)

In midsummer of 1889 C. Hart Merriam traveled to the San

Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona Territory to study biotic
communities with respect to their elevation and latitude. The San
Francisco Peaks, sacred to thirteen Native American tribes, were
named in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi in the early seventeenth
century by members of a Franciscan mission at the Hopi village
of Oraibi. Rising 12,633 feet to the top of Humphreys Peak,
these mountains offered an excellent location for Merriam to
compare the dominant vegetation growing at specific elevations,
which he referred to as life zones. Merriam’s Transition zone, sit-
uated between 5,000 and 7,000 feet, contained ponderosa pine
trees, and thus the ponderosa pine became the indicator plant
for that life zone. Pinyon-juniper forests growing below 5,000
feet and aspen-spruce-fir forests growing above 7,000 feet act
as the boundaries of the Transition zone.
In a description of the region he published in 1890, Merriam
emphasized the parklike quality of the ponderosa pine forest:

The lofty pine forest of the San Francisco Mountain Plateau has
been famous since the days of the early explorers, Sitgreaves, Ken-
nerly, and Ives, who passed through it on their journeys across
the continent. It is a noteworthy forest, not alone on account
of the size and beauty of the single species of tree of which it is

xvii
xviii Author’s Note

composed (Pinus ponderosa), but also because of its openness,

freedom from undergrowth, and its grassy carpet—for the porous
lava soil supports a sparse growth of bunch-grass which is high
enough after the rainy season sets in to conceal the rocky surface,
and, at a little distance, to present the appearance of a meadow.*

Three varieties of ponderosa pines grow in North America.

This book is about the natural history of the ponderosa pine
(variety scoplorum, commonly known as the Rocky Mountain
ponderosa pine) that lives in the southwestern United States.
Even though this book is written with emphasis on ponderosas
of the Southwest, it can be used as a general reference for the
ponderosas in other areas of the species’s range. The extensive
list of references at the end of this book, divided into twenty-one
alphabetized categories, provides more information.

* C. H. Merriam and L. Stejneger, Results of a Biological Survey of the San

Francisco Mountain Region and the Desert of the Little Colorado, Arizona,
North American Fauna 3 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Division of Ornithology and Mammalia, 1890).
Plate 1. Ponderosa pine trees.
Ponderosa
Figure 1. San Francisco Peaks, Arizona, and ponderosa pine forest, 1890. (From C. H. Merriam and L. Stej-
neger. 1890. Results of a Biological Survey of the San Francisco Mountain Region and the Desert of the Little
Colorado, Arizona. North American Fauna 3. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Ornithology and
Mammalia, Washington, DC.)
Introduction

“If one pine were placed in a town square, what admiration it

would excite! Yet who is conscious of the pine-tree multitudes
in the free woods, though open to everybody?”
—John Muir, John of the Mountains: The Unpublished
Journals of John Muir (1938), p. 220.

I spent most of my academic and research career in Flagstaff,

Arizona, the site of the largest contiguous ponderosa pine for-
est in the world. For twenty-seven years I studied tassel-eared
squirrels, unique little creatures that live only in ponderosa pine
forests. During the thousands of hours I spent amid these mag-
nificent trees I observed the intricacies of the life of the ponder-
osa pine forest. Through this book I will share my experiences,
thoughts, and observations with you.
In the course of our saunter through the ponderosa forests
we will see healthy forests and forests that are weakened and
struggling. We will visit forests that have been burned, some
by careless humans and some by fires started by lightning. We
will look for evidence of insects and spiders in the bark. We
will learn where to smell butterscotch and vanilla and other
flavors. We will watch squirrels dig for false truffles and hide
pinecones for future use. We may see where male deer and elk
rubbed their antlers on saplings to remove the velvet during the
rutting season. We will hear the noisy squawks of the beautiful
blue Steller’s jay. We will see tiny seedlings popping through the
ground and ancient trees with golden-reddish bark. We will see
nature’s sculptures­—the standing snags that are home to myr-
iad insects, birds, and bats. After a snowstorm we will see who
has been out and about as we look for tracks, fur, feathers, and
bloodstains, evidence of both predator and prey. On a saunter
in the spring we will see lovely penstemons with their assorted
bright and pastel-colored petals resembling open mouths with
tongues thrust forward, a plethora of yellow composite flowers
with their petals arranged in a windmill pattern, and cerulean
lupines with their bee landing platforms and green pods filled

3
4 Introduction

with tiny black seeds. We will see the purple vetches and the louse-
worts, so named because many centuries ago it was thought that
these plants prevented lice infestations. In open sunlit meadows
we will see biennial mullein plants with tall, candelabra-shaped
stalks loaded with yellow flowers that produce tiny black seeds
smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. When the
mullein dies in the fall the brown stalks remain standing, and
the touch of a deer or elk or human hand on the dried stalk will
catapult thousands of seeds outward. This explains why mullein
plants are often found in clumps. In the summer and fall we
may see strange reddish-brown pinedrops beneath the towering
ponderosas.

Tassel-Eared Squirrels—Important Members of the

Ponderosa Pine Forests
Four subspecies of tassel-eared squirrels live in the ponderosa for-
ests of the Southwest. The ponderosas provide the squirrels with
foods, nest sites, and nest-building materials. Foods include the inner
bark of pine twigs, pollen cones, and seeds from the pinecones. The
squirrels also eat false truffles—fungi that live in association with
ponderosa pine roots. The fungi increase the tree’s ability to absorb
water and nutrients, and the tree provides sugars for the fungi. The
squirrels use their keen sense of smell to locate the truffles. As the
squirrels scurry through the forests they disperse the spores of the
fungi in their fecal pellets. The spores enter the soil and inoculate
other pine roots, benefitting the entire forest. The ponderosa pine, the
tassel-eared squirrel, and the false truffles constitute a unique triad,
each dependent on the others for survival.

An Example of Natural Selection

Before a squirrel begins to feed on the inner bark of a ponderosa pine,
it tastes a sample. Some trees have distasteful chemicals that protect
them from further nibbling; trees that are not chemically defended
become “feed trees.” The chemicals produced by “nonfeed” trees
are an adaptation against herbivory (eating plant materials) and are
a heritable characteristic. Natural selection, the driving force behind
evolution, acts on such genetically determined variations. Sometimes
the variations are beneficial, sometimes they are neutral, and some-
times they are lethal. Natural selection tends to keep beneficial and
neutral variations within the gene pool of the species.
Introduction 5

Plate 2. Tassel-eared squirrel. The squirrels depend on ponderosa pine

forests for food and shelter. (Photograph by Steve Mull. Used with
permission.)

In the fall abundant mushrooms raise their colorful caps

above the forest floor litter, each cap filled with millions of
spores. Other fungi live their entire lives hidden beneath the soil,
but we may see evidence of their presence in the form of “digs”
of tassel-eared squirrels seeking this food source.
While we saunter we will talk about the challenges of man-
aging the forests in a way that satisfies the needs both of those
seeking recreation and respite and of those who utilize the for-
ests commercially for timber harvesting and cattle grazing. We
will talk about the past history of the majestic ponderosas and
look toward the future of the ponderosa pine forest ecosystem
in the face of climate change and human encroachment.
If you have ponderosa pines in your backyard and you want
to know what makes every surface in your house yellow in late
spring, or why the big cones in your yard have prickles, this book
is written for you. If you are an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys
a stroll through the forest, this book is written for you. If you
want to take a day hike, camp, or backpack in a ponderosa pine
6 Introduction

forest in any of the public parks or forests in the southwestern

United States, this book is written for you. For the interpretive
park ranger or the student of biology, ecology, environment sci-
ence, or forestry—or for any other student of our Earth wishing
to know more—this book offers fun facts and a list of references
sufficient to guide you to every aspect of the vast research that
has been published since the first mention of the ponderosa in
the scientific literature two hundred years ago.
You can spend an hour, an afternoon, or a lifetime exploring
a ponderosa pine forest. This book can be your guide.
Where Are the Ponderosa Pine Forests?
The range of the ponderosa pine extends from British Colum-
bia, Canada, to the mountain ranges of northern Mexico and
includes almost one-third of the states in the United States. Pon-
derosa pine forests are found at elevations ranging from sea
level to ten thousand feet within that range and cover nearly
twenty-seven million acres in the United States. The forests in
the southwestern United States occur between five thousand
and eight thousand feet. Ponderosa pine forests can be found in
national parks and forests; on public lands administered by the
Bureau of Land Management; and on state trust lands, forests,
and parks in the southwestern United States.
I have done most of my sauntering in ponderosa pine forests
across the street and up the hill from my house; on the forested
land on the mesa owned by Lowell Observatory, where Pluto
was discovered in 1930; and on the beautiful San Francisco
Peaks, which I saw every day from my home in Flagstaff.*

* Flagstaff was first referred to as “Flag Staff” in 1876 when a group of

settlers traveling west to California stripped a tall ponderosa of its branches
and raised the U.S. flag with its thirty-seven stars to the top of the tree to cel-
ebrate the Centennial on July 4. You can learn more of this fascinating story
in works by Richard and Sherry Mangum, who have written many hiking
and guide books about Flagstaff and surrounding areas.

Plate 3. San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona. Humphreys Peak,

the highest elevation in Arizona, rises to an elevation of 12,633 feet.

7
Figure 2. The distribution of ponderosa pine forests in North America
and Mexico. (From U.S. Geological Survey, http://gec.cr.usgs.gov/
data/little/pinupond.pdf.)
Pinus ponderosa, Cone-Bearers 9

Pinus ponderosa, Cone-Bearers,

and Naked Seeds
During late July 1776, the Dominguez-Escalante expedition
departed Santa Fe on a journey through the area that is now
Colorado, Utah, and Arizona; they returned to Santa Fe in Janu-
ary 1777. Early in the course of the expedition the group passed
through forests in northern New Mexico and southern Utah. The
trees are not named or described in the expedition journals, but
translated journal entries pinpoint their locations. Those notes
and the ages of present-day trees make it almost certain that
the forests the expedition traversed contained ponderosa pines.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark called the massive pine
trees they saw in 1805 “long-leaf pines” in their expedition’s
journals. Twenty-one years later a young Scottish botanist, David
Douglas, gave the trees their scientific name, Pinus ponderosa
(ponderous pine), while exploring the Pacific Northwest. Doug-
las (for whom the Douglas-fir is named) died in 1834 in Hawaii
at the young age of thirty-five after falling into a pit used to trap
wild cattle. His untimely gory death was never fully explained.
“Ponderosa” became the official common name in 1932, replac-
ing other common names such as big pine, black pine, bull pine,
western yellow pine, and yellow pine. The official abbreviation
of “ponderosa pine” is PIPO, derived by combining the first two
letters of the genus (Pinus) and the first two letters of the species
(ponderosa). Scientists and foresters use the abbreviation in their
reports, papers, and journal articles.
Ponderosa pines belong to the group of plants called gym-
nosperms—from the Greek word meaning “naked seed.” The
seeds are naked (i.e., not enclosed in fruits) and are found on

Plate 4. Open female

ponderosa pinecone
showing bracts. Each
bract has a short prickle
at its end. The winged,
BB-size seeds form in
the two depressions at
the base of each bract.
10 Pinus ponderosa, Cone-Bearers

the bracts of the cones. All the trees we recognize as conifers,

or cone-bearers, are gymnosperms. Most conifers are ever-
green (there are exceptions to every rule; e.g., larches and bald
cypresses), and their slender, pointed leaves are called needles.
Evergreen trees retain their needles year-round while most decid-
uous trees lose their leaves during the fall.
In contrast to the gymnosperms, the seeds of flowering plants,
called angiosperms (e.g., tulips and roses and maples and oaks),
are enclosed by fruit tissue. Think about where you find the seeds
of the fruit of a pea, an apple, and an avocado: they are enclosed.
The first gymnosperms made their appearance on Earth about
375 million years ago during the Devonian geological time

Eon Era Period Millions of Years Ago

Quaternary
Cenozoic
Tertiary 1.6
Cretaceous 66
Mesozoic Jurassic 138
Triassic 205
Permian 240
Phanerozoic
Pennsylvanian 290
Mississippian 330
Paleozoic Devonian 360
Silurian 410
Ordovician 435
Cambrian 500

Late Proterozoic 570

Proterozoic Middle Proterozoic
Early Proterozoic

Late Archean 2,500

Archean Middle Archean
Early Archean

Pre-Archean 3,800?
Notes: Angiosperms (flowering plants) appeared 140 million years ago (MYA).
Gymnosperms appeared 375 MYA.
Source: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/fossils/numeric.html

Figure 3. Geological time scale. (From U.S. Geological Survey,

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/fossils/numeric.html.)
Yellowbellies, Blackjacks 11

period. Some 235 million years would pass before the first angio-
sperms developed! The earliest fossilized ponderosas, found in
Nevada, are 600,000 years old.

