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 characteristics that a very mature Sugar Pine often takes on. Check out my other tree videos to learn about these and other trees of the Sierra.

[@sacramentofoodforest]

I really enjoyed this video man. Thank you for sharing your knowledge 🙏🏻

[@trailkrum6750]

Absolutely love Sierra Nevada pine trees! Moved to Norway a year ago. Brought along a small pine cone collection: sequoia, ancient bristlecone, and of course one sugar pine. Later in life I look forward to bring them back to the places where I found them. Big fan of your tree videos and Sierra snow reports :)

[@ApeMan]

I have cones from a sugar pine, coulter pine, jeffrey pine and a Sequoia sitting on a shelf in the living room. Norway is beautiful and I hope to visit soon but they don't have the pine forests we have here. Latest snow report is bleak but I always wait because things can change with late season storms. Tuolumne Meadows has only 2 feet of snow right now with bare spots already showing. I was at 6k in the northern Sierra yesterday and absolutely no snow. Snow level starts at about 7k and we are 45% of normal so pray for snow for us!

[@swithinbarclay4797]

Some ski resorts that rely heavily on snowmaking, when Mother Nature refuses her end of the deal, are already closed, and only the topsides of Squaw Valley and Heavenly Valley would be open. Fire Season already looks to be EARLY, LONG, and SAVAGE!

[@ApeMan]

@@swithinbarclay4797 It's still too early to call. There is always a chance of another miracle March!

[@swithinbarclay4797]

But, without that "miracle", also be prepared for more Ponderosa decimation. USFS should be storing up MANY warehouse-loads of Phero-traps, to protect Ponderosas from beetles, like, uh, yesterday. And it will be a staggering chore, to deploy 'em all, out in the field. Speaking about fire, "modern" man not knowing the proper role of fire, is ALSO a big reason for this mess. The forest has grown far too thickly, over a Hundred years or so, precisely where it ought NOT to be thick. More sparsely spaced mature trees have a better chance to make a stand and survive. Smoky the Bear has to cleverly restate his message.

[@nathanaelmedina2775]

This is my kind of guy. Love it. I’m an arborist and sugar pines are my very favorite tree. They have 40-50 foot limbs when old and grow quite tall so they are a pleasure to climb.

[@ApeMan]

As a fellow arborist your comment is much appreciated. There is nothing like a mature sugar pine!

[@CaliforniaClassicCar]

Your scratching my road trip itch ... Mariposa has many memories as a Scout ... Keep on Truckin

[@JustinMcKinneyhiker]

Another great tree !! Thanks for sharing your knowledge

[@mobiltec]

Love your tree tutorials...

[@charlienancy9768]

Your knowledge is awesome. Thanks for sharing your many years of expertise with all of us.

[@ApeMan]

I am an amateur but am always looking to learn and share about trees. I've spent my whole life playing in the Sierra and really hadn't tried to learn more about the flora and fauna until the past 15 years or so. Books and classes are great but for me being able to be out and about in the mountains is the best way to learn.

[@goldenratio5117]

Love these trees. Got a few on my acres in NorCal around 2600'

[@nickwatland4215]

just got a job as a forest technician identifying trees. Thanks for the info !!

[@ApeMan]

What a fantastic job. Congratulations!

[@claudevilleneuve4825]

Wow, what a great exposure. I will pay attention to these great monuments to my next visit in the Sierra. You have a great talent for presenting. That was an exhaustive and interesting review. Thank you!

[@ApeMan]

Thank you! I just love the trees and am happy it shows in my videos.

[@NeuroPulse]

Beauties.

[@concerned1313]

I found one just East of the Freeman Creek Grove and measured it at 6 1/2 feet of diameter. As I attempt to visit all the Sequoia Groves (10 so far) I will keep an eye out for the Sugar Pine. The Freeman Creek Grove is my favorite so far of the 10 groves and have visited it about 6 or 7 times. I have added your video to a folder and turned it into a reference video for later too. Good job and thank you!

[@ApeMan]

I'm not familiar with the Freeman Creek Grove - thanks for the tip. 6 1/2 feet is an incredibly large Sugar Pine! If you make it to Calaveras Big Trees Grove keep an eye out for the largest Sugar Pine at 8 foot diameter and it is in fact the largest by mass Sugar Pine in the world.

[@concerned1313]

@@ApeMan So, which grove? There is the South Calaveras and the North Calaveras. And then where approximately? The one I saw and measured is about a 1/4 mile east of the Bush Tree on the trail out to the road 22S82. I ususally hike into the main part of the grove on this trail from the paved road. The Freeman Creek Grove is the most eastern grove of all the groves and it is a couple of miles west of the Kern River off of 22S82. There are some trees in the grove that I have yet to attempt to explore and I have yet to do the whole maintained trail which I plan to do this summer. Take care and thanks again!

