A stand of nearly 100 pine trees collected from around the world survived 45 years at Washington State University’s Lind Dryland Research Station, before succumbing to wildfire in June.
“All of us at the station look at this as a big loss,” said station director Bill Schillinger.
Since 1928, WSU scientists have raised trees and shrubs at Lind, testing their practicality for landscaping and farm windbreaks in Washington’s arid country—Lind averages less than 10 inches of rainfall annually. Trees were planted periodically and monitored for decades.
In May of 1976, Lind staff planted 329 seedlings of the Austrian pine, Pinus nigra Arnold, on the southeast corner of the station’s property. Seedlings came from 40 different sources, including Austria, France, Greece, Spain, and the former Yugoslavia and U.S.S.R.