The ponderosa pine ecology is certainly one of the most pleasant in the world. It is a fire dependent landscape. The ponderosa pine system burns less often than the longleaf, but it is still meant to burn.
They manage the Dixie National Forest well with fire and according to the sign have been doing it for a long time. As a result, you see that healthy and diverse biotic community.
Ponderosa pine can live more than 500 years. For the first century, they have a kind of black bark, but that later turns to an orange-red, so if you see a ponderosa pine with this color bark, you know it is old.
The pictures show some of the open woods. What you really have in a healthy ponderosa pine forest is a forest mixed with a grassland, with all the diversity that implies. You see the desert in the background in the first three photos. The climate varies greatly depending on the weather caused by the mountain and the vegetation shows that.
Third photo shows aspen trees and finally is along the road.
Third photo shows aspen trees and finally is along the road.