​The Ponderosa Pine

Just a couple of days ago I went into the forest to gather balsam to make my wreaths as I do every thanksgiving weekend –weather permitting. It was a beautiful mild, sunny morning as I cut the boughs giving thanks to the trees while breathing in the intoxicating scent of sweet balsam. Some years I also add fir boughs to my baskets for thicker wreaths. But because I have been in Abiquiu for the past four winters I have missed balsam too much to blend scents this year.
 
While tipping, my mind wandered back to the Pedernal, the place I have gone to gather greens for wreaths while living in Abiquiu. The Pedernal is one of my favorite haunts. My dogs and I have spent so many hours exploring the mountain where the Navajo “Changing Woman” was born. I suppose it was natural that I would choose to gather my greens and pine cones from there…
 
There are many evergreen trees to choose from but I learned that fir boughs made the best wreaths. For cones, I deliberately sought out the Ponderosa pines; these seeds littered the open forest floor. Every year some found home on wreaths or elsewhere around the casita.

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Although I never chose Ponderosa boughs for a wreath (even if I could have reached them – seedlings I don’t touch) I loved being in the company of these tall stately pines.  
 
Their bark is very distinctive making them easy to separate from other species. I would describe the bark as reddish in hue; the bark is also broad plated with dark crevices in between. It is also very thick which makes an adult tree somewhat fire resistant. Sources differ on the scent of Ponderosa pines. Some state that the bark smells like turpentine, which could reflect the dominance of terpenes (alpha- and beta-pinenes, and delta-3-carene). Pinenes are natural bronco dilators – they also purify the air. Although quite fragrant, the bark does not smell like turpentine to me. I loved to run my hands over the rough texture of these trunks while gazing up to the long needled branches swaying high above my head. These trees can attain a height of more than 200 feet if allowed to do so. Sometimes during the warmer months I would eat my lunch sitting under one of these trees listening to the sounds their needles made as they conversed with the wind.
 
Ponderosa pines comprise a plant community that thrives at about 7000 – to 9000 feet; they are native to western states. This tree is the most widely distributed pine species in the mountainous region of North America. The trees are shade intolerant so they are an important eco – region for some wildlife, some shrubs, and some grasses, a few only thrive in this habitat. I have found wild lupine and bearberry growing on the ground beneath these pines. Grazing animals like deer and elk visit this habitat regularly. I was walking down hill through a grove of Ponderosa pines when I spotted my first bear who stayed still long enough to stare into my eyes and listen to my greeting before disappearing into a cluster of boulders.
 
Ponderosa pine regenerates by seed, with cones maturing in a two-year cycle. The tree flowers from April to June of the first year, and cones mature and shed seeds in August and September of the second year.
 
 One reason this pine can grow on dry sites is that it has a vigorous root system. The vitality and regeneration of a grove or forest depends on ample seeds, adequate moisture, and a temperature of 55 °F. Once the seed germinates, it grows a twenty - inch taproot deep into the ground. No small feat that.
The trees do need some water however (at least 12 – 14 inches of rain), and will suffer root damage without it.
 
There is one squirrel that only lives in this community who feeds on the seed cones. The Aberts squirrel has adapted to the chemicals that Ponderosa pine produces for protection from insects (including the bark beetle) by targeting the trees with the lowest chemical levels! I never came across one of these squirrels but I met a couple of white breasted and pygmy nuthatches more than once. Turkeys were also a common sight on our outings, which sort of surprised me. Apparently, Mountain lions can be found in these forests although I never saw signs of them on the Pedernal.
 
 While researching for this article I learned something I did not want to know: In 1953, a nuclear test was performed in which 145 Ponderosa pines were cut down by the United States Forest Service and transported to a Nevada test site where they were re-planted in the ground and exposed to a nuclear blast to see what the blast wave would do to a forest.  “The trees were partially burned and partially blown over.” No kidding. As a person who loves trees and spends three winter months honoring all evergreens I find this inability to see a tree as a living being reprehensible.
 
This year I will be seeking cones for my wreaths from the Northern red pine that reminds me of the Ponderosa pine - it has similar bark and cones - while remembering the Pedernal. ​