[@ApeMan]

@@concerned1313 The current Champion Sugar Pine by bulk is in the south grove in Calaveras Big Trees. There were some larger ones that recently died and some others that rivaled the current tree. I haven't seen it but am definitely going to try to get out there soon. Here is a fascinating article about this tree. www.americanforests.org/blog/quest-for-a-new-champion-sugar-pine/

[@swithinbarclay4797]

"Concerned", I mentioned it somewhere in the Posts for this vid, but the Freeman Grove is PARTICULARLY REMARKABLE, for butting up against high mountain desert, where Sequoias actually mingle at the Grove's Eastern Perimeter, with Single-Leaf Pinons, Juniper desert species, Yucca, cactus, and, possibly, JOSHUA TREES!

[@concerned1313]

@@swithinbarclay4797 There are no Joshua Trees or cactus there. Yucca yeah maybe, I will keep my eye out for them and know exactly what they are. Being the most eastern grove, along with touching the beginning of the desert and the "winds" there are the 3 big draws. I got a house about an hour and change from there and it is so very uncrowded that that makes it a "slam-dunk" in regards to to it being my favorite grove. I just started to explore that one and I have been there at least a half dozen times. There is plenty of black oak, white fir, red fir, incense cedars and again sugar pines. The chaparral I am just beginning to identify. Finally, there is a great steak house about 45 minutes from the eastern access to the grove on the Kern River called McNally's. Take care...

[@Jona_Villa]

Top video 👍🏻

[@brianpowell5082]

I am glad to see that you've featured one of my favorite trees! When I am in the yellow pine belt of my local Southern California Mountains, I pay a lot of homage to/ these trees in my videos also! The Kern River Ranger District and Great Western Divide Ranger District in Sequoia National Forest, just west o/f the Kern Plateau has magnificent specimens as well. And, there are great places to see them in my area in Southern California as well. The Pine Mountain area in Ventura County (near Reyes Peak and Reyes Peak Campground) has some magnificent specimens mixed in with White Fir, Jeffrey Pine, and occasional Incense-Cedar and Pacific Ponderosa Pine. The west slopes of the San Jacinto Mountains east of the Los Angeles Basin have TONS of these stately trees! The Vivian Creek Trail in the San Bernardino National Forest (San Gorgonio Wilderness) has some huge Sugar Pines. The crest of the largely desert range, the Santa Rosa Mtns south of the San Jacinto range, also has magnificent stands of Sugar Pine! Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, east of San Diego used to have gargantuan Sugar Pines aged over 900 years old before the 2003 Cedar Fire ripped through! Some places where the slope aspect is sharply contrasted, I will see Sugar Pines a stone's throw from Singleleaf Pinyon! As long as I live, I will have the highest reverence for these trees. Keep up the fantastic work on your tree spotlights!!!!!!

[@ApeMan]

Thanks Brian. I never realized the Socal forests had such nice trees. Thank God 3-5% of the Sugar Pines are genetically resistant to blister rust. That west slope is where the Sugar Pines thrive and some of the biggest I have seen grow with Sequoias. They seem to prefer old growth areas to get really large. My favorite trees are the ones that grow up in the Alpine Zones. I know you would really enjoy getting out in the backcountry and seeing some of the high altitude flora and fauna.

[@brianpowell5082]

Our trees are not quite as large as the Sierra trees, but we do have some large trees in the more mesic areas! A lot of our trees were logged 100+ years ago during the ore mining, and build-up and metropolitization of L.A. and San Diego, so old-growth forests can be quite a rare find down here. There is a lot of younger forest down here, so the trees haven't had such a long time to mature fully! I have seen several of our Sugar Pines in So Cal with a small sign on them stating that they are trees being tested for their blister rust resistance. I have seen the same small signs placed on the Western White Pines near Sherman Pass as well. Luckily, we have not had the same recent degree of die-off as experienced in the Sierra, as Jeffrey Pine is our predominant forest tree. Parts of the west slope near Sequoia Nat'l Park and Sequoia NF have been decimated with terrible Ponderosa/Sugar Pine die-offs. Parts of Highway 190/107 between Camp Nelson and Trail of 100 Giants have seen terrible death tolls with Ponderosa and Sugar Pines, and even a heavy die-off of Sierra Lodgepole Pines near the town of Ponderosa and the Trail of 100 Giants! Then, I go towards the Kern Plateau and the trees are much healthier, like the Jeffrey Pine, Western White Pine, Lodgepole and Southern Foxtails, and Red/White Firs! For the most part, the Sugar Pines are faring pretty well here in So Cal, but we have had some die-off here and there, also with Pacific Ponderosa Pine, sometimes heavy in spots, but the drought hardy Jeffrey Pines have been quite resistant. As for the high elevations, I love to be around the Limber, Lodgepole, Foxtail, Western White Pines, and would love to finally see the Whitebark Pine and Mountain Hemlock, but the only time I would really like to be above timberline is if climbing a peak, as I truly get the most enjoyment being in the forest!!

