Pinion Pine – Softwood

Climb #17
Climbed Oct 2, 2026

A working forest also produces food

Yesterday I traveled to New Mexico with fellow arborist Jared O’Brien.  We went to Raton Pass to celebrate the state tree of New Mexico; the Pinion Pine.  One of my favorite snacks from the forests of North America are pine nuts.  The Pinion Pine is where this awesome food comes from.  People have been harvesting pine nuts in this region for well over 10,000 years.  Once we reached the top of Raton pass Jared and I found a nice Pinion Pine specimen and I climbed to the top.  These trees are rarely very big however as a species they dominate the landscape.  They are by far the most common tree in many parts of the Southwestern forests.

  Back in my Pennsylvania home our working forests produce foods such as Maple Syrup, hickory nuts, walnuts, paw paws, and more.  What foresters mean by “working forests” is simply that our forests continue to be managed for sustainable timber and wood production providing employment and revenue for thousands of American households.  Meanwhile, they continue to produce food for humans and wildlife as well!   In closing, I chose Raton Pass because of a Townes Van Zandt song I was introduced to some years ago by Pennsylvania musician Jamie Garret.  Townes wrote “it’s snowing on Raton.  Tomorrow I’ll be through those hills and gone”.  He couldn’t have been more right….today I’m off to climb a Blue Spruce, the state tree of Colorado.