Yellowbellies, Blackjacks, and Spiral Growth

Just as we can tell at a glance whether a person is a teenager or
someone who has enjoyed many years, we can tell at a glance
the approximate age of a ponderosa pine. Blackjacks are the
youngsters of the ponderosas and are so called because of their
dark bark, which may be gray, dark brown, or black. When
ponderosas reach the age of about one hundred they develop a
distinctive deep orange to rust-red color and are then referred

Plate 5. Yellowbellies and blackjacks. Note their distinctive bark colors.

12 Yellowbellies, Blackjacks

to as yellowbellies. Field research has shown that blackjacks

start to transition to yellowbellies when they approach 18 to 22
inches diameter at breast height. Some of the oldest trees may
reach heights of 230 feet and may exceed 6 feet in diameter.
The shape of a tree gives us information about its age as well.
The crown of younger trees (the area with all the needles) tapers
upward into a point resembling a pyramid. As the trees mature,
their crowns become more rounded; the oldest trees have flat-
tened crowns. The oldest known ponderosa is 935 years old (as
of 2014) and is found in Utah. Some of the trees in the forests
where I saunter are 500–600 years old!
The bark of a ponderosa is divided into plates, referred to as
bark plates; as yellowbellies become very large, deep furrows
develop between the plates. In The Mountains of California
(1894), John Muir described the bark plates of older ponder-
osa pine trees as “four or five feet in length by eighteen inches
in width, with a thickness of three to four inches.” The furrows
between the plates are home to myriad insects and spiders.
Watch the nuthatches moving stealthily upside down on the
tree, probing for food. Look for their relatives, the tiny brown
creepers, sauntering sideways along the bark, head-up, looking
for invertebrate morsels hiding within the cracks.
Yellowbellies produce chemicals in their bark that may smell
like vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, chocolate, or pineapple,
depending on your imagination. You can detect the fragrance by
sniffing between bark plates. But look first! Remember: insects
and spiders live in these furrows, too.
A common method of estimating the age of ponderosas
involves taking a sample core of the trunk at “breast height”
(bh), which foresters define to be 4.5 feet above the ground (not
the chest height of the person taking the measurement!). The
tree’s diameter is measured at bh, and the resulting measurement
is referred to as the diameter (d) at breast height, or dbh. In a
study conducted in a ponderosa pine forest in northern Ari-
zona in 1964, Charles Minor determined that “the time required
for the 91 trees studied to reach breast height (4.5 feet) aver-
aged 14.3 years and ranged from 6 to 29 years.” However, even
though the bh method of aging is the standard measurement
used by foresters, it does underestimate the actual age of the tree.
To take a core, a tool called an increment borer is twisted
into the center of the tree at bh, and a core about the width and
shape of a soda straw is removed. The growth rings in the core,
which appear as separate layers, are counted and examined with
Yellowbellies, Blackjacks 13

Plate 6. Tree-coring tool and a tree core. This tool is used to remove a
core of a living tree to determine its approximate age.

magnification. The width of the individual growth rings can be

indicative of past climates—dry or wet, cold or hot. The coring
process does not harm the tree. The hole made by the borer fills
in with resin that seals the opening and protects the tree from
infections.
Each year a tree produces a growth ring that is divided into
two parts: the light springwood, or early-wood ring; and the
dark summerwood, or later-wood ring. The springwood is
lighter in color because there is usually more moisture avail-
able during the spring, enabling a flush of new growth; the cell
walls of the xylem cells in springwood are relatively thin with
wider openings. The summerwood is darker because there is
less moisture available for growth, and the xylem cells walls are
thicker, making the ring look darker. The dark rings are easier to
count, but some foresters count all the rings—light and dark—
and divide by two to determine the approximate age of the tree.
Approximate, because in years of low moisture the rings formed
are narrow and faint and may be difficult to distinguish without
magnification.
Tree rings become smaller as the tree grows larger, regard-
less of the weather conditions. Competition with other trees can
also affect tree ring size. Trees that grow in the open in full sun,
unblocked by the canopies of nearby trees, tend to have larger
growth rings.
14 Yellowbellies, Blackjacks

Plate 7. Growth rings. When examining a tree stump,

count just the dark or light rings or count all the rings and
divide by two to reach an approximate age for the tree.

A. E. Douglass and Dendrochronology

Andrew Ellicott Douglass (1867–1962), an astronomer, founded the field
of dendrochronology in 1894 while working with Percival Lowell at Low-
ell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. After leaving Lowell he went to the
University of Arizona, where he became the first director of the Labora-
tory of Tree-Ring Research. During his career at the university he was
involved in southwestern archaeological investigations examining and
establishing dates of buildings and ruins found at Aztec, Pueblo Bonito,
Mesa Verde, and Canyon de Chelly. By examining beams from those
structures he was able to correlate ages of tree rings of living trees
with the rings found in the beams, a technique he called “cross-dating.”
In 1920 Douglass published a paper in the journal Ecology in which
he presented a relationship between tree growth and climate, as
opposed to just tree growth and rainfall patterns. The editor attached
a note to the end of Douglass’s paper, stating, “Dr. Douglass’ develop-
ment of the idea . . . represents a marked step forward in this important
line of research.”
Tree-ring research has scientific applications in understanding the
past activities of glaciers, hurricanes, tidal waves, volcanoes, and
fires. The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, established in 1937, is
recognized as one of the best tree-ring research sites in the world.
By examining rings of trees from different areas that lived during the
same time periods, scientists can compare climatic regimes (espe-
cially moisture) across wide regions. This information can be used to
predict future climatic trends in a geographical area. For more on the
subject, visit the lab’s website, http://ltrr.arizona.edu.
Yellowbellies, Blackjacks 15

The dating and study of growth rings is called dendrochro-

nology. Dendrochronological studies help to establish what the
climate was at the time a particular ring or series of rings was
formed. As you saunter through the forest, look for a stump
where you can see and count the growth rings. Note that some
are widely spaced and some are narrow. Can you interpret this
observation to determine what the climate was at the time the
rings were formed?
While it can certainly be said that a yellowbelly ponderosa is
old, its exact age is just a guess without the tree ring calculation.
Trees that grow in nutrient-rich soils, in moist soils, or in sites
not shaded by other trees will be larger at the same age than trees
growing in more adverse conditions. Even the direction of the
slope may affect the growth because north-facing slopes tend to
retain more moisture than south-facing slopes.

Plate 8. Yellowbelly with a forked trunk in the Kaibab

National Forest near Jacob Lake, Arizona. The ponderosas
in the Kaibab National Forest and along the North Rim of
the Grand Canyon are among the oldest in Arizona.
Plate 9. Shapes of ponderosas showing the tree’s age and growth
pattern. The tree in the foreground has a pyramidal shape indicative
of further upward growth; the trees in the background have flattened
tops indicative of maturing trees.
Yellowbellies, Blackjacks 17

The roots of ponderosas begin growing in early spring. In late

spring leaf buds open, pollen cones appear, and the diameter of
the tree begins to increase. Active growth, which is contingent
on soil moisture, temperature, and day length, continues until
the seeds mature in mid-fall, although growth can be retarded or
accelerated by increases or decreases in those three environmen-
tal components. During the winter photosynthesis can continue
at low rates if soil temperatures are warm enough for the tree
to take up water and there is adequate sunlight, but there is no
active growth of stems or needles.
Dendromorphometry is the science of measuring living trees
using a mathematical model that incorporates numerous tree
dimensions such as height, girth, and crown spread. It is a useful
forest management tool for foresters.
Have you noticed that some ponderosa pines (and other types
of trees as well) have a spiral growth pattern? This pattern is best
seen in trees that have been struck by lightning and in decaying
trees with missing bark. When lightning enters the tree at the top,
it spirals toward the ground along this growth pattern, which
resembles a barber pole. Ponderosas are great lightning rods!

Plate 10. Lightning

scar showing the
tree’s spiral growth
pattern.
18 One House, Winged Seeds

Pay close attention as you saunter along mountainous ridges

and rock outcrops and you will see quite a few lightning-struck
trees, many still alive.
It may be that the spiral growth pattern dissipates some of
the lightning’s energy in the course of its coiling path to the
ground, possibly allowing the tree to survive the strike. There
is more water (a good electrical conductor) in the xylem and
sapwood nearer to the bark, so the lightning is conducted down-
ward through this part of the tree, blowing off the tree’s bark as
it goes. It seems feasible that if the bark explodes outward, the
energy of the lightning strike will be dispersed away from the
center of the tree. Based on my hundreds of observations, light-
ning does destroy some trees, literally blowing them apart, but
that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
Spiral growth appears to be more prevalent in areas where
trees are exposed to high winds, such as ridgelines. Spiral growth
strengthens the tree in the same way that the spiraling of steel
cables used on suspension bridges adds strength to those struc-
tures. Natural selection has clearly favored this growth pattern
over a straight-grained pattern.
Reasons other than strengthening have been proposed to
explain spiral growth in trees. Some theories relate to its effect
on nutrient and water distribution within the tree. Others pro-
pose that the Earth’s rotation, magnetic fields, and solar expo-
sure are somehow involved. Spiraling is common in the natural
world; think of seashells, the tooth of the narwhal, the horns of
bighorn sheep, the inner ear, tornados, hurricanes, and galaxies.

One House, Winged Seeds, and

Golden Pollen
Ponderosa pines are monoecious; that is, each tree produces both
male and female cones. The term “monoecious” derives from
a Greek word meaning “one house.” The female cones begin
forming in late spring as tiny conelets; they can occur either sin-
gly or in clusters of up to five as they develop alongside the leaf
buds. These conelets contain the eggs that will be fertilized when
the male pinecones release their sperm-containing pollen in late
May–early June of year one. Seed fall occurs in September–
October of the following year (year two). This reproductive
One House, Winged Seeds 19

Plate 11. Young green

ponderosa pine conelet
cluster at the tip of a
branch.

Plate 12. Slightly

older purple
ponderosa pine
conelet cluster
at the tip of a
branch. This
color change
occurs after a
few weeks to
several months of
development.

pattern is very different from that of other conifers, in which

seeds mature and fall in the same season in which pollination
occurs. The deep purple color of the female conelets will change
to light green during the two-year period required for the devel-
opment and maturation of the cones and seeds. At maturity the
female cones are bright green and very conspicuous in clusters
near the end of a branch.
Female cones are composed of a woody core with attached
woody cone bracts. The bracts are arranged around the central
core in a spiral from the bottom of the cone to its apex and fol-
low the Fibonacci sequence. Each bract holds two seeds. Even
though the tightly closed green cones protect the developing
20 One House, Winged Seeds

Plate 13. Mature female

ponderosa pinecones.
Note the sharp prickle
at the end of each bract.
The cones contain copi-
ous resins and average
sixty seeds per cone.

