The Sugar Cone Pine - Pinus lambertiana

Today’s tree video is about the Sugar Cone Pine. This was filmed in the El Dorado National Forest at about the 5500 foot elevation. The Sugar Cone is the largest of the pines and the cones can reach a length of 2 feet. The tallest trees can reach around 250’ and 8 feet in diameter. I also need to recognize the great work of the the Sugar Pine Foundation. Pine blister rust has reduced the percentage of Sugar Pines in the Tahoe basin from 25% to 5%. Thankfully 3-5% of Sugar Pines are resistant to this disease. The Sugar Pine Foundation collects the seeds from these resistant trees and through partnerships with foresters and awesome volunteers have planted 20,000 trees! They are a non profit and should be considered for financial support from us tree huggers. I also mentioned in the video that Sugar Pines have the smoothest bark in the Pinus genus. The high elevation pines, Whitebark Pine, and especially Lodgepole Pine are also smooth barked pines. The Lodgepole has the smooth flaky ch