Western White Pine

About Western White Pine in Alberta

Western white pine is a native Alberta species, but only as an exceptionally rare southwestern mountain pine at the extreme edge of its range. For Ancient Roots Alberta, it matters less as a practical everyday field tree than as a conservation-significant native conifer of a few scattered southwestern sites, where rarity, edge-of-range status, and white pine blister rust make any wild occurrence notable.

Identification: Needles occur in bundles of five and are long, slender, soft, and bluish green to green. The foliage gives the species a relatively graceful soft-textured look compared with many Alberta two-needle pines.

Alberta range and habitat: Western white pine is native in Alberta, but only as a very rare and sporadic species restricted to a few southwestern mountain sites. The strongest dossier source places it in the Crowsnest Pass and a few scattered southern Rocky Mountain locations in the southwest corner of the province.