Environment Whitebark pine, iconic tree in central Oregon forests, wins protected status Published: Dec. 15, 2022, 11:13 a.m.

We found a perfect six foot white pine with a healthy root ball at a pop up Christmas tree lot. A neighbor and I struggled to get it into his truck and then into the house.

Oh, my goodness. It's huge. The white pine seems to go up and up forever. Randall Swanson points out that this trunk is smooth. RANDALL SWANSON: We're going up at least 80 feet before we see a branch.

But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that it will protect the whitebark pine under the Endangered Species Act, warning that a number of menaces — a deadly fungus, a hungry ...