Dessication of Pine Needles

     If you would have asked me yesterday what dessication of pine needles meant I would have had no idea.  Today I know because I looked it up online! 

     Our small pine trees along the Gunflint Trail started to turn orange this spring.  They looked like they had been burned but it wasn’t the entire tree that was this new orange color.  It turns out this is common in mountain areas but I’ve never heard of it here on the Gunflint Trail.

     Due to the warm spell in March our trees started to transpire.  Since the ground was frozen the trees were not able to get the proper hydration they needed.  Without proper hydration the needles above the snow cover began to die. 

     Hopefully the moisture we’ve received since the ground has thawed will help replenish the moisture in these trees.  We hope they’ll get enough water so they can recover and continue to grow up to be big pine trees.