Plate 14.
Longitudinal
section of
an opened
female
ponderosa
pinecone
showing
the woody
structures.

seeds with copious resin, and each bract has a tiny sharp prickle
to defend it, squirrels and birds such as crossbills can open the
cones and eat the seeds.
Two winged seeds form at the base on the inside surface of
each bract of the female cone. Locate an opened cone in the
litter layer and carefully pull back a bract to find the depres-
sions where the seeds formed. Each seed is about one-fourth to
one-half inch long, including the wing, and each cone contains
between thirty and eighty seeds. The weight of ponderosa pine
seeds is highly variable; there may be between seven thousand
and twenty-three thousand seeds in a pound. Birds, squirrels, and
other rodents eat ponderosa pine seeds, and Native Americans
used them for food. Ponderosa seeds are wind dispersed, unlike
the seeds of some other pines. Pinyon pine seeds, for example,
are dispersed by birds—Clark’s nutcrackers and pinyon jays.
Female Pinecones and Their Relationship to the
Fibonacci Series
Pick up a female pinecone from the litter layer. Turn it so that the larger
end is facing you. Note the growth pattern of the cone bracts. They are
arranged in a spiral that follows the Fibonacci sequence of numbers: 0, 1,
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 . . . The next number in the sequence is determined by
adding the previous two together; in this example the next number is 34.
Can you determine the next number after that? Leonardo Fibonacci di Pisa,
an Italian mathematician, discovered this mathematical phenomenon
during the 1100s. The Fibonacci sequence occurs elsewhere in nature,
too—for example, in seashells, artichokes, and sunflower seed heads.

Plate 15. Bottom end

of an opened female
ponderosa pine cone
demonstrating the
Fibonacci series.

Plate 16. Male pon-

derosa pinecones. The
golden yellow cones
release their pollen into
the air, creating huge
clouds of yellow dust in
ponderosa pine forests
during May and June.
22 Tiny Seedlings

The small yellow-brown male cones are much less substantial

than the sturdy female cones. They appear in late spring, then
turn golden and release their pollen between May and June,
creating large yellow clouds throughout the forest. In urban set-
tings the pollen covers every surface with a fine yellow powder.
The male cones, each about an inch long, occur in dense clusters
around the bud tip. After pollen release the work of the male
cones is done; they dry out, turn brown, and fall to the ground,
where they quickly break up in the litter layer. Pine pollen is rich
in nutrients and calories, and tassel-eared squirrels eat the male
pinecones before the pollen is released. Pollen dusts their faces
with gold during the short pollen season and turns their fecal
pellets gold as well.

Tiny Seedlings
When sauntering through the forest, be sure to look down at the
nursery, the tiny green seedlings pushing up through the brown
needles of the litter layer. These are best seen in late summer after
the rains. The first set of needles looks like small, green, twisted
fingers reaching upward. For a short time these needles still have
the seed coat attached, which appears as a little brown ball.
Some of these seedlings owe their existence to a small rodent or
bird that cached a single seed at the right depth and never came
back to eat it. Competition for space, nutrients, water, and sun-
light is severe, and many seedlings die the first year. Those that
do survive face new tests such as being nibbled by insects, birds,
and mammals, including elk, deer, rabbits, and squirrels and
other small rodents. Fungal infections and frost heave during
heavy freezes also take a toll on seedlings.
The American naturalist Enos Mills marveled that in the face
of these difficulties “trees should live to become the oldest of liv-
ing things. Fastened in one place, their struggle is incessant and
severe. From the moment a baby tree is born—from the instant
it casts its tiny shadow upon the ground—until death, it is in
danger from insects and animals. It cannot move to avoid danger.
It cannot run away to escape enemies. Fixed in one spot, almost
helpless, it must endure flood and drought, fire and storm, insects
and earthquakes, or die.”*

* Enos Mills, The Story of the Thousand-Year Pine (1914)

Tiny Seedlings 23

Plate 17. Ponderosa pine seedlings.

On occasion you may see a group of seedlings so thickly

packed together in little bunches that their needles resemble
many newly sprouted grass blades. This can occur when a squir-
rel buries an entire green unopened cone. When an abundant
cone crop (a natural occurrence every seven or eight years) is
coupled with ample precipitation, many seeds will germinate
and many seedlings will survive. If the seedlings are not thinned
by fire or by humans, they will produce extremely dense stands
of stunted trees known as dog-hair thickets. Such clusters can

Plate 18. Dog-hair thicket of ponderosa pine trees in the foreground

with yellowbellies in the background. These spindly trees could be
very old, but because they are so densely packed, none will ever reach
its full growth potential. These trees could provide ladders for fire to
reach nearby trees.
24 Energy Factories

provide fire ladders to larger surrounding trees during a crown

or canopy fire, the most severe type of forest fire.
At points during your saunter through the ponderosa pine
forest you may feel as if you have left the forest and entered a
meadow with widely spaced trees. This arrangement of trees
is referred to as parklike. Although there is no written record
describing the Southwest before it was settled by immigrants
from the East, low-intensity ground fires that removed accu-
mulated litter and many young trees were more frequent then,
effectively keeping the forest more open (see figure 1).

Energy Factories
The flexible, pointed needles of ponderosa pines reach lengths
of five to seven inches, making them among the longest in the
pine family. Some needles have a slight twist, causing them to
show a spiraling pattern. Each bundle of needles, called a fasci-
cle, consists of three (occasionally only two) individual needles.
They are lovely to see on a clear day when they glisten in the
sunlight. John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, wrote in 1894
that “this species also gives forth the finest music to the wind.

Plate 19. Ponderosa pine needles on a branch. Each fascicle has three
needles. Note the leaf scars along the branch where needles once grew.
Energy Factories 25

Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is the process through which plants produce their food.
Plants obtain carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through tiny open-
ings called stomata that are located on the underside of the leaves and
needles. Plants obtain their water from the ground through their roots.
Water and carbon dioxide are combined in the presence of chlorophyll,
the green pigment in plants, and a chemical reaction powered by light
energy from the sun produces sugars and oxygen from the water and
carbon dioxide. The plant uses the sugars as food and releases the
oxygen into the atmosphere. Animals breathe the oxygen and exhale
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, to be taken up by plants and used
in photosynthesis. This is an efficient gas exchange cycle when it
remains balanced between respiration and photosynthesis.
The chemical shorthand for the general reaction is:
CO2 + H2O + sunlight + chlorophyll → sugar + O2

After listening to it in all kinds of winds, night and day, season

after season, I think I could approximate to my position on the
mountains by this pine-music alone.”
New needles form from buds on the tips of the terminal
shoots, and new growth occurs here, increasing the height of
the tree and the length of the branches. As the developing buds
elongate during early spring and rise toward the sun, they resem-
ble pale green–and-tan candles. The needles remain on the tree
branch for about three years (some reports say as many as five
years) before turning brown, at which time they are abscised
(released). Look closely and you may see a leaf scar on a branch
where fascicles once grew. The brown needles falling now were
new three years ago. The abscised needles accumulate as litter on
the forest floor, where they slowly decompose over several years
and release nutrients into the soil. An excessive litter layer that
has not begun to decompose can provide fuel for forest fires and
also prevent the establishment of new seedlings.
Just beneath the litter layer is the duff area, where decompo-
sition has begun. The duff layer is subdivided into two regions.
The upper duff, sometimes called the fermentation layer, is com-
posed of moderately decomposed needles; the lower duff, known
as the humus layer, contains highly decomposed needles and is
adjacent to the mineral soil. Carefully pull back some of the litter
to observe these layers.
26 The Rest of the Tree—Alive or Dead?

The Rest of the Tree—Alive or Dead?

When you look at a healthy tree, the shimmering green needles
and the cones are the only living tissue you see; everything else is
dead tissue. That beautiful bark—gray, black, or golden orange—
is dead. Even the tree’s wooden core, the heartwood, is dead.
Between the bark and the heartwood, however, is a layer of living
tissue encircling the entire tree that is no more than four milli-
meters thick—about the size of the dash in this sentence. This
tissue performs several functions crucial for the tree’s survival: it
produces the bark; it serves as the vascular system that transports
the sugar produced in the needles during photosynthesis and the
water and nutrients absorbed by the roots to the needles, cones,
and buds; and it produces the wooden core of the tree.
This thin living layer of tissue, which extends from the roots
to the needles, has four components: cork cambium, phloem,
vascular cambium, and xylem. Since this layer is what keeps the
tree alive, let’s look at it a bit more closely using the cross section
of a tree shown in figure 4.
The bark is formed of dead tissue accumulated over the
course of many years, perhaps even hundreds of years. It was
produced by the cork cambium—the outermost layer of the
tree’s living tissue. New bark is constantly added to the outside
of the cork cambium; thus, the youngest bark is adjacent to the
cork cambium and the oldest bark is on the outside of the tree.
By adding new layers of bark the cork cambium contributes to
the ever-enlarging tree. Thick bark provides fire resistance. Look
at an old stump to observe the bark thickness.
The next layer, on the inner side of the cork cambium, is the
phloem. The phloem is a one-way street going from the tree’s nee-
dles to its roots that transports the sugars produced in the needles
during photosynthesis. The phloem is produced by the vascular
cambium—the layer that lies inside it, toward the core of the
tree. The vascular cambium also produces the xylem, the tree’s
innermost layer of living tissue. Vascular cambium is thus a very
valuable tissue for plants because it is responsible for producing
the tree’s vascular system. The xylem is another one-way street,
this one going from bottom to top carrying water and nutrients
such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus from the soil to the
needles. The xylem also stores some of the sugars produced by
photosynthesis in special cells called parenchyma cells. The older
xylem is referred to as sapwood, and even though composed of
The Rest of the Tree—Alive or Dead? 27

Figure 4. Cross section of a tree (not drawn to scale).

mostly dead tissues, it still functions to transport water and min-

erals. Sapwood can be several decades old in conifers. As the tree
continues to age, the sapwood eventually becomes heartwood,
which has no vascular function but does have a high resin con-
tent. Thus, both sapwood and heartwood—collectively referred
to as wood—are derived from old xylem tissue.
The phloem, vascular cambium, and xylem form the vascular
system of the tree. If even a narrow band of this vascular system
tissue is removed in a complete circle (i.e., the tree is girdled), the
flow of sugars from the needles to the roots through the phloem
stops. If a deeper cut is made around the tree, the flow of water
through the thin xylem layer and the sapwood to the needles will
28 The Rest of the Tree—Alive or Dead?

cease. Girdling inevitably results in the death of the tree. If you

have ever come across a dead but still-standing beaver-gnawed
tree along a riparian area, then you have seen a girdled tree.
American settlers who moved west and built homesteads in
thickly forested areas commonly girdled trees and then came
back later to chop or cut them down. The notorious bark beetles
that have decimated forests from Alaska to Mexico can girdle
the trees they infect as they tunnel through, eat, and destroy the
phloem. These beetles also introduce fungi that can destroy the
phloem and cambium as well as clog the sapwood, stopping
water and nutrient movement. Fire can also girdle a tree; fire
scars are examples of partial girdling in which the tree survives.
The tree’s sapwood and heartwood are the parts we use for
lumber. Heart pine lumber, the more highly valued of the two,

Plate 20. Fire scar on the trunk of a ponderosa pine.

Sculptures of the Forest 29

is milled directly from heartwood, which in old-growth forests

usually has no knots. Lumber from smaller trees is less valued
because of its knots—which are actually slices through limbs
that were growing along the trunk. Knots do give the wood a
distinctive look, especially when used in the interior of a house.
Ponderosas are self-pruning, meaning that the lower branches
sometimes die and fall into the litter layer. This occurs often in
stands where trees are growing close together and lower limbs
are shaded out by the trees around them. Ponderosas that are
isolated from other trees keep their lower limbs. Look for this
pattern as you saunter.
You may find living trees with very large hollows such as
Winnie the Pooh’s home in the Hundred Acre Wood. As long as
the vascular system is intact, the tree can survive much trauma.
Hollow trunks and limbs make good nest sites for birds and den
sites for mammals.

