BY KAREN BOSSICK
Put on your scientist’s cap when the Sawtooth Botanical Garden stages a free guided trip to see” one heck of a big tree” on Saturday, Sept. 15.
Retired Forest Service specialist John Shelly will lead a trip to one of the largest ponderosa pines in the Fairfield/Sun Valley area.
The trip is hosted by the Sawtooth Botanical Garden and Idaho Native Plant Society.
Participants will have the opportunity to help Shelly measure the tree’s height, width and crown using professional forestry instruments. The findings will then be submitted to the Idaho Big Tree Program, which is administered by the University of Idaho.
“By some miracle, a few huge trees in our area have survived a myriad of natural and human assaults, including wildfire, drought, insects, logging and more,” said Shelly. “It’s become my personal quest to discover all of them.”
Ponderosa pines—considered the signature tree of the American West--are by nature very large pine trees found in the western United States and Canada. They are the most widely distributed pine species in North America.
The biggest is 235 feet tall, according to the National Register of Big Trees.
The tree can easily be identified by its pine needles, which grow in round bushy clumps. Some people say the trees have a vanilla or butterscotch smell that reminds them of baking cookies. This may be caused by a chemical in the sap being warmed by the sun.
The trees also have a thick bark that resembles pieces of a jigsaw puzzle—their armor against forest fires.
There are not many Ponderosa pines in the Sun Valley area, except for those planted in people’s yards. But forest botanists say to stay tune as more are expected to show up in areas like Sun Valley as the climate becomes hotter and drier.
They are prominent in places like Idaho City and around the Bogus Basin ski area near Boise.
Walkers will meet to carpool at 8:30 a.m. at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden, four miles south of Ketchum at Gimlet Road and Highway 75. The trip is expected to conclude back at the garden by 4 p.m.
For more information, call 208-726-9358.