pine trees

10 Stories

Wildfire Smoke Signals Some Trees to Hold Their Breath

Researchers document a unique reaction from pines when smoke fills the air

(Newser) - During wildfires, people are urged to stay inside with shut windows to avoid inhaling smoke. Surrounding trees don't have that option, of course, but a new study suggests that some species can protect themselves from dangerous air quality, too. Yale Environment 360 reports that a team of researchers out...

Golf Tourney Was Proceeding Nicely. Then, 'Mayhem'

3 giant pines fall during Masters at Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club; there were no injuries

(Newser) - It was "Masters mayhem" on Friday, per the Guardian , after three giant trees toppled over onto the course during the pro golf championship at Augusta National Golf Club. CBS Sports reports that the Georgia pines fell near the 17th hole during the second round of play, right before the...

The Pine Needles Are Brown. They Might as Well Be Gold

Inside a $200M industry

(Newser) - They're brown, not gold. But fallen needles from the longleaf pine, which is native to the Southeast, might as well be the latter. The Washington Post reports pine needles are a $200 million industry, and of the trio of pine needles that are collected and sold, the longleaf's...

Odd Theft in Wisconsin: a Pine Tree
Police Investigate
an Unusual Theft
Nov 12, 2020 1:10 PM CST

Police Investigate an Unusual Theft

Pine tree is stolen from Wisconsin arboretum

(Newser) - Police are, ahem, stumped by the theft of a rare pine tree from the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, per the AP . The 25-foot Algonquin Pillar Swiss Mountain pine was cut down (not dug up) sometime between Nov. 5 and Nov. 9, University of Wisconsin-Madison police said Thursday. The stolen tree...

Firefighters Save World's Only 'Dinosaur Trees'

Australian wildfire almost wiped out Wollemi Pines

(Newser) - Specialist firefighters have saved the world’s last remaining wild stand of a prehistoric tree from wildfires that razed forests west of Sydney, officials say. Firefighters winched from helicopters to reach the cluster of fewer than 200 Wollemi Pines in a remote gorge in the Blue Mountains a week before...

Unusual Investment Strategy Misfires 30 Years Later

Lots of Southerners planted trees 30 years ago; now they're ready to harvest, but there's a glut

(Newser) - It's not a strategy that typically comes up in investment planning: plant a field of pine trees. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, it made much sense to thousands of Southerners about 30 years ago, thanks in part to a federal incentive to reforest the land. "If...

Meet Ohio's 'Frankenpines'
Meet Ohio's 'Frankenpines'
Jul 23, 2017 10:45 AM CDT

Meet Ohio's 'Frankenpines'

Cell towers go under cover, mocked gently

(Newser) - Efforts to turn two looming cell towers in Toledo, Ohio, into faux pine trees to help them blend in with their surroundings are getting mixed reviews from residents, reports the AP . Some residents in Springfield Township have derisively dubbed the towers "frankenpines," the Toledo Blade reports. Adding branches...

These Trees Know Where They Are on the Planet

Cook pines mysteriously lean toward the equator

(Newser) - Most trees grow straight, but the Cook pine leans another way. As a new study reveals, the tree leans toward the equator no matter where it grows, giving it what Science Alert calls a "drunken-looking slant." Matthew Ritter of California Polytechnic State University first became curious about the...

Climate Change Pushes Aspens to Brink
 Climate Change 
 Pushes Aspens 
 to Brink 
GLOSSIES
Dec 21, 2008 5:53 AM CST

Climate Change Pushes Aspens to Brink

New weather patterns exacerbate other issues, like the nasty bark beetle

(Newser) - Huge swaths of the Rocky Mountain landscape is being transformed as the region's signature tree, the aspen, goes into rapid decline, reports the Smithsonian. Climate change and surging population of the bark beetle is causing the grim phenomenon known as SAD (sudden aspen decline). The beetle is a mere twelfth-of-an-inch...

Ravenous Beetles Decimate West's Pines

Harsh winter sole hope for containing insect that has affected millions of acres—and is moving east

(Newser) - Peanut-sized bark beetles have drilled into and killed millions of acres of green pines from New Mexico to British Columbia, threatening the Rockies’ iconic lodgepoles with extinction, reports the New York Times. With only costly and temporary fixes available, preservationists are hoping for an atypically frigid winter to contain the...

10 Stories