Sculptures of the Forest

Standing dead trees are called snags. A snag progresses through
numerous stages before it finally topples to the ground. Soon
after the tree dies, its green needles turn brown and drop into the
litter. Eventually limbs fall and the bark loosens and falls away.
Sometimes sections of the upper trunk break off. Ultimately the
standing snag succumbs to decay, fungi, and gravity. After fall-
ing, the snag enters the final stages of decay, returning the tree’s
remaining stored nutrients to the forest soil.
Prior to the 1920s, loggers were encouraged to remove snags
so that they would not become “lightning rods” for forest fires.
It was a common practice to use snags for fuel or wood chips.
In Yosemite National Park in 1924, however, park naturalists
determined that dead trees were valuable for wildlife nesting
and foraging sites and began recommending that snags be pre-
served. The practice of leaving snags for wildlife has increased
since then. In some ponderosa pine forests snags are deliberately
created from large trees by girdling.
While leaving snags is positive for wildlife, there are at least
two negative aspects of the practice. One is snags’ role in spread-
ing fire. When lightning strikes a snag and sets it on fire, the resin-
filled heartwood becomes so hot that it explodes, spreading
burning debris great distances in the winds created by the fire.
Plate 21. A lone ponderosa pine snag. Note the absence of bark and
the broken limbs. This snag provides habitat for cavity-nesting birds,
insects, and fungi. Cutting this snag could be dangerous because it
might loosen a decaying limb and create a “widowmaker.”
Sculptures of the Forest 31

Plate 22. A downed ponderosa trunk (foreground) slowly disinte-

grating into the various elements that were stored inside its tissues.
The elements released in the process become available to new plant
growth in the forests. Numerous organisms from fungi to ants are
involved in the recycling processes.

The second is the potentially hazardous situation firefighters on

the ground face when the snags fall or explode. In forests, espe-
cially around populated areas or historic buildings that require
fire protection, it is prudent to manage the number of snags for
those two reasons.
As you examine a snag, look and listen for northern flickers,
which use snags for food and shelter. A rat-a-tat-tat followed by
a pause and then another rat-a-tat-tat is a sure sign that one of
these large woodpeckers is nearby. Balancing on its specialized
feet, with two toes facing forward and two toes backward, and
using its stiff tail feathers as a brace, the flicker maneuvers up
and down trees, drilling holes with its chisel-like beak. The head
moves rapidly back and forth as the flicker pecks the decay-
ing wood in search of wood-eating insects. A thick pad of fat
32 Sculptures of the Forest

surrounds and protects the brain from trauma as the bill repeat-
edly hammers into the tree. Once it has exposed them, the flicker
extracts the insects with its very long, barbed, sticky tongue.
Numerous bat species use the loosened bark of snags as roosts.
Wildlife biologists even attach artificial roosts that resemble
loose bark to living trees to encourage bat roosting. Some owls
will nest in cavities excavated by other birds in snags. Hawks
and other raptors use the tops of snags for hunting perches and
nesting sites. Downed logs produced by fallen snags offer shelter
to mice, rabbits, chipmunks, ground squirrels, and skunks, plus
earthworms and numerous insects. The activities of these ani-
mals assist in returning the chemical elements stored in the dead
tree back to the forest for reuse by living organisms.

Plate 23. Northern

flicker. This large
woodpecker uses
living and dead
ponderosa pine
trees for nesting
and foraging. (Pho-
tograph by Doug
Iverson. Used with
permission.)

Plate 24. Female northern goshawk feeding young. These raptors

use both deciduous and coniferous trees in old-growth forests.
In the southwestern ponderosa pine forests goshawks feed on
tassel-eared squirrels, other rodents, and rabbits. (Photograph by
David Ponton and Patricia L. Kennedy. Used with permission.)
Pine Scents, Sapsuckers, and Naval Stores 33

Plate 25. Long-

eared myotis bat.
These bats roost
in dead trees and
feed on insects.
(Photograph
by Bruce Tau-
bert. Used with
permission.)

Plate 26. Spotted

bat. Spotted bats
also roost in dead
trees. They have
large ears and
white bellies and
feed on a variety
of insects. (Pho-
tograph by Bruce
Taubert. Used
with permission.)

Pine Scents, Sapsuckers, and Naval Stores

When you first enter the ponderosa pine forest you will surely
note its distinctive aroma, especially after a summer monsoon
rain when the broken needles release their volatile aromatic
scents. For an even more intense aroma, rub your hands on a
clump of green needles and sniff. On one of my summer visits to
a squirrel study site I was caught in a fifteen-minute hailstorm.
The green needles broken by the hailstones released a piney scent
that lasted for several hours.
Storm forces are not the only natural source of injuries to
ponderosa pine trees. Numerous birds, mammals, and insects
can damage the bark. Red-naped sapsuckers drill holes into the
bark and sip the sap that fills the holes because it is full of sug-
ars. You will see rows of evenly spaced holes, called sap wells,
circling the tree when these woodpeckers have been around.
Porcupines scrape the bark from the trunk and branches for
food. Insects bore holes through the bark to tap into the phloem.
34 Pine Scents, Sapsuckers, and Naval Stores

Plate 27. Red-naped

sapsucker. These wood-
peckers drill sap wells
in the bark and sip the
sap and eat the insects
that get caught in it.
They do not suck the
sap, despite their com-
mon name. (Photograph
by Doug Iverson. Used
with permission.)

Plate 28. Sap

wells in a yellow-
belly ponderosa
pine trunk.
These tiny holes
collect sap and
trap insects that
become food for
sapsuckers.

Trees secrete resins to protect themselves and to seal injured

tissues. The chemicals in the resins, which are mainly terpenes, are
used in the production of turpentine and rosin (a substance famil-
iar to violinists and gymnasts). These tree products were once used
to waterproof seams and joints, and in the general maintenance
of wooden sailing ships, and were called naval stores. During the
American Civil War, the Union states were cut off from the plen-
tiful pine forests of the South, and naval stores were in short sup-
ply. Several turpentine/rosin distilleries constructed in the Sierra
Nevada in California for processing ponderosa pines stepped up
and supplied the Union Navy with the products it needed.
In the late 1960s samples of ponderosa pine stumps from
northern Arizona were sent to a laboratory in Florida to deter-
mine whether they still possessed a useful amount of resin. The
Roots, Fungi, Truffles, and Mushrooms 35

analysis revealed that indeed there were sufficient resins remain-

ing in the stumps for processing into naval stores.
Resins are said to have medicinal uses as well. In Marguerite
Henry’s classic children’s book Brighty of the Grand Canyon,
for example, Brighty’s caretaker treats the leg wounds the little
burro suffered during a mountain lion attack with melted resin
from ponderosa pines.

Roots, Underground Fungi, False

Truffles, and Mushrooms
Roots are both a tree’s anchor and the conduits through which
it draws water and nutrients from the soil. They also provide
areas for food storage. Lateral roots and taproots are the main
types of roots of ponderosas.
The lateral roots of ponderosa pines extend beyond the drip
line of the tree in all directions. The drip line is the circular area
beneath the longest-extending branches around the canopy of
a tree where rain that trickles down the branches strikes the
ground. Taproots—roots that extend downward—more than
thirty-nine feet long have been documented, but the normal is
much less than that, surprising for trees that can grow to be
more than two hundred feet tall. When you see an uprooted
ponderosa, look at the roots; in many cases you will see rocks
incorporated within the root mass.
The lateral roots of ponderosas are home to a variety of hypo-
geous (underground) fungi that help the tree by increasing the
absorptive area of the roots and serving as storage sites for water
and nutrients. The tree assists the fungi in turn by providing a
place for them to live and by supplying sugars, produced during
photosynthesis, for their food. This “mycorrhizal association”
(from the Greek myco = fungus and riza = root; literally “fungus
root”) benefits both the tree and the fungi. Ecologists refer to this
type of relationship as mutualism. Forest researchers have found
that trees without mycorrhizal associates are at an extreme dis-
advantage compared with trees possessing such associates.
Hypogeous fungi produce millions of spores that are locked
away beneath the soil in little packages called false truffles. Tree
squirrels locate false truffles by smell, dig them out and eat them,
and spread the fungi’s spores in their fecal pellets, inoculating
Plate 29. Ponderosa pine uprooted by a flash flood at Sunset Crater
Volcano National Monument. Note the many long narrow lateral
roots and the absence of a long taproot.

Plate 30. A false truffle, Rhizopogon sp., found beneath the litter
layer attached to the lateral roots of a ponderosa pine. Tassel-eared
squirrels feed on such hypogeous fungi and spread their spores
throughout the forest in their fecal pellets. (Photograph by J. S. States.
Used with permission.)
Roots, Fungi, Truffles, and Mushrooms 37

Figure 5. Mutualistic association of tassel-eared squirrels, hypogeous

fungi, and ponderosa pine trees. (Drawing by J. S. States. Used with
permission.)

other ponderosa roots in the forest. You may observe evidence of

the squirrels’ digging in the litter. All three members of this mutu-
alistic association benefit: the pine, the squirrel, and the fungi.
If you saunter in the forest after the summer rains you will
see an abundance of mushrooms. Each colorful cap is filled
with spores that are spread by gravity, wind, and animals. These
above­ground fungi are said to be epigeous. Fungi actively turn
dead wood from fallen trees, brown needles, and branches back
into the chemical elements from which they were formed. They
are the recyclers of the forest.

Plate 31. Amanita

muscaria, an epigeous
fungus. Mushrooms are
common after summer
rains in ponderosa pine
forests.
38 Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forest

Residents of the Southwestern

Ponderosa Pine Forest
A huge suite of organisms resides in the ponderosa pine forest. In
addition to fungi and plants you might observe elk, deer, bears,
skunks, raccoons, prickly porcupines, soft brown deer mice,
ground squirrels, tree squirrels such as the handsome tassel-
eared squirrels and the tiny red squirrels, hopping cottontails
and jackrabbits, and numerous birds, including the colorful and
boastful Steller’s jays, wild turkeys, flickers and other wood-
peckers, and various raptors. If you are fortunate you will come
across an acorn woodpecker’s granary tree. When these birds
collect acorns, they drive them into the bark of ponderosas for
later retrieval, giving the trunk and its branches the appearance
of being shot full of holes. Owls and bats are there as well, but
they are hidden, sleeping, during your daytime saunters.

Plate 32. An elk in ponderosa forest. (Photograph by Doug Iverson.

Used with permission.)
Plate 33. Mule deer resting in a sunny opening in the forest.

Plate 34. A beautiful Steller’s

jay perched on a rock. The
jays feed on Gambel oak
acorns buried by tassel-eared
squirrels. When jays fly to a
ponderosa to perch they use
limb-hopping as a means to
move upward rather than
flying from limb to limb as
many other birds do.

Plate 35. Turkeys foraging for seeds and insects beneath a ponderosa
pine. They also roost in the pines.
40 Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forest

Plate 36. Granary tree of an acorn woodpecker. The birds drill holes
in trunks and limbs and stuff an acorn into each hole. Note the many
holes in the dead ponderosa pine limb. Beneath this limb were numer-
ous pieces of shelled acorns.

Amphibians and reptiles climb, jump, scamper, and slither

across the rocks, tree trunks and stumps, and pine needles. A few
species of amphibians live in nearby riparian areas and around
water catchments in the forest. Boreal chorus frogs, two species
of tree frogs, and northern leopard frogs are among the amphib-
ians that you might see or hear. You might also see a tiger sal-
amander walking about on the forest floor in the early spring
or on a rainy summer night. Several species of lizards, includ-
ing the plateau fence lizard, the mountain short-horned lizard
(sometimes mistakenly called a horny toad), the Madrean alliga-
tor lizard, several species of skinks, and whiptail lizards, scurry

Plate 37.
Greater short-
horned lizard.
These lizards
live in the litter
layer of ponder-
osa pine forests.
(Photograph by
Erika Novak.
Used with
permission.)
Who Owns the Forests? 41

Plate 38. Black

rattlesnake concealed
in a ponderosa stump.
These very poisonous
snakes are found in
some ponderosa pine
forests in Arizona,
where they eat birds,
lizards, rabbits, and
various rodents.
(Photograph by Justin
Schofer. Used with
permission.)

across the litter layer and along tree trunks in search of food.
The gopher snake and several species of whipsnakes, kingsnakes,
gartersnakes, and rattlesnakes may also be encountered within
the ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest.
In addition to the highly visible vertebrates there are many
other seldom-seen residents such as insects, ticks, spiders, har-
vestmen (also called daddy longlegs), millipedes, and centipedes.
More than two hundred species of insects feed on various parts
of ponderosas from seeds to roots.

