Kingdom Plantae Order Pinales Genus Pinus Higher classification Western yellow pine | Division Pinophyta Family Pinaceae Subgenus Pinus Rank Variety | |
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Scientific name Pinus ponderosa var. willamettensis Similar Western yellow pine, Quercus garryana, Acer circinatum, Arbutus menziesii, Abies grandis | ||
The Willamette Valley Ponderosa Pine is a variant of the Ponderosa Pine native to the Willamette Valley in the Northwestern United States. It is adapted for Western Oregon's wet winter and dry summer.
History
The Willamette Valley ponderosa variant only grows on the valley floor, unlike the Douglas fir, which grows on hillsides, and the wood is softer and easier to mill than the native hardwoods. Because of this, when early settlers used wood from the trees to build homes and cleared land for agriculture, the variant's population was "decimated". Prior to restoration efforts, the pine survived only in scattered stands between Hillsboro and Cottage Grove. The Lewis's woodpecker and the slender-billed nuthatch (a subspecies of the white-breasted nuthatch) nest in the tree and rely on it for food–their populations were reduced along with that of the pine.