What is your favorite forest tree.

When I lived back East I always liked the Eastern Hemlock, Pennsylvania's State Tree with the Mighty Oak tree right up there with it. Here in the West, I love the Aspen especially with its golden leaves in the Fall. How about yours?

Nothing like smelling Ponderosa Pines on a warm day.
Redwoods and old growth cedars are mighty impressive.
Those krummholz white pines at high elevation in the Rockies are neat.
And lastly the sound of cottonwoods in the breeze.
And can’t forgot the tamaracks.

Trees are cool.

Yep and I'll add one more. Birch trees.

Definitely like the Cottonwoods along the streams here in Idaho. You are right about trees being cool. I even like the juniper tree standing alone by itself in the desert.

Alaska Yellow Cedar, which is actually a cypress.
Strong, dense, rot resistant, beautiful appearance lumber, easy to work with, and a nice odor imo.
It grows in the cascade mountains from southern Oregon, through Washington, and up through coastal BC, and up to northern SE Alaska.

The largest specimens of the species probably come from the central cascades of Washington. I know of a particular region where 4-6 footers are common and 8-10 footers can be found pretty easily. These trees have from 40 to 50 growth rings to the inch. You do the math.

You show me where there are yellow cedars and I'll bet that I can catch a marten there.

That's a great question!

For natives of my area it probably would be Garyanna white oak. But my most emotional connection with a non-native was undoubtably a visit to the Morton Arboretum in Nebraska City, Nebraska where I got to see the native American chestnut grove planted by Caroline Morton in 1856. All of the trees were over 100 feet tall and were loaded with chestnuts the 30th of September 1985 when I visited. Squirrels were leaping around in the crowns knocking nuts down. The trees all had breast height diameters of at least 36" or more. It was absolutely magic.

Unfortunately I learned that the grove later succumbed to eastern chestnut blight.

I almost commented on that myself. Love them big ol' Junipers that are loners up on a ridge of sagebrush and rock.

Never really thought about it. I like most all trees. I guess I can narrow it down to two. I like the sugar maples due to their brilliant fall colors and the fact that you can tap them to make maple syrup. And I like the hickories because they were always the trees I'd hunt squirrels in the first of September when season opened, and picking enough nutmeats from them for a cake can kill a whole month of evenings, lol.

I agree with Angela on the Sugar Maple. Why anyone would choose any other tree is beyond me. Maple syrup, beautiful fall colors, wonderful valuable hardwood lumber and high quality firewood all in one nearly perfect tree. I do also really like black cherry and eastern hemlock as well as a host of others but these top my list.

River nut hickory

I like most trees but Eastern White Cedar is probably my favorite. The lumber is gorgeous, lasts forever and smells fantastic.

Acer Saccharum , or Sugar Maple.

big old white oak, or red, brings back memory of my youth.

I don't really have a favorite. When I'm up north ,the sound of the wind blowing through the pines is soothing to my soul. One year in minnesota I found a big cedar and decided to sit there untill I wasn't tired anymore. When I'm on the Kankakee river , the big sycamores impress me, beautiful trees . On my own property I really like the big Hickorys. One of the lowest times in my life I gave one of the big hickorys a hug. Yes....it did make me feel better

I like beech trees for the amount of food they provide and the thickets they form. I really like white oaks because of the way their acorns are preferred over red oak acorns by almost every critter. I also enjoy working with that species of wood. Eastern white cedars are cool, so are white pines.

OK, I don’t have just one favorite.

Beechnut
Cedar Swamps and their Aspen ridges in color.
White Pine

I agree with Grandpa and lug nut....."When I lived back East I always liked the Eastern Hemlock, Pennsylvania's State Tree with the Mighty Oak tree right up there with it. Here in the West, I love the Aspen especially with its golden leaves in the Fall. How about yours?" When I was a kid in NJ there was no one teaching the names of trees and I called the beech "elephant skin trees"

I like the smell of the pines in the mountains, and here where we deer hunt its the oak trees. My favorite tree though, has to be the giant Cottonwoods that grow out here on the prairie.

Cottonwood.

I think it was hunting in Wyoming as a kid

Thz Ancient Huge Cottonwoods by the River.

..

Spent my life working in the forest industry from logger to professional Forester, I have to say Yellow Birch and Red Spruce. Love the gold to silver metallic bark on the yellow birch and the symmetry of the gun barrel straight Red Spruce.

As a die hard squirrel slayer at the age of 10 I looked for every scalley bark hickory I could find. I knew those where the first trees to find the mother load early on opening day.

No one has mentioned betula alagansis, the king of the Adirondacks.

like asking who's your favorite child!

I don't think it's possible to pick a favorite for me. Trees have made me a living, provid me with winter heat sweats and meat( maple syrup, squirrels and deer) shelter when out in bad weather, lumber, I just really like trees. Someday I'm going to travel across the country and break my rule of not spending time in a communist state and go see the giant red woods.