Who Owns the Forests?

Although ponderosa pine forests do occur on private lands, most
of them are in national and state parks or in national and state
trust lands and forests. Therefore we, the public, own most of the
ponderosa pine forests. The forests within the national parks are
protected from logging and grazing. National and state forests, in
contrast, are managed in a way that allows the commercial use of
the forests for sheep and cattle grazing, timber harvesting, and ski
resorts, which require tree-cutting for the ski runs. Some of us use
the forests for hiking, sauntering, and camping. Some profit from
the forest’s resources by operating ski resorts, grazing livestock, or
harvesting one of the most important timber trees in the United
States—the ponderosa. Many of us simply wish to live near the
forests for their aesthetic beauty. Certainly it presents a challenge
for the forest managers of all agencies to balance the priorities
and needs of all those interested in the ponderosa pine forests.
Plate 39. Ponderosa pine trees in Zion National Park, with Checker-
board Mesa in the background.
Tree Scars 43

Tree Scars
Almost all old trees—and many younger ones—have scars. In
the 1980s Thomas Swetnam, director of the Laboratory of Tree-
Ring Research at the University of Arizona, categorized the types
of scars found on tree trunks (Swetnam, 1984). Some tree scars
are the result of cultural modifications; others are natural. Exam-
ples of cultural modifications include bark peelings by Native
Americans for food and target practice, trail blazes to mark
paths, and witness trees (trees marked in the 1800s for original
land surveys) that surveyors and foresters use for recording spe-
cific locations within the forest. Fire, lightning strikes, squirrel
and porcupine gnawing, browsing by deer and elk, antler and
claw scrapes, and damage done by falling trees and rocks are
sources of natural tree scars.
An example of a tree scar left by Native Americans can be
found at Ivikukuch, or Target Tree Camp, in the San Juan National
Forest near Mancos, Colorado. The informational sign at the site
states: “When the Utes camped here they would use an old tree
for bow and rifle target practice during hunting expeditions. They

Plate 41. Culturally modified

Plate 40. A ponderosa pine ponderosa pine tree at Target Tree
sapling with an antler-rubbing Campground, San Juan National
scar made by deer or elk. Forest, near Mancos, Colorado.
44 Uses of Ponderosas from Past to Present

also scraped sweet sap and the cambium from ponderosa pines.
The sap was made into a kind of candy. The cambium was used
in soups, stews, and for making a tea. Many of the old yellow or
red barked ponderosas here still show large, oval shaped scars
left by this use.”
A triangular, blackened “cat face” scar at the base of an old
ponderosa, such as the one shown in plate 20, is a sign that the
tree survived a fire long ago. Notice the margin around the cat
face where the tree has grown a callus for protection. Fire scars,
depending on their age, can be covered by the callus and show
accumulations of resin. Researchers can reconstruct the fire his-
tory of a forest by examining fire scars.

Uses of Ponderosas from Past to Present

The ancient Pueblo Indians of the southwestern United States
used ponderosa pine logs as beams in the construction of their
dwellings and kivas. The timbers were cut and hauled (without
wheels!) from forests many miles away. An excellent example of
this type of construction is at Chaco Culture National Histori-
cal Park in northwestern New Mexico. The logs in the ancient
structures there were harvested from the Chuska Mountains,
more than fifty miles west of Chaco.
Logging of the ponderosa forests began during the late 1880s
to meet the nation’s growing demand for lumber. New settlements

Plate 42. Ponder-

osa pine log in
a wall at Pueblo
Bonito at Chaco
Culture National
Historical Park
in New Mexico.
This area was
occupied between
about A.D. 800
and A.D. 1200.
Uses of Ponderosas from Past to Present 45

Plate 43. Pile of logs that will be milled into lumber.

in the Southwest needed timber for railroad ties; bridges over

creeks, rivers, and canyons; mine-shaft supports; houses, busi-
nesses, corrals, and mills; and firewood. During World War II,
ponderosa pine wood found its way to the European and Pacific
theaters in the form of ammunition crates. Today, dimensional
lumber, such as the ubiquitous two-by-fours and two-by-sixes
used in framing houses and the heavy logs used in post and beam
construction, are often from ponderosa pines.
As you saunter through the forests you will see the stumps
of harvested trees. Some of these are very old and are valuable
sources of historical data pertaining to past harvesting and tree
densities. Before loggers used chain saws and mechanical har-
vesters with huge and powerful hydraulic jaws, they cut down
trees with axes or, more likely, with two-person crosscut saws.
Old stumps that are two or more feet above the soil rather than
at ground level are signs that the tree was taken down with a
crosscut saw. The lumberjacks cut at a height that made it easier
to push and pull the huge, cumbersome saws. A very high stump
may be a sign that the tree was cut in the winter in deep snow.
Cutting in winter did offer benefits to the lumberjacks because
the logs could be skidded out from the forests over the snow or
ice—a process sometimes called snaking out—by mule and horse
teams, with the snow offering a smooth surface and less friction
than the bare ground of summer.
46 Plant Neighbors

Plate 44. High-cut stumps. Chest-height stumps were common in the

days of crosscut saws because that was a comfortable height for the
pull and push between the two lumberjacks operating the saw. Depth
of snow was also a factor in the cutting height. Today trees are cut at
ground level.

Plant Neighbors
Many of the trees that live in association with or near ponderosas
are other conifers such as Douglas-fir, spruces, junipers such as alli-
gator juniper (so named for its alligator hide–like bark), pinyon,
and limber pines. Although ancient bristlecone pines are found
at higher elevations and do not normally grow near pon­derosa
pines, there are some bristle­cones intermingled with ponder-
osas in the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona. Other
species grow interspersed within the ponderosas as well. Large
stands of quaking aspen are especially beautiful in their golden
fall attire. Clusters of Gambel oak with their bright green, lobed
leaves and brown-capped green acorns provide food for deer,
turkeys, squirrels, and Steller’s jays. In some areas the compound
leaves and deep pink flowers of New Mexico locust trees offer
a striking contrast to the deep green needles of the ponderosas.
Understory plants include grasses such as mountain muhly,
squirrel­tail, and Arizona fescue; and shrubs such as buckbrush,
Oregon grape, cliffrose, wax currant, and Apache plume. Louse-
worts, various penstemons, numerous types of yellow compos-
ite flowers (look for flowers that have a sunflower-like face),
Mistletoe and Witches’ Brooms 47

Plate 45. Mullein growing in

a sunny opening surrounded Plate 46. Woodland pinedrops.
by grasses and ponderosa pine These plants have no chlorophyll
trees. The central stalk can be and parasitize conifer roots
six feet tall and is loaded with to get the nutrients they need.
yellow flowers that produce During the fall the plants dry
tiny black seeds. The soft leaves out and turn rusty brown. The
have been called “cowboy/girl genus name, Pterospora, means
toilet tissue.” “winged seed.”

pinedrops (a parasitic plant), thistles, various buckwheats,

dwarf irises, wild geraniums, and other wildflowers provide an
ever-changing color palette beneath the towering pines during
the spring, summer, and fall.

Mistletoe and Witches’ Brooms

Dwarf mistletoe (which is not the familiar mistletoe we hang
during holidays) is a parasite on ponderosa pine trees. The plant
sinks rootlike structures through the bark, penetrating the phloem
and stealing the sugars produced by the pine. Dwarf mistle­toe
stunts the ponderosa’s growth, distorts its shape, weakens its
defenses against other diseases and infections, and can even kill
the tree. The distorted branches, called witches’ brooms, serve as
48 Mistletoe and Witches’ Brooms

platforms for nests of birds and squirrels. These same platforms

can act as ladders for fire to spread from lower branches to the
upper parts of a tree during forest fires. Dwarf mistletoe pro-
duces sticky seeds that can be transmitted from an infected tree
to a healthy tree when they are ejected into the air or adhere to
the feathers or fur and feet of birds and mammals as the animals
move through the forest. If you observe a tree with a mistletoe
infection, look around at other nearby trees, which are also likely
to be infected. Mule deer and tassel-eared squirrels eat the tender
shoots of dwarf mistletoe.

Plate 47. Dwarf mis-

tletoe. This parasite
infects the trunk
and branches of
ponderosas, sinking
rootlike structures
into the phloem to
obtain nutrients
produced by the
tree. The tiny, sticky
fruits can be spread
to other ponderosas
on birds’ feet.

Plate 48. Witches’ broom caused by dwarf mistletoe infection. The

distorted growths catch falling debris, and various animals use them
for nest and resting sites.
A Bit of Geology 49

Mistletoe Infection Classification

System (modified from
Hawksworth, 1977)
To determine the degree of mistletoe
infection, face the tree and visually
divide the crown horizontally into
thirds. Rate each third separately as
0 (no infection), 1 (half or fewer of the
branches in the third are infected),
or 2 (more than half the branches in
the third are infected); then total the
numbers for the three sections.

A Bit of Geology
Ponderosa pines grow in soils produced by all three of the recog-
nized parent rock types. These soils vary widely in their mineral
content, thickness, and pH.
Cinder- and lava-based soils are abundant in northern Ari-
zona, and the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the
world grows there. At Sunset Crater Volcano National Monu-
ment in northern Arizona, bizarrely shaped ponderosas grow in
the red cinders and in the sharp-edged pahoehoe and aa lavas
left behind from an eruption that occurred more than nine hun-
dred years ago. In nearby Walnut Canyon National Monument

The Three Rock Types of the Earth

Igneous rocks are produced by tremendous temperatures and pres-
sures deep within the Earth’s crust. Examples: cinders, lava, basalt,
and granite.
Sedimentary rocks are produced by sediments that were carried to a
site by wind or water. Examples: sandstone and limestone.
Metamorphic rocks are produced from igneous and sedimentary rocks
that have been altered by high temperature and great pressure. Exam-
ples: limestone changes into marble and sandstone into quartzite.
50 Bark Beetles

and Grand Canyon National Park, ponderosas grow in ancient,

fossil-rich Kaibab limestone. In southern Utah, ponderosas grow
between sandstone cracks in the 2,300-foot-thick Navajo sand-
stone in Zion National Park. In Bryce Canyon National Park
ponderosas grow among the pink-orange hoodoos formed from
the iron-rich Claron Formation. An especially good place to see
towering ponderosas rising toward the tops of Bryce’s stately
hoodoos is along a section of the Navajo Loop Trail known as
“Wall Street.” In parts of Colorado and northern New Mex-
ico, ponderosas grow in soils formed from basalt, quartzite, and
granite from the Rocky Mountains. Ponderosas grow in sedi-
mentary and igneous rocks at Mesa Verde National Park. If you
visit Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, note that
ponderosas ring the base of that massive basalt tower.

Bark Beetles
Bark beetles, tiny insects that resemble an elongated BB, are a
natural part of the ponderosa pine ecosystem. Usually the beetles
are present in relatively small numbers, but on occasion popula-
tion numbers skyrocket, and large areas of the forest are quickly
killed. Trees already under stress are most susceptible to bark
beetles. Outbreaks happen most commonly during extended
drought, when stressed trees cannot produce enough resin to
resist the overwhelming multitudes of these tiny phloem feeders.
Other stressors include high stand density of trees, pathogenic
fungal infections, lightning strikes, various root diseases, defoli-
ating insect infestations, and dwarf mistletoe infections. Healthy,
unstressed trees can mount an effective defense by producing
copious amounts of resin, which plugs the holes the female bee-
tles create on entry, effectively “pitching” the beetle out of the tree.
Bark beetles complete part of their life cycle under the bark.
Gravid (bearing fertilized eggs) females burrow beneath the
bark and lay their eggs, which hatch into larvae. The larvae tun-
nel beneath the bark, devouring the phloem. Once the larvae
have girdled the tree, it will die. The larvae create distinctive
paths, or galleries, as they feed. Different species of bark beetles
create distinctive gallery shapes, which can be used to identify
them. As you saunter through the forest look for these galleries,
which resemble multibranched tunnels, on standing dead trees
or downed trunks that have missing bark. The galleries can also
Bark Beetles 51

Plate 49. Bark beetle.

