Identifying dead trees and causes - Idaho

[mbrick]

Hello,

I have many of these same species trees that have died on my property. Been working on dropping and cleaning up anything dead as the property has never been worked on.
What species do they look like? This is near the Payette Forest in central ID. At 5000' according to what I read we should have Ponderosa, Doug Fir, Grand Fir and Western Larch.

They are all split up the trunk. Don't think lightning. Split from freezing? Lots of snow here every winter so I'm not sure why they would have froze one specific time.

They also have lots of "hair" (lichen growth?) on the branches that is very flammable so I am happy to remove them anyway. And TONS of branches. A real nasty tree.

Any ideas on other species visible in the first photo?

Thank you.

 

[old CB]

I believe the first (maybe all) is a fir. But I'm weak on those things. A close-up of the needles might help.

It's not Ponderosa, I know that much. And doesn't look like Doug Fir (which is actually not a fir but related to hemlock).

 

[Raintree]

I'll take a stab at it (just guessing)
From left to right
Ponderosa pine
Couple of larches (yellow)
Dead grand fir
Ponderosa pine
Douglas fir

 

[mbrick]

Thanks Raintree! The dead trees are all the same species so they may all be Grand Firs then.

Any idea on why they are getting a split up the trunk and dying?

 

[Raintree]

Here again I'm not familiar with your situation. I am thinking the tree trunks are drying out and splitting, it's not something that's killing them. In your second picture the splits do appear to be frost cracks in the standing trees.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

When I was working in Idaho which was a number of years ago all softwood trees had cracks that went from near the bottom to near the top. That does not mean that every tree had the same cracks but that all species would often crack and not from lightening. The major reason was how they dried. Here in California the White Fir mostly did not have any enemies until a few years ago. Now the bark beetle are decimating them. With the branches still intact and the beetles cutting off most of the sap the tree can dry very quickly leaving cracks that are not visible until one tries to climb them. I have hurt my knees so many times thinking my spur is going to bite but just air. Would this be true for every situation no, but many have big long spiral cracks. Thanks

 

[stihlaficionado]

Hello,

I have many of these same species trees that have died on my property. Been working on dropping and cleaning up anything dead as the property has never been worked on.
What species do they look like? This is near the Payette Forest in central ID. At 5000' according to what I read we should have Ponderosa, Doug Fir, Grand Fir and Western Larch.

They are all split up the trunk. Don't think lightning. Split from freezing? Lots of snow here every winter so I'm not sure why they would have froze one specific time.

They also have lots of "hair" (lichen growth?) on the branches that is very flammable so I am happy to remove them anyway. And TONS of branches. A real nasty tree.

Any ideas on other species visible in the first photo?

Thank you.

Check out https://www.idahoforests.org/content-item/whats-buggin-the-forest/

Around the Boise area it's a moth infestation that has decimated at least 13,000 acres of timber

Hiring a certified forester can help as well and/or contacting your local US Forestry branch.
We went the route of hiring a certified forester for our Idaho property.

 

[ArtB]

fer sure Not DFir, hemlock, nor PondPine,

sure do look like western larch to me.

 

[Stone824]

Might be a bit of a late reply but i would think those are balsam fir. Or at least that is what we call them. They are getting destroyed by spruce bud worm by me so they are typically very dry and crack because the wood is so soft. The branches look smaller and more tightly packed that the balsam fir around me but thats my best guess.