The Eastern White Pine is a native conifer tree species in the pine family. Its native range includes southeastern Canada to the southeastern United States. The Eastern White Pine can grow up to a height of 80 feet and 40 feet wide, and is the largest of the northeastern conifers. Its needles grow in bundles of five. An easy way to remember this is the word ‘WHITE’ has five letters, which is the same number of needles in a bundle. It grows in full-partial sun, and prefers acidic, moist to well-drained soils. Foliage is light green, with a feathery texture. Many of its needles turn brown and are discarded in the fall to make room for new spring growth.
In Mendota Heights, Eastern White Pine make up 4.2% of the total Tree Canopy Area (Mendota Heights Natural Resources Management Plan, 2022). Before European settlement, large stands of Eastern White Pine extended across central to northern Minnesota; individual trees growing sometimes 200 feet high and six feet in diameter. With European settlement, much of the population was logged or wiped out by resulting forest fires. Before sustainable forestry and conservation practices were enacted, less than 6% of the original native Eastern White Pine population remained after the logging era.