These forest pests
are only about one-
fourth inch long.
The larvae feed on
phloem tissues, and
large infestations
can kill ponderosas.
(Photograph by Rich
Hofstetter. Used
with permission.)

Plate 50. Bark beetle galleries beneath the bark of a ponderosa pine
tree. (Photograph by Rich Hofstetter. Used with permission.)

be observed on the underside of the bark that has fallen from the
dead tree. Bark beetles are food for birds such as brown creepers,
nuthatches, and woodpeckers.
Studies conducted by F. P. Keen in the 1940s that examined
the tree’s age, crown size, and position within a stand of trees
clearly showed that older ponderosas with poor canopies and
reduced growth rates were four times more likely to be killed
by bark beetles than younger trees with full canopies. Thus, in
addition to drought conditions and other stresses, overall age
and level of vigor of a tree are important factors that predispose
ponderosas to beetle attacks.
52 Bark Beetles

Plate 51. A ponderosa pine tree girdled and killed by bark beetles.

Beetles pick up fungal spores in their movements and carry

them along when they invade the tree. Signs of a fungal infec-
tion are a bluish discoloration on cut ends of stumps, logs, or
limbs spreading from the bark inward to the center of the tree
that was caused by the fungal hyphae (rootlike structures). The
fungus blocks the xylem and sapwood, eventually causing the
tree’s death. The fungus does not affect the strength of the wood,
and blue-stained wood is common at lumberyards.
Other Insects and Fungi 53

Other Insects and Fungi

In addition to bark beetles, a number of other beetles, moths,
aphids, and scale insects attack ponderosa pine trees, as do
numerous fungi. Every part of the tree from seeds to roots holds
some particular nutritional interest for insects and fungi. Some
team up, forming a mutualistic relationship, as the already men-
tioned bark beetle and the blue stain fungus do. The bark beetles
carry the fungus into the tree. The fungus blocks the production
of resin that the tree uses to defend against the beetle infection.
Both the beetle and the fungus benefit from the association. The
tree eventually dies.
The larvae of Pandora moths and ponderosa pine budworms
consume young needles. The Paiute Indians of California still
collect and eat Pandora moth larvae, which they call piuga. Lar-
vae of the western pine-shoot borer moth tunnel through the
center of new growth. Ponderosa pine seedworm moth larvae
consume seeds inside the closed cones. Phloem feeders such as
the black pineleaf scale insects and aphids pierce the plant tissues
and suck the sugars from the needles, which die and turn brown
on the branches. Fungi with such unusual names as needle blight,
gall rust, root rot, and heart rot also infect ponderosa pine trees.

Fire and Flood

Before Euro-Americans actively began to settle the southwestern
United States in the early 1870s, frequent forest fires reduced
accumulated litter and clustered seedlings, creating open, park-
like forests with abundant native grasses and wildflowers. The
pioneers’ cattle and sheep reduced the native grasses that had
supplied fuel for those low-intensity ground fires. Settlers sup-
pressed fires to protect their homes and ranches. Without peri-
odic low-intensity ground fires, needle and branch litter built
up beneath the trees. That concentrated litter provided fuel for
much hotter fires. Unthinned pine seedlings grew into thick
stands that provided ladders for fires to spread into the upper
crowns of older ponderosas.
Every year lightning starts hundreds of forest fires. Old pon-
derosas, with their thick fire-resistant bark, may survive many
fires, but they are also filled with volatile resins and will literally
54 Fire and Flood

explode during the hottest fires, throwing sparks for hundreds

of yards. Fire season is the most dreaded time for those who live
near the forest. In addition to lightning strikes the forests are
now at the mercy of humans, whether campers who carelessly
leave a campfire, or smokers who thoughtlessly toss their ciga-
rette butts into the forest, or arsonists.
During the summer of 2002 in east-central Arizona, the
Rodeo fire, started by an arsonist, merged with the Chediski fire,
which was started by a stranded motorist. The combined Rodeo-
Chediski fires consumed more than 468,000 acres. Nine years
later the Wallow fire, started accidentally when two campers mis-
managed their campfire, burned 538,000 acres in eastern Ari-
zona and western New Mexico. Floods followed both fires.
In the summer of 2010 a very careless human left a camp-
fire unattended. The resulting Schultz fire burned fifteen thou-
sand acres of trees on the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff
and threatened hundreds of homes. Firefighters from across the
country fought the fire for days and saved every home. Exactly
a month later, when the heavy summer monsoons began, the
dead trees on the denuded, blackened mountainsides could not
hold the soil in place, and torrents of rock-filled mud rushed into
the homes below. Floodwaters filled the streets, leaving behind
burned limbs, tree trunks, and boulders. Tragically, two young
girls drowned when the rushing waters eroded an embankment
along one of the many outlet channels.
It is the role of the Forest Service to manage the forests to min-
imize such devastating events. Forest Service managers determine
when to ban campfires and close national forests to camping and
other recreation because dry, windy conditions create a high risk of
fire. The Forest Service also conducts “prescribed” burns—some-
times called “controlled burns”—in areas with thickly built-up
litter and small unhealthy trees to reduce the kindling available
for much larger catastrophic fires. Prescribed burns should only
be conducted when weather conditions reduce the chance of the
fire becoming unmanaged and spreading. An example of an “out-
of-control” prescribed burn was the Cerro Grande fire around Los
Alamos, New Mexico, in 2000. High winds and drought circum-
stances spread the fire over forty-eight thousand acres. The huge
quantities of fuels that have accumulated in the ponderosa pine
forests of the southwestern United States mandate an increase in
controlled burns, but only when conditions are favorable.
Since the late 1980s, ecological restoration of ponderosa pine
forests in northern Arizona and the Colorado Plateau has been
Plate 52. Schultz fire, Flagstaff, Arizona, summer 2010. Photograph taken from the author’s neighborhood.
Note the orange glow of exploding yellowbelly ponderosas.
56 Fire and Flood

a major research project in the School of Forestry at Northern

Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, which is situated within
the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the world. Wally
Covington, a Regent’s Professor in the School of Forestry, and his
colleagues at NAU began this research. Over the years the research-
ers have examined hundreds of fire scars on living trees and old
stumps to reconstruct the fire history of ponderosa pine forests. It
was this research that determined that ponderosa pine forests in the
Southwest were once subject to frequent low-intensity ground fires.
A hundred years of fire suppression has created forests much
denser than those of the past. The ponderosa pine forest near
the San Francisco Peaks that C. Hart Merriam and Leonhard
Stejneger surveyed in the 1890s (see figure 1) was open and

Plate 53. Fire-scarred stump. These remnants can provide

valuable data to researchers reconstructing fire histories
within ponderosa pine forests.
Climate Change—It’s Real 57

parklike, with clumps of old trees and widely spaced younger

trees. Ponderosa pine forests in the southwestern United States
today have many more small trees growing in dense clusters, and
are thus more fire prone. Large accumulations of downed limbs
and discarded needles add to the problem. Without some thin-
ning of the smaller trees, thereby reducing limbs that serve as fire
ladders into the upper canopies of older trees, and the reduction
of the packed litter layer, catastrophic wildfires that can actually
replace whole stands of trees covering hundreds of square miles
will continue to burn southwestern forests.
The problem is not insoluble. Ponderosa pine forests similar
to those Merriam and Stejneger saw can be restored by selective
thinning of dense stands and prescribed burns to reduce the fuel
load. John Muir prescribed perhaps the best solution in a speech
he gave before the Sierra Club: “Few are altogether deaf to the
preaching of pine trees. Their sermons on the mountains go to
our hearts; and if people in general could be got into the woods,
even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficul-
ties in the way of forest preservation would vanish.”*

Climate Change—It’s Real

Climate change is irrefutable. Atmospheric temperatures are
increasing. Ocean water temperatures are increasing. Glaciers,
snowfields, and polar icecaps are melting. There is drought where
drought has been rare and increased flooding where flooding has
been rare. Large tropical storms, increased snowfalls in some
areas and decreased snowfalls in others, decreased snow reten-
tion, and warmer temperatures earlier and later than usual are
warning signs that our global climate is changing. Certainly the
Earth has experienced warming and cooling cycles since its origin,
but the current anthropogenic contributions of greenhouse gases
are unquestionably increasing global atmospheric temperatures.
The Earth is enveloped in a blanket of gases that absorb
heat and warm the surface, effectively creating an enormous
greenhouse. These gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide,

* John Muir, “The National Parks and Forest Reservations” (speech to the
Sierra Club, November 23, 1895), Sierra Club Bulletin 1 (7) (1896): 271–84,
at 282–83.
58 The Beginning (Not “The End”)

methane, and nitrous oxides. Though carbon dioxide is only

a minor component of the greenhouse gases, CO2 levels in the
atmosphere are of critical concern. Carbon dioxide is essential
for plants to perform photosynthesis, and it is released naturally
through respiration, lightning-caused forest fires, and volcanic
eruptions. The activities of humans, however, mainly through
our increased use of fossil fuels, have increased the amount of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to dangerous levels, which,
combined with large-scale deforestation, are creating an imbal-
ance that has contributed to climate change and threatens the
future of our planet.
Trees take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and incorpo-
rate it into cellulose (wood), thus removing the gas and storing
the carbon within the tree’s tissues. Forests are in a real sense
“carbon banks.” When trees are cut or destroyed by fire, the size
of the planet’s carbon bank diminishes. It seems obvious that
forests should be replanted so that carbon sequestration will con-
tinue. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmo-
sphere. Like deforestation, huge fires that destroy landscape-size
chunks of trees remove ever more photosynthetic surfaces and
also release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The
increased carbon dioxide traps ever more heat. Our greenhouse
is changing; it is out of balance.
We must intervene if we are to slow or halt the catastrophic
changes that appear to be in store for our home, our Earth.
Replanting forests helps to mediate carbon dioxide levels in the
atmosphere because the trees sequester the carbon, but much
more needs to be done. The United States must set an example
by moving aggressively into the use of renewable sources to sat-
isfy our energy needs.

The Beginning (Not “The End”)

A leisurely saunter in a ponderosa pine forest should fill your
senses with sounds, colors, textures, and smells. As you walked
this day, you heard the wind blowing through the treetops and
the sounds of the animals that call the ponderosa forests home.
You heard and felt the crunch of brown needles beneath your
feet. You saw green needles and cones, golden-orange bark, yel-
low pollen cones, and blackened fire scars. Your eyes feasted on
the brilliant panorama of wildflowers. If you were observant and
Plate 54. A saunter in a ponderosa pine forest.
60 The Beginning (Not “The End”)

in the forest during the right time, you saw winged seeds and
tiny seedlings. Maybe you paused to examine a pinecone and
saw the fascinating mathematical arrangement of its bracts. You
may have counted the growth rings of a stump to determine how
old the tree was when it was cut.
You observed the collective contributions of the myriad tiny
creatures and numerous fungi that assist in the decomposition of
the brown needles, old limbs, and downed trunks on the forest
floor. You allowed your fingers to explore the deep furrows of
the yellowbelly pines as you smelled the aromas of kitchen spices
exuding from the bark. You learned to identify blackjacks and
yellowbellies and squirrel digs. You spotted witches’ brooms and
sap wells created by sap- and insect-eating birds.
You now understand how fragile and yet how strong the mas-
sive ponderosa is. You know the forests are yours to enjoy and to
protect. Now you are ready to begin your own saunters through
the forest. Take friends and show them the true delights of saun-
tering in a ponderosa pine forest.

