Tag Archives: red needles

Larry Wilson: Some good advice for June floaters

Larry talks about the effects of the wet spring weather and discusses safety on the river . . .

It appears that the professional foresters were correct — the lodgepole pine that seemed to be dying only weeks ago are already producing new, green needles. We still need to remember that the foresters also warned that several wet springs in a row could cause the death of some of these young pines.

So far, this spring seems wet to me. In fact, I’m told that Kalispell has had more than two inches of rain above normal for this year to date. I guess that lodgepole pine regeneration would not be hurt by some mortality, but I would prefer to do the thinning myself.

Even though I consider this a wet spring, so far I haven’t seen or heard anything that would indicate we could have any flooding on the North Fork…

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Larry Wilson: Red saplings aren’t dying

Larry discusses what is causing a lot of young lodgepole pine to turn red, admires the work being done on the road and brings us up to date on NFLA activities . . .

Federal and state forestry offices and several retired foresters have been inundated with calls from concerned North Fork residents in the last couple of weeks.

Young lodgepole pine, regeneration from the Wedge Canyon and Robert fires of 2003 seemed to be dying. The saplings, mostly three feet in height or less, were turning red in large numbers and appeared to be dead or dying. Thus the many calls and visits to foresters.

From what I can gather, all the foresters agree. The disease is called Liphodermella needlecast and generally shows up one year after a moist to wet spring — like we had last year. Fortunately, it looks worse right now than it really is. Unless it occurs for an extended period, it seldom kills trees.

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