Western White Pine (Pinus monticola)

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The white pine is Idaho's state tree, and it is a species with an interesting history. Prized as a commercial species because of a long straight trunk that runs free of branches for up to two-thirds of the tree's length, the white pine was decimated by a disease called blister rust. Blister rust is a fungus that was imported in 1910 on French white pine ornamental shrubs. Forest geneticists have worked diligently over the years to develop a strain of western white pine that is resistant to blister rust. Today, reforestation efforts are underway throughout the tree's historic range -- northern Idaho, southern British Columbia, western Montana, and other areas -- in an effort to reestablish the western white pine. The reforestation effort is hampered by the presence of firs and other trees that took over the western white pine's range when that species died back.

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