White pine (Pinus strobus), red or Norway pine (P. White pine has five needles per bundle, while red and jack pines have two needles. All the other native conifers with green needles year around in our region have single or individual needles attaching to the stem.

White pine blister rust attacks white pine and uses currant as an alternate host. European black currant, the favored alternate host, may be banned from certain areas. Other currants, particularly red currant should not be grown within 300 feet of pines. Infected branches may be pruned off.

Pine trees can be identified by their needle-like leaves, seed-bearing cones, and reddish-brown or gray bark. Another identifying feature of pine trees is their egg-shaped cones that hang down from branches. Some types of pines can have large woody cones with scales that are long and straight.

Buds can be helpful in identifying tree species in winter, when deciduous trees are without foliage. Those at the end of a twig are called terminal buds, while those growing along the twig are lateral buds. The arrangement of these lateral buds can help establish a tree’s identity.

Catkin-bearing plants include many other trees or shrubs such as birch, willow, hickory, sweet chestnut and sweetfern (Comptonia). Aspen catkins, which emerge before leaves appear, are cylindrical in shape and fuzzy, with feather-like tufts of hair adorning numerous tiny seeds. Their fluffy appearance is endearing.

Key attributes of ash trees include:

1. Compound leaves with 5 to 9 leaflets.
2. Leaflets, buds and branches growing directly opposite from one another.
3. Diamond-shaped bark ridges on mature trees.

Although Ash is not the most valuable hardwood by any stretch, prices for standing Ash timber as well as cut Ash lumber have crept up and will likely to continue to do so as supplies dwindle further.

Ash may live for 350 years, although 200 may be more typical on many sites. Ash are ancient from 225 years onwards, although many have ancient characteristics from around 175 years. Typically a veteran ash is 100-200 years of age and a notable ash may be 75-150 years old.

The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus Longaeva) has been deemed the oldest tree in existence, reaching an age of over 5,000 years old.

The tree was estimated to be more than 350 years old — at one time the largest white ash in the United States. It died two years ago.

If you know when the tree was planted, you can easily and accurately determine its age. The second most accurate way to estimate tree age is to count the annual rings of wood growth. Annual rings can be counted using two different methods. You can extract an increment core from the tree using an increment borer.

10 Oldest Trees in the World

• Sarv-e Abarkuh.
• Llangernyw Yew. Age: estimated to be between 4,000 – 5,000 years.
• Methuselah. Age: 4,850 years.
• Prometheus. Age: 4,862 – 4,900 years.
• Unnamed Great Basin Bristlecone Pine. Age: 5,071 years.
• Old Tjikko. Age: 9,550 years.
• Jurupa Oak. Age: over 13,000 years.
• Pando. Age: ~80,000 years.

Each year, a tree adds to its girth, the new growth being called a tree ring. The most recently formed tree ring is the new wood near the outer part of a tree’s trunk, just beneath the bark. The oldest rings are smaller and near the center.

The oldest recorded living tree on record is a Great Bristlecone pine, believed to have a lifespan of over 5,000 years. Located in the White Mountains of California, this unnamed tree is considered the oldest living tree in the world.

Sequoia sempervirens

Mexican cypress – Taxodium mucronatum

Redwood National Park The tallest known trees in the world stand in the redwood forests of the Northern California coast.

Maine

New York City

In Alaska, the Noatak and Gates of the Arctic Wildernesses (about 13,000,000 acres) make up the largest area of unbroken wilderness. In the lower 48 states, the largest area of unbroken wilderness is found along the Sierra/Nevada crest in California.

North Sentinel Island, part of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, has remained virtually untouched. A tribe of indigenous people, known as the Sentinelese, are believed to inhabit the remote island.

Supai

Top 10 most wildest places on Earth

• 8 Galapagos Island.
• 7 Papua New Guinea.
• 6 Seychelles.
• 5 Gobi Desert, Mongolia.
• 4 Sahara Desert.
• 3 Antarctica.
• 2 Amazon Rain Forest.
• 1 Deep Ocean.

15 Unexplored Corners of the Earth

• Vale do Javari, Brazil.
• Northern Patagonia, Chile.
• Kamchatka, Russia.
• New Hebrides Trench, Pacific Ocean.
• Northern Forest Complex, Myanmar.
• Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, Madagascar.
• Southern Namibia.
• Star Mountains, Papua New Guinea.

Try to be more Tarzan and less George of the Jungle.

• Monteverde Cloud Forest | Costa Rica.
• Khao Sok National Park | Thailand.
• Great Bear Rainforest | British Columbia, Canada.
• Daintree Rainforest | Queensland, Australia.
• Manu National Park | Peru.
• Danum Valley | Borneo, Malaysia.
• Kokoda Track | Papua New Guinea.

Topping the chart is Russia with more than 15 million square kilometres of wilderness, identified as terrestrial or marine regions “free from human pressures, with a contiguous area of more than 10,000 square kilometres”. Completing the top five is Canada, Australia, the US (largely Alaska) and Brazil.