Pitch Pine - Pinus rigida

Today we have a resilient tree, one which grows in some of the harshest environments in the northeast, the Pitch Pine. This species of pine is well known as the most common tree in both the New Jersey and Long Island Pine Barrens. Growing in sandy, fire frequent, bare rock, and occasionally ultramafic conditions

Pitch Pine is a kind of extremophile, it excels where others cannot survive. The pine exists in fire ecologies and is adapted to these conditions: they retain cones up to 15 years on branches that open in the event of a fire, dormant buds protected underneath that thick bark can produce new leaves directly from the trunk quickly after major burns, and a very fast growth and reproductive maturity peroid.

The Pitch Pine itself is generally scraggly in appearance and usually stops growing at around 60 feet with a maximum lifespan of maybe 200 years, after that it's usually out-competed by deciduous trees (this only happens with limited fire). Its bark is thick and heavily plated, its needles come in groups of three and are much more rigid than other pines. Cones are nearly circular and fresh ones are covered in spikes (very painful to handle!).

Distribution is from Maine to Georgia, only really growing in the Appalachias South of New Jersey. As for habitats I've seen this tree in the Virginia Blue Ridge, the seprentine barrens of Pennsylvania, everywhere in the pine barrens, dense south facing bare rock zones of the catskills (image above), and sporadically mixed in a forest in Maine. It's very common to find this species around blueberries, huckleberry, various oaks, Virginia pine, eastern white pines, and near atlantic white cedar swamps.

Onto usuage, the Pitch Pine gets its name for its resinous pitch saturated wood. Indigenous peoples (Iroquois Confederacy, Shinnecock, Lenape to name a few) wrote about utilizing the pitch to seal canoes, as a laxatives and to treat boils/burns. Settlers often saw this species as a decent waterproof lumber and a source of turpentine but mostly utilized pitch pine in long burns in large piles for charcoal production.

Pitch pine is a pretty great pioneer species within its range, My great grandfather discussed his attempt to keep the roads clear of these trees by his house only to destroy his chainsaw with the resinous pitch. He failed to actually keep the road clear and lost not only a few acres of Christmas tree farm (visible with a large pitch pine outgrowing some douglas fir above) but also an airport runway which a local wealthy family owned...50 years to this day I still haven't found the airport on maps or walking.

The only major danger to this species is from an introduced ambrosia beetle which has been killing large numbers throughout its range, but otherwise this species is not at risk.