[@ApeMan]

Brian Powell The krummholz trees up high can be pretty amazing. The symbiotic relationship between the Clarks Nutcracker and the WhiteBark Pines is fascinating and fun to watch. I’m lucky as there are several high highway passes that allows me to see these trees with minimal hiking. But you have the Limber and Bristlecones down there that I can’t see without a very long drive. The gold rush took a heavy toll on our local forests but the hard to reach backcountry offers many areas untouched by the timber hungry prospectors and early settlers. Where I live the foothills were once a vast forest of incense cedar that was clear cut by miners and has been transformed into mostly an oak woodland. California history and trees are very intertwined!

[@brianpowell5082]

@@ApeMan We have krummholz Limber Pines and Lodgepole Pines, with an occasional Jeffrey Pine on our higher summits. In the San Gabriel Mountains just outside of Los Angeles, Mt San Antonio (Mt Baldy) has krummholz Lodgepole Pines with a few Jeffrey Pines near its 10,064' summit, while Mt. San Gorgonio (11,502') in the San Bernardino Mountains has both Lodgepole and Limber Pines growing as krummholz. The winds are fierce on these summits, and gives us Southern Californians a subalpine (even alpine on San Gorgonio) treat! The Bristlecones are quite a way from me as well, up in Inyo/Mono Counties, or near Vegas at Mt. Charleston and the Spring Mountains. Definitely, it is true about trees and history!

[@swithinbarclay4797]

Brian, STAY TUNED, above, for my little discussion about Sugars--"details at eleven".

[@CR-di1lg]

Another great video. I like you filmed a little more of the area then just you (no offence) including the ground I would mind more of that so people like me who has not been to the area get a better sense the beautiful places the trees live in.

[@ApeMan]

No offense taken. Some of my videos are taken on a hike up a mountain or trail and I don't take the time to film more. This one was a drive up location so presented a better filming and time opportunity. I will keep that in mind on future videos.

[@swithinbarclay4797]

Well, "Ape", some trees and their locations, one MUST keep those an absolute secret. Say one of your professional colleagues gives you a lead on where to find "Hyperion", the tallest Coastal Redwood, at almost 400' tall. You, may of course visit "her", stroke her bark and indeed marvel at "her" superlative delights. You might get a highly irritating itch to video "her", though I would think that you would NOT, as you, like myself, would want to PROTECT "her", from some psychotic(s), armed with (a) 48"+ bar chainsaw(s).

[@ApeMan]

@@swithinbarclay4797 I hear it's quite the ordeal getting to Hyperion and the secret is very safe. The best hint I will give you is it's located in northeastern California. LOL. The oldest Bristlecone's precise location is also a closely guarded secret. The good news is there are others as yet undiscovered!

[@Karen-dq8nw]

Please do all the firs and oaks too.

[@ApeMan]

I will. This is an ongoing project and I've been cherry picking some of my favorites but I will get to them all eventually. I will try to do a fir for my next video.

[@nevadahiker6661]

There were more different species of trees in that one area then there are in my entire homestate of Alaska (or at least it seems that way!) The only trees we had were black and white spruce and cottonwood. And the cones were roughly the size of a thumb. We used to throw the cones at each other as kids! Moving to the Sierras and seeing sugar and Coulter pine cones is fascinating!

[@ApeMan]

Alaska makes up for it in other ways. I floated the Gulkana River and although the trees consisted of mostly stunted Spruce, the mountains, eagles, fishing and moose were incredible. I learned about swampy bogs everywhere too and that Alaskan mosquitoes are no competition to our Sierra swarms! I need to go back but am pretty content playing in the Sierra.