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.*

* John Muir. Steep Trails California—Utah—Nevada—Washington—Ore-

gon—The Grand Canyon, chap. 9, Mormon lilies, ed. William Frederic Bade,
May 1918.
Taxonomy and Scientific Name of
the Ponderosa Pine

Domain: Eukarya, organisms with a membrane-bound nucleus

Kingdom: Plantae, plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta, vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta, seed plants
Division: Coniferophyta, conifers
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae, pine family
Genus: Pinus, pine (C. Linnaeus 1753)
Subgenus: Pinus
Section: Pinus
Subsection: Ponderosae
species: ponderosa (Douglas ex. C. Lawson)*
Varieties: var. ponderosa (Pacific ponder-
osa pine); var. scopulorum (Rocky Moun-
tain ponderosa pine); and var. arizonica.

Ponderosa pine is listed within three forest types in the western

United States by the Society of American Foresters:
1. Type 237: Interior Ponderosa Pine (most widespread of the
three ponderosa pine forest types)
2. Type 244: Ponderosa Pine–Douglas-Fir
3. Type 245: Pacific Ponderosa Pine

* The scientific name of the ponderosa pine is Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex

C. Lawson. This indicates that David Douglas (Dougl.) assigned the name to
a specimen he collected. This was documented in the journal Douglas kept
from 1823 to 1827 during his travels in North America, but his description
was never formally published in any scientific paper. When Charles Lawson
(Laws.) and his father, Peter, published the name and description they credited
it to Douglas.

61
 Checklist of Some of the Mammals in
Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests
Mammal field guide suggestion: M. Elbrock, Mammal Tracks
.

and Sign: A Guide to North American Species (Mechanicsburg,

PA: Stackpole Books, 2003), 779 pp.

Name of Mammal Date Observed Additional Info

Abert’s squirrel*
Arizona gray squirrel
Black-tailed jackrabbit
Bobcat
Cottontail rabbit
Coyote
Elk
Golden-mantled
ground squirrel
Gray fox
Kaibab squirrel*
Long-eared myotis
Mountain lion
Mule deer
Pocket gopher
Porcupine
Raccoon
Red squirrel
Rock squirrel
Spotted bat
Spotted skunk
Striped skunk

* Both are tassel-eared squirrels.

62
 Checklist of Some of the Birds of the
Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests
Bird field guide suggestions: D. A. Sibley, The Sibley Field Guide
to Birds of Western North America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
2003), 472 pp.; J. L. Dunn and J. Alderfer, eds., National Geo-
graphic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 6th ed.
(Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2011), 574 pp.

Name of Bird Date Observed Additional Info

Acorn woodpecker
American robin
Broad-tailed hummingbird
Brown creeper
Common raven
Dark-eyed junco
Hairy woodpecker
Hermit thrush
House wren
Mountain chickadee
Mourning dove
Northern flicker
Northern goshawk
Pine siskin
Pygmy nuthatch
Red crossbill
Red-naped sapsucker
Red-tailed hawk
Steller’s jay
Western bluebird
Western tanager
White-breasted nuthatch
Yellow-rumped warbler

63
Brief History of the Establishment and
Responsibilities of the U.S. Forest Service

Motto of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS): “Caring for the land
and serving people.”

1876 The U.S. Congress formed the Office of Special Agent in

the Department of Agriculture to evaluate the conditions
of the forests in the United States. In 1901 this office
became the Division of Forestry.
1891 The Forest Reserve Act empowered the president to estab-
lish forest reserves on public domain lands.
1897 The Organic Act gave the U.S. Department of the Interior
and U.S. Geological Survey the authority to manage for-
est reserves while providing a continuous timber supply
for the nation.
1901 The Division of Forestry was established within the
Department of Agriculture.
1905 The U.S. Forest Service was created within the Depart-
ment of Agriculture.
1905–1910 Gifford Pinchot served as first chief of the Forest
Service during the Theodore Roosevelt administration.
He later was a two-term governor of Pennsylvania and
a well-known spokesperson for conservation ethics and
efforts.
1960 The Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act added additional
management priorities to the USFS such as recreation,
fish and wildlife, grazing, minerals, water, and wilderness
management.
1964 The Wilderness Act defined wilderness: “A wilderness, in
contrast with those areas where man and his own works
dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area
where the earth and community of life are untrammeled
by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not
remain.” Under this act thirty-five million acres of wil-
derness land would eventually be protected.

64
Brief History of the U.S. Forest Service 65

1970 The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was

the first major environmental law enacted by Congress
that aligned USFS decisions with NEPA environmental
guidelines.
1973 The Endangered Species Act provided for the conserva-
tion of endangered and threatened species of fish, wildlife,
and plants and caused the USFS to address endangered
and threatened species that might be living within pro-
posed timber sales.
1974 The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Plan-
ning Act required the secretary of agriculture to assess
the nation’s renewable resources every ten years.
1976 The National Forest Management Act addressed the
forests of the United States as renewable resources and
stressed a complete assessment of present and anticipated
demands, uses, and supplies of forests with respect to the
1960 Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act.
1978 The Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act revised the
authority of the USFS with regard to rural development,
forest products, conservation, recycling, watershed resto-
ration, and enhancement, both tribal and domestic.
Suggested Readings

Brennan, T. C., and A. T. Holycross. 2006. A Field Guide to Amphibians

and Reptiles in Arizona. Phoenix: Arizona Game and Fish Depart-
ment. 152 pp.
Darrow, K. 2006. Wild about Wildflowers. Glendale, AZ: Wildcat Pub-
lishing Company. 224 pp.
Degenhardt, W. G., C. W. Painter, and A. H. Price. 1996. Amphibians
and Reptiles in New Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mex-
ico Press. 507 pp.
Douglass, A. E. 1929. The secret of the Southwest solved by talkative
tree rings. National Geographic 56 (6): 736–70.
Dunn, J. L., and J. Alderfer, eds. National Geographic Field Guide to
the Birds of North America, 6th ed. Washington, DC: National Geo-
graphic Society, 2011. 574 pp.
Elbrock, M. 2003. Mammal Tracks and Sign: A Guide to North Amer-
ican Species. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. 779 pp.
Farjon, A. 2008. A Natural History of Conifers. Portland, OR: Timber
Press. 304 pp.
Friederici, P. 2003. Ecological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa
Pine Forests. Washington, DC: Island Press. 584 pp.
Jackson, J. P. 1979. The Biography of a Tree. Middle Village, NY: Jon-
athan David Publishers. 199 pp.
Mills, E. A. 1914. The Story of a Thousand-Year Pine. Boston: Hough-
ton Mifflin. 64 pp.
Muir, J. 1894. The Mountains of California. New York: New Century.
389 pp.
———. 1911. My First Summer in the Sierra. Cambridge, MA: River-
side Press. 160 pp.
Murie, O. J. 1998. A Field Guide to Animal Tracks. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt. 375 pp.
Murphy, A. 1994. Graced by Pines—the Ponderosa Pine in the Ameri-
can West. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press. 119 pp.
Palmer, A. W. 1911. The Mountain Trail and Its Message. Boston: Pil-
grim Press. Reprint, Fresno, CA: Sixth Street Press, 1997. 31 pp.
Sibley, D. A. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. 472 pp.
Spellenberg, R. 1979. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North Ameri-
can Wildflowers. Western Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 864 pp.
States, J. S. 1990. Mushrooms and Truffles of the Southwest. Tucson:
University of Arizona Press. 234 pp.
Wheelwright, J. 2006. Fire in the sky: Why America’s ecological trea-
sures sometimes just need to burn. Discover magazine (June).

67
Literature Consulted

Many of the papers and websites listed below have huge numbers of
references for the curious reader. Some references are listed in more
than one category.

Amphibians, Lizards, and Snakes of Ponderosa Pine Forests

Brennan, T. C., and A. T. Holycross. 2006. A Field Guide to Amphibians
and Reptiles in Arizona. Phoenix: Arizona Game and Fish Depart-
ment. 152 pp.
Degenhardt, W. G., C. W. Painter, and A. H. Price. 1996. Amphibians
and Reptiles in New Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mex-
ico Press. 431 pp.
Germaine, S. S., and H. L. Germaine. 2003. Lizard distributions and
reproductive succession in a ponderosa pine forest. Journal of Her-
petology 37 (4): 645–52.

Birds of the Ponderosa Pine Forests

Bassett, R. L., D. A. Boyce Jr., M. H. Reiser, R. T. Graham, and R. T. Reyn-
olds. 1994. Influence of site quality and stand density on goshawk
habitat in southwestern forests. Studies in Avian Biology 16: 41–45.
Covert-Bratland, T., C. Theimer, and W. M. Block. 2007. Hairy wood-
pecker winter roost characteristics in burned ponderosa pine forest.
Wilson Journal of Ornithology 111 (1): 43–52.
Farris, K. L., M. J. Huss, and S. Zack. 2004. The role of foraging wood-
peckers in the decomposition of ponderosa pine snags. Condor 106
(1): 50–59.
Ffolliott, P. F., C. L. Stropki, H. Chen, and D. G. Neary. 2009. Obser-
vations of bird numbers and species following a historic wildfire
in Arizona ponderosa pine forests. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada
Academy of Science 41 (1): 16–23.
Gaines, W. L., M. Haggard, J. F. Lehmkuhl, A. L. Lyons, and R. J. Har-
rod. 2007. Short-term response of land birds to ponderosa pine
restoration. Restoration Ecology 15 (4): 670–78.
Ganey, J. L., and S. C. Vojta. 2004. Characteristics of snags containing
excavated cavities in northern Arizona mixed-conifer and ponderosa
pine forests. Forest Ecology and Management 199: 323–32.
Griffis-Kyle, K. L., and P. Beier. 2002. Small isolated aspen stands enrich
bird communities in southwestern ponderosa pine forests. Biological
Conservation 110: 375–85.

69
70 Literature Consulted

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Account of the Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Amphibians in a
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A Literature Review. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report
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994–1000.
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in Idaho. Auk 90: 862–69.
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Merriam, C. H., and L. Stejneger. 1890. Results of a Biological Survey
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Dakota. Journal of Field Ornithology 71 (2): 187–206.
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Rosenstock, S. S. 1996. Habitat Relationships of Breeding Birds in

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Mountains of Oregon and Washington. Agriculture Handbook 553.
USDA Forest Service. 512 pp.
———. 1999. Dead wood: From forester’s bane to environmental boon.
In Proceedings of the Symposium on the Ecology and Management
of Dead Wood in Western Forests, tech. coords. W. F. Laudenslayer
Jr., P. J. Shea, B. E. Valentine, C. P. Weatherspoon, and T. E. Lisle, pp.
3–10. November 2–4, Reno, Nevada.

Silviculture in Ponderosa Pine Forests

Barrett, S. W., and S. F. Arno. 1988. Increment-Borer Methods for
Determining Fire History in Coniferous Forests. General Techni-
cal Report INT-244. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research
Station. 20 pp.
Briegleb, P. A. 1943. Growth of ponderosa pine by Keen tree class.
Forest Research Note 32. Pacific Northwest Forest Experiment Sta-
tion, Portland, OR. 16 pp. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/journals/
pnw_os_rn-032.pdf.
Callaham, R. Z., and J. W. Duffield. 1962. Heights of selected ponderosa
pine seedlings during 20 years. In Report from the Forest Genetics
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ment Commission Publication 22. Macon, GA.
Clapp, E. H. 1912. Silvicultural systems for western yellow pine. Pro-
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Fiske, J., and J. Tappeiner. 2005. An Overview of Key Silvicultural Infor-
mation for Ponderosa Pine. Technical Report PSW-GTR-198. USDA
Forest Service. 15 pp.
Fowells, H. A. 1956. Are ponderosa pine cone crops predictable? Jour-
nal of Forestry 54: 778–79.
Keen, F. P. 1943. Ponderosa pine tree classes redefined. Journal of For-
estry 41 (4): 249–53.
Literature Consulted 91

Maeglin, R. R. 1979. Increment Cores: How to Collect, Handle, and

Use Them. General Technical Report FPL 25. USDA Forest Service,
Forest Products Laboratory. 21 pp.
Minor, C. O. 1964. Site-index curves for young-growth ponderosa pine
in northern Arizona. U.S. Forest Service Research Note RM-37. Fort
Collins, CO: Rocky Mountain Forests and Range Experiment Sta-
tion. 8 pp.
Schubert, G. H. 1969. Ponderosa pine regeneration problems in the
Southwest. In Regeneration of Ponderosa Pine Symposium, ed. R. K.
Hermann, paper 681. Corvallis: Oregon State University School of
Forestry.
———. 1974. Silviculture of the southwestern ponderosa pine: The sta-
tus of our knowledge. USDA Forest Service Research Paper RM-123.
71 pp.
Timber harvesting methods. 2007. Maine Forestry. http://maineforestry
.net/Forestry%20Items/timber_hvt_methods.htm.
Trails of the Past: Historical overview of the Flathead National For-
est, Montana 1800–1960. No date. Forest History Society. USDA
Forest Service. http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Publications/
region/1/flathead/chap10.htm.

