Utah’s landscape is far more varied than most people expect. I have driven through the state and watched desert scrub turn into pine forest within a single hour, and that shift is largely thanks to its native trees. This guide covers 25 native Utah trees, chosen to reflect the state’s real ecological range: high alpine…
Montana earns its “Big Sky” nickname honestly, but the ground beneath that sky tells its own story. I have hiked through larch groves turning gold in October and stood under ponderosa pines that smell faintly of vanilla, and both moments changed how I see this state. This guide covers 25 native Montana trees, chosen to…
Missouri’s forests cover roughly 15.4 million acres, or about a third of the state, and that green blanket is made up of an incredibly diverse mix of hardwoods and conifers. According to a Washington University in St. Louis guide, there are around 119 common species of native Missouri trees, and honestly, trying to learn them…
Arizona holds one of the most surprising tree landscapes in the country. Forests cover roughly 27% of the state, spanning over 19 million acres, and that land supports 37 species of coniferous and hardwood trees. Most people picture cactus and sand when they think of Arizona. I did too, until I hiked from the Sonoran…
Indiana holds 4.8 million acres of forestland, covering about 21% of the state’s total land base. That might surprise anyone picturing endless cornfields when they think of Indiana, but the hilly southern counties tell a very different story. I grew up thinking Indiana was flat and mostly farmland, until I hiked through Hoosier National Forest…
Connecticut is one of the most densely forested states in the country, and that fact still surprises most people. Despite ranking as the fourth most densely populated state, close to 60% of its land remains covered in forest. I remember driving up I-91 for the first time and expecting strip malls the whole way. Instead,…
Tennessee is one of the most tree-rich states in the country. I’ve always found that a little humbling. Forests cover roughly 14 million acres, or about 52 percent of the state’s land area, according to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry. That’s more than 8 billion live trees, or over 1,200 for every…
Minnesota isn’t just lakes. Roughly 17.6 million acres, or about a third of the state, is covered in forest, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis program. That forest holds more than 14.5 billion live trees, spread across four distinct biomes that meet almost nowhere else in the country. I grew up…
Colorado’s forests cover roughly 24 million acres, about a third of the state’s total land area, according to the Colorado State Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. That is a massive, living library of species, and native trees form its backbone. I still remember the first time I stood beneath a stand…
Washington earned its “Evergreen State” nickname honestly. Forests cover roughly 22.5 million acres, or about half of the state’s total land area, and hold an estimated 9.4 billion live trees, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis program. That’s not a small forest. That’s an entire ecosystem stretching from rain-soaked coastal valleys…