[@swithinbarclay4797]

Gulkana?? My grandfather was a construction camp supervisor up that way, for the AlCan Highway, in the late '30's, till his unit completed their section, just in time to make the highway usable, for FDR's Lend-Lease, to win the war in both the Pacific and European Theatres. They were told to be on the lookout for krauts coming in from Scandinavia! The Canadian gov't. actually did intercept some SS agents around these parts, tortured them, and beat them to death, after they yielded the info that The Crown needed, and sent the films of the grisly executions, to Hitler, with the note, "This is the greatest comedy that you will ever watch, Addi!". He then ordered a reprisal execution of some 200 British Empire and American POW's.

[@trondsi]

That's a nice sugar pine. Is it just me or do they smell sweet as well? Whenever I pick up the cones, I get the most delicious pine whiff from them.

[@ApeMan]

You are right they smell sweet especially on a warm day.

[@jasonliddicoat4090]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge about these beautiful trees we have in Ca. I have some family property in the sierras and have always been curious about identifying the different types of conifers on my property. Is there anyway i can send you some pics and you could help me identify the species? Thank you. Love the videos.

[@ApeMan]

jason liddicoat Sure. Send them to [e-mail] If possible a picture of a cone, the bark and the pine needles. How many needles to a bundle?

[@user-zj5sg2rk6i]

👍🌲👏👏

[@user-dd2hy5kq8d]

👌👍

[@user-Rodomir_Tarh]

Прекрасные сосны, раздобыть бы семена.

[@swithinbarclay4797]

Suuwweet trees, indeed! Long before Douglas, Menzies, Coulter, Jeffrey--try 340+ years ago--Hudson Bay Company (an "unofficial" fourth branch of the British Empire--later Commonwealth--government) operatives. and some French explorers, these people may have been the first Europeans to see Sugars, on their most Southwestern exploits, and Lewis & Clark undoubtedly may have seen some, too, depending on their route. As an aside, Sir Francis Drake may have seen Redwoods, landing just North of San Francisco Bay, way long before the Spaniards and Russians (Fort Ross) did. To see groves of Sugars that approach species purity, probably the most popular highway stretch is 89, along the West Shore of Tahoe; species purity never drops much below 45%. Along 4, there's supposed to be sizeable pure pockets North of Dorrington, with a few colossal Sugar Champions to boot! I have personal recollections of near-pure stands (along with Champion White Firs an Champion Aspens), growing in the alluvial flats of Merced and Washburn Lakes of LYV. The lowest elevation Sugar that I ever saw, was along 120, between Priest and Big Oak Flat, perhaps 2.6K'. It was standing amidst chemise/ceanothus chaparral, part of an isolated copse. They grow quite close to the Bay Area, just North of Calistoga, all the way into Lake County, at higher elevations. There were splendid trees, that I saw a LONG time ago, ascending Cobb Mountain, long before they were destroyed in the Valley Fire. You will see some on Mt. St. Helena, too. Eastern Whites once grew to the same size, and looked much the same, with their gangly-rangly limbs, so that HBC operatives throughout the 18th Century probably ignored them as such, when Oregon was then part of the British Empire. "Ape", I may have mentioned this in other Posts to your vids, but the British Army and Navy marked many trees, particularly Eastern Whites, with the King's Blaze, which meant Death by Summary Execution (to anyone not a government crew), that vandalized or cut them down. Those trees were earmarked for the construction of Naval warships, and to build homes and furniture for the Nobility. So, I'm wondering if any Sugars, conceivably had the King's Blaze inscribed on their boles, that went to Royal Naval construction yards in Vancouver?? Yes, Sugars fill much the same functions, as do both Eastern and Western Whites, in the Forest Products Industries. Some of the furniture made from these, has a delightful rosy blush and sheen, about it, and, the wood is also craved by pipe organ builders, for the resonance and tonal crispness, that rivals Spruces and Redwoods in the making of Pipes. Perhaps they ought to try Sugars, for the sounding boards of pianos and guitars. The tune that you should have opened this with, should have been Montrose's HARD ROCKER, "You're My Candy"!

[@ApeMan]

Montrose? Wow you are betraying your actual age again! As mentioned before, trees in the west played a very active and interesting role in history. That 89 route remains quite interesting for large trees all the way up to the Graegle area but the Tahoe section is indeed special. My Jeffrey / Ponderosa pine video was filmed there on the lower slopes of Mt Tallac. There are 3 routes up Tallac and they are surprisingly different by exposure. The locals secret trail up the south facing slope has some amazing gnarled junipers. The Tahoe basin Sugar Pine have been decimated by blister rust. The Sugar Pine Foundation has done an amazing job of collecting seeds from genetically resistant trees and has planted 20k new seedlings. Sugar Pines once made up 25% of the trees in the basin and is now somewhere around 5% so this restoration work is important. I found this fascinating article about the possible current champion tree by bulk in Calaveras Big Trees State Park. www.americanforests.org/blog/quest-for-a-new-champion-sugar-pine/

[@swithinbarclay4797]

Part of the Rust solution, was to eliminate the gooseberry and currant shrubs, that served as alternate hosts of the Rust; has that now proved futile? Has the Rust now mutated?