Snags in Ponderosa Pine Forests

Bottorff, J. 2009. Snags, coarse woody debris, and wildlife. Washington
State Department of Natural Resources. 5 pp. http://snohomish.wsu
.edu/forestry/documents/SNAGS.pdf.
Chambers, C. L., and J. N. Mast. 2005. Ponderosa pine snag dynamics
and cavity excavation following wildfire in northern Arizona. Forest
Ecology and Management 216: 227–40.
Ganey, J. L., and S. C. Vojta. 2004. Characteristics of snags containing
excavated cavities in northern Arizona mixed-conifer and ponderosa
pine forests. Forest Ecology and Management 199: 323–32.
Keen, F. P. 1955. The rate of natural falling of beetle-killed ponderosa
pine snags. Journal of Forestry 53 (10): 720–23.
Neitro, W. A., R. W. Mannan, D. Taylor, V. W. Binkley, B. G. Marcot,
F. F. Wagner, and S. P. Cline. Snags (wildlife trees). http://www.fs.fed
.us/r6/nr/wildlife/animalinn/hab_wlsnag.htm.
Nickens, T. E. 2002. Snags and widowmakers. Wild things. Backpacker
30 (204): 29.
Schmid, J. M., S. A. Mata, and W. F. McCambridge. 1985. Natural fall-
ing of beetle-killed ponderosa pine. USDA Forest Service Research
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Experiment Station. 4 pp.
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92 Literature Consulted

Spiral Growth
Kuber, H. 1991. Function of spiral grain in trees. Trees 5: 125–35.
Northcott, P. L. 1957. Is spiral grain the normal growth pattern. Forest
Chronicle 33 (4): 335–52.

Uses of Ponderosa Pines

Joye, N. M. Jr., A. T. Proveaux, R. V. Lawrence, and R. L. Barger. 1969.
Naval stores products from ponderosa pine stumps. Industrial and
Engineering Chemistry Product Research Development 8 (3): 297–99.
Kurth, E. F., and J. K. Hubbard. 1951. Extractives from ponderosa pine
bark. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 43 (4): 896–900.
Moerman, D. E. 1998. Native American Ethnobotany. Portland, OR:
Timber Press. 927 pp.
Ostlund, L., L. Ahlberg, O. Zackrisson, I. Bergman, and S. Arno. 2009.
Bark-peeling, food stress, and tree spirits—the use of pine inner bark
for food in Scandinavia and North America. Journal of Ethnobiol-
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Ponderosa pine. Lewis and Clark Historic Trail. U.S. Department of the
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Wildflower Guides for the Southwest

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Index

Page numbers in bold indicate a conelet, 18, 19, 19. See also
diagram, figure, or photograph. pinecone
conifer, 10, 19, 27, 32, 46, 47, 61
angiosperm, 10, 11 cork cambium, 26, 27
aspen, xvii, 46 crossbill, 20
cross-dating, 14
bark, xiii, 3, 11, 44, 46, 47, 50, cross section, 26, 27
53, 58, 60; effect of lightning
on, 17, 18; formation of, 26; dbh (diameter at breast height), 12
loosened, 29, 32; plates, 12; deciduous trees, 10, 32
and tassel-eared squirrels, 4. deer, 3, 4, 22, 43, 46. See also
See also bark beetle mule deer
bark beetle, 28, 50–53, 51; galler- deer mice, 38
ies, 50, 51 dendrochronology, 14, 15
bat, 3, 32, 33, 38 dendromorphometry, 17
blackjack, xiii, 11, 11–17, 60 Devils Tower National Monu-
bract, 9, 10, 19–21, 20, 60 ment, 50
bristlecone, 46 Devonian period, 10, 10
brown creeper, 12, 51 dog-hair thicket, 23, 23
Bryce Canyon National Park, 50 Dominguez-Escalante Expedi-
bud, 17, 18, 22, 25, 26 tion, 9
Douglas, David, 9, 61
callus, 44 Douglass, A. E., 14
camping, xiii, 5, 41, 43, 54 drip line, 35
Canyon de Chelly National duff layer, 25
Monument, 14 Dutton, Clarence, xvii
carbon bank, 58
carbon dioxide, 58; as green- ecological restoration, 54
house gas, 57, 58; and photo- Euro-Americans, settlement by, 53
synthesis, 25
centipede. See insect false truffle, 3, 4, 35, 36
Chaco Culture National Histori- fascicle, 24, 24, 25
cal Park, 44, 44 fermentation layer, 25
chlorophyll, 25, 47 Fibonacci sequence, 19, 21, 21
Chuska Mountains, 44 fire, 3, 14, 25, 26, 31, 48, 53–54,
Clark, William, 9 55, 56–57, 58; and lightning,
Clark’s nutcracker, 20 29; scars, 28, 43, 44, 56; and
climate change, 5, 57–58 seedlings, 22–24
cone, pine. See pinecone Flagstaff, Arizona, 3, 7, 14, 46,
cone-bearers, 9–10 54, 56

93
94 Index

fungus, epigeous, 37, 37 Merriam, C. Hart, xvii, 2, 56, 57

fungus, hypogeous, 35, 36, 37 Mesa Verde National Park, 14, 50
millipede. See insect
gall rust, 53 Mills, Enos, 22
Gambel oak, 39, 46 mistletoe, dwarf, 47, 48, 48,
girdling, 28, 29 49, 50
goshawk. See under hawk Muir, John, xiii, 3, 12, 24, 57, 60
granary tree, 38, 40 mule deer, 39, 48. See also deer
grass, 23, 46, 47, 53 mushroom, 5, 35, 37, 37
greenhouse gas, 57, 58. See also mutualism, 35
carbon dioxide mycorrhizal association, 35
gymnosperm, 9, 10
national forests, 15, 43, 54
harvestmen. See spider national parks, 7, 29, 41, 42, 50
hawk, 32; goshawk, 32. See also Native Americans, xvii, 20, 43.
raptor See also Pueblo Indians
heartwood, 26, 27, 27–29 natural selection, 4, 18
hiking, xiii, 5, 7, 41 naval stores, 33–35
needle, xiv, 10, 12, 17, 24, 40, 46,
increment borer (tree-coring tool), 58, 60; blight, 53; and fire, 57;
12, 13 growth of, 24–25; and insects
insect, 3, 12, 22, 30, 31–33, 34, and fungi, 37, 53; and litter,
39, 41, 50, 53, 60. See also 29, 53; and photosynthesis,
bark beetle; spider 25, 26–27; scent of, 33; and
seedlings, 22–24
juniper, xvii, 46 nuthatch, 12, 51

Keen, F. P., 51 owl, 32, 38

knot, 29
Palmer, Albert W., xiii
Laboratory of Tree Ring parasite, 47, 48
Research, 14, 43 phloem, 26–28, 33, 47, 48;
lava: aa 49; pahoehoe, 49 feeders, 50, 51, 53
Lewis, Meriwether, 9 photosynthesis, 17, 25, 26, 35, 58
life zone, xvii pinecone, xiv, 5, 9, 10, 18–20, 20,
lightning, 3, 17, 17, 18, 29, 43, 21, 22, 26, 53; and Fibonacci
50, 53, 54, 58. See also fire sequence, 21, 21, 60; and
limber pine, 46 squirrels, 3, 4, 20, 23. See also
litter layer, 5, 20, 21, 22, 25, 29, conelet; pollen cone
36, 37, 40, 41; and fire, 24, pinyon, xvii, 20, 46
53, 54, 57 pinyon jay, 20
livestock, 41; grazing, 5, 41, 64 pollen, 17, 18, 21, 22. See also
lizard, 40, 40, 41. See also reptile pollen cone
logging, 41, 44 pollen cone, 4, 17, 21, 58
Lowell Observatory, 7, 14 prescribed burn, 54, 57
Index 95

prickle, 5, 9, 20, 20. See also spore, 4, 5, 35, 36, 37, 52

pinecone spruce, xvii, 46
Pueblo Bonito 14, 44 squirrel, tassel-eared, 3, 4, 5,
Pueblo Indians, 44 38, 43, 48, 60; effect of, on
seedlings, 22, 23; food sources
raptor, 32, 32, 38. See also hawk of, 5, 20, 22, 35, 46, 48; and
reptile, 40. See also lizard; snake hypogeous fungi, 35, 36, 37,
resin, 13, 20, 27, 29, 34, 35, 44, 37; shelter, 32
50, 53 Steller’s jay, 3, 38, 39, 46
riparian area, 28, 40 stomata, 25
rock types: igneous, 49, 50; stump, 40, 41, 45, 46, 52; and
metamorphic, 49; sedimentary, bark thickness, 26; and fire
49, 50 scars, 56, 56; and growth rings,
root, 4, 17, 25, 26, 27, 35–37, 41, 14, 15, 60; and resin, 34, 35
50, 53; lateral 35, 36; taproot, summerwood, 13
35, 36 Sunset Crater Volcano National
roost, 32, 33, 38 Monument, 36, 49
rosin, 34 Swetnam, Thomas, 43
rot: heart, 53; root, 53
ruins, Aztec, 14 taxonomy, of ponderosa pine, 61
terpene, 34
scar, tree, 43, 43–44; cat face, 44; tick. See insect
fire, 28, 28, 44, 56, 56, 58; leaf, tree-coring tool. See increment
24, 25; lightning, 17 borer
San Francisco Peaks, xvii, 2, 7, 7, tree ring, 12, 13, 14, 14, 15, 43
46, 54, 56 turkey, 38, 39, 46
sapsucker, 33, 34 turpentine, 34
sap well, 33, 34, 60
sapwood, 18, 26, 27, 27, 28, 52 vascular cambium, 26, 27, 27
seed, 4, 10, 17, 21, 22, 23, 39,
41, 53; dwarf mistletoe, 48; Walnut Canyon National Monu-
mullein, 47; naked, 9; winged, ment, 49
18–20, 47, 60. See also seedling witches’ broom, 47–48, 48, 60
seedling, 3, 22–23, 23, 25, 53, 60. woodpecker, 31, 32, 33, 34, 38,
See also seed 40, 51
Sierra Club, xiii, 24, 57
self-pruning, 29 xylem, 13, 18, 26, 27, 27, 52
snag, 3, 29, 30 31; and cavities,
32; as roost, 32 yellowbelly, xiv, 11, 11–13, 15,
snake, 41, 41. See also reptile 15, 23, 34, 55, 60
spider, 3, 12, 41 Yosemite National Park, 29
spiral growth, 17, 17, 18
springwood, 13 Zion National Park, 42, 50
About the Author

Dr. Sylvester Allred taught more than twenty thousand stu-

dents during his twenty-seven years as a biology professor at
Northern Arizona University while also conducting research on
the ecology and reproductive biology of tassel-eared squirrels
within the ponderosa pine forests of the southwestern United
States. He is the author of five children’s books and The Natural
History of Tassel-Eared Squirrels. One of his children’s books,
Rascal, the Tassel-Eared Squirrel, is about the first year of life
of a tassel-eared squirrel living in the ponderosa pine forests at
the Grand Canyon. He and his wife, Donna, moved to Durango,
Colorado, in September 2012.