[@concerned1313]

@@ApeMan I read your link just now and verified that I was doing my calculations correctly for that one in the Freeman Creek Grove. I saved this link to a folder and will review when I head up to South Calaveras probably in a couple of years. Thank you

[@tt55k]

Don’t sugar pine grow after a fire ? They need fire for a seed to germinate ? I had a grove of them on top the mountain on my land in California , there was a fire up there around 120 years ago and sugar pine grew where the fire was .

[@ApeMan]

They don’t need a fire to germinate but they are shade intolerant which is why they do so well in the open areas created by a fire. They also do well in other open areas just from places like where there is a lot of granite so the trees aren’t packed tightly together. Awesome trees!

[@Hvoevoda]

Good day! May i ask you to send a few seeds, wich are resistant to desease? Thank you very much. I'm from Russia

[@karencawthorn3173]

So I have a tree in my yard that has branches similar to a Douglas fir but has these long green pine cones on the top of the tree. I've lived here for 7 years & it's the first time I've noticed them. It's growing with some Ponderosas & Douglas trees in my front yard. I live in Washington State. I can't find what these pine cones are or what tree it is. Do you have any idea? I'm becoming obsessed!

[@ApeMan]

Karen Cawthorn It sounds like you may be describing a Sitka Spruce. Similar needles to a Doug fir but they aren’t in flat sprays but go all around the branch. Cones are long and green but turn brown before they drop.

[@evanreider545]

Go ags!

[@bonobobros4960]

my kids found these giant pine cones on the ground (about 12 inches long and open) while we were stopped for lunch on highway 66 between ashland (oregon) and keno heading towards lower klamath wildlife refuge near merrill. i started researching online and they would seem to be sugar pine. we never knew pine cones this big existed. would I be correct in your opinion by the area since I can't post a pic. thank you

[@ApeMan]

Yes Sugar Pines do grow in that area and with cones that big I’m fairly certain that’s where the cones came from.

[@1HorseOpenSlay]

Hey,can I ask you,what pine do you think would be good to replant on my property that burned in the recent cold springs fire?It is in wa. State near omak.It is an alpine grassland, 3,000 ft elevation. Thanks

[@ApeMan]

Hey thanks for watching and I love that you love trees too! Not real familiar with your local climate but a few trees come to mind. Douglas firs are great at repopulating burned over areas. Here in California the forest service frequently plants Ponderosa Pines because they are valuable timber trees and also require sunny locations like after fires. Your 3000 foot elevation seems suitable for Pondos. Hemlock should grow well in your climate. I would wander the fringes of the burned area and see what you like and what seedlings are naturally sprouting. Remember that deer love seedlings so you may need to protect them. Good luck. That’s beautiful country up there!

[@1HorseOpenSlay]

@@ApeMan thanks for the info!

[@JahaJaho]

Cool tree. How old does this tree have to be to blossom and carry those huge cones?

[@ApeMan]

They don’t start producing cones until they get pretty big, like 30 inches in diameter. Awesome trees!

[@JahaJaho]

Whoooa over 2 meters i diameter! Guess they must be many hundred years old then. That means you really need to save some trees not to make them exinct.@@ApeMan

[@650tonyd]

Since this is part of the white pine family can you make tea from its needles?

[@ApeMan]

Not sure. No doubt they are loaded with vitamin C but not sure of the taste. I’m not a tea guy. Trial and error - give it a shot.

[@650tonyd]

@@ApeMan I made tea and it's delicious! I know White pines are what you want to use and I know that sugar pine is considered a white pine! There's just no Western White pines in my area

[@gissie391]

It doesnt look like one we found in NZ do you know any other sorts it was as big as rugby ball tree wasnt ss tsll ss this one but very brosd branches spresd out bigenough to rooff sitting room etc

[@ApeMan]

Sorry not familiar with trees of New Zealand. Lot's of unique trees there.

[@gissie391]

@@ApeMan yes dont think it was this one.

[@Astroidboy.]

Why would you say they where discovered our people where already here using them?

[@ApeMan]

My intention is always to share knowledge and not offend. That’s why I specifically mention the native residents had long been using these trees long before “white” people discovered them.

[@solukhumbu911]

apeman, where in yosemite might i find this tallest sugar pine u talk about? might have to take up a confier pilgrimage to that site