Burr Oak - grow well here in Kansas, survive fire, make great firewood and lumber. But, more importantly, create a lot of mast for wildlife.

Since I do not have any mature oaks on my farm, my favorite tree of all things is the Osage Orange or hedge tree - creates a lot of squirrel food, grows anywhere here...to the point of too much, can handle a tree stand, and makes about the strongest longest lasting wooden fence posts known to man. Cattle and deer do eat the leaves. Also, branches make great brush piles for rabbitat and crappie.

Western cedar and cottonwood.

Sycamore nature's camouflage tree

Big purdy smooth Whiteoak , it got me where i am today . Smells like caramel when you saw it and the price cant be beat.

same here.

actually, I have THREE trees to see on my "bucket list"...the redwoods, giant sequoia, and bristlecone pine.

Any tree except from the pine family.

White oak. Listening to deer crunch the acorns, back when I could hear the crunch.

Birch Trees.

Blue beech trees are very cool. They sure stand out from other trees in a small woodlot.

Any of the oak trees are great as long as they're healthy. I appreciate hardwood trees in general. I don't care for pine trees even though they have great value when it comes to market.

We have very few hedge trees here.

Lone towering white pines on the edge of wetlands are a favorite tree of mine. Get way up 40+ feet and you can peer down in the thick tag alder and willow brush. Killed many a buck doing that.

Big gnarly osage orange trees are another close to the top. The wood is like steel and lasts forever. You have to hunt for a tree with a straight enough grain to make a bow. Very vibrant yellow wood that mellows in time to a deep brown.

Cottonwood and white oak are another worth mentioning just because of the sheer size they grow. Standing besides trees as big around as a pickup you just wonder who or what has passed by in the 2-300 years since it sprouted.

Sugar Pine, with their huge cones are cool trees.

I lusted over every big, straight spruce tree I laid eyes on when I was searching for suitable material for my cabin. After felling them, limbing them, peeling and notching them...I don't care if I ever see another.

The most beautiful conifers on earth , to me, are the lowland, and mountain Hemlock , and huge cedars here. The cedars here get as large as anyplace on earth, smell great, and make gorgeous wooden things. A stand of old growth Hemlock, all with their drooping tops and black green gnarly boughs, are as part of the high country as the mountains themselves. Love all the maples, too.

I could go on, but these top my list.

Can't imagine picking one over another. There's something about a high-country stand of aspen. Western larch (Tamarack) is mighty fine. Big, old gnarly cottonwoods are haven. Nobody mentioned the lowly lodgepole pine. They give me firewood, dimensional lumber (with immaculate blue stain), cabin logs, fence posts, fence rails, and the list goes on. Many times, elk meat is associated with lodgepole.

Jack

I love the sugar maples and the smell of balsam.

Maples

No more Majestic looking tree than the white pine with its windblown look.
Immortalized by the Group of 7.

Porsilds white Spruce is also a nice tree.
I am also partial to the big tall stands of mature black spruce trees.Their trunks are thick straight and free of any branches except near the tops.
Makes good firewood in the north and easy cut haul and split in winter.

Scaly or shagbark hickory...Killed my first squirrel out of one, just like ole'byrd did.

Like the whole hickory family, axe handles, meat smoke, firewood, etc.

Loblolly Pine, specifically Improved Loblolly Pine. Since grand dad first planted up the cornfields in 1956 it has been a constant in my family's life ever since. Though personally I favor Longleaf as a much higher quality tree.

Mature old white oaks do it for me; if they could only speak…

Figuratively speaking the Liberty Tree among the forest of humanity.

One of my favorite individual trees is the Sacred Oak of the Oley Valley in southeast PA. There are lots of legends associated with it which can be looked up.

It is 87' tall, has a girth of 22' and a canopy that spreads 111'.

It's a white oak, more specifically a Chinkapin Oak and is estimated to be 500-700 years old. There hasn't been a core sample done for fear of damaging the tree.

Pictures don't do it justice. I have visited it several times.

The fire in my heatin' stove is burning lodgepole pine right this minute. Nice on a frosty morning.

As a squirrel hunter I also go with the hickory

For me it is the Beech. I think they naturally have a ton of character. They make really good den trees when they get older. They are good fire wood. Have always been my favorite. Great question !

Sugar Maple or a nice shaped Balsam.

What, nobody loves the magnificent boxelder, the possum of the tree world?

Dogwood and Redbud. When those are in bloom the turkeys are ripe.

Myrtle wood trees

A Burr Oak sentry tree, standing guard alone in the middle of a pasture.

Lots of beautiful tall trees on this list, but mine has to be the Bristlecone Pine. Some of the longest living trees on earth and some of the conditions they can handle is impressive. Makes for some gnarly twisted character. I love watching clarks nutcrackers pick and stash while glassing up on high.

Mine is the white pine. A true majestic tree.

Not all trees are equal, no better tree for wildlife than an Oak, Oaks benefit hundreds of species of wildlife while most other threes are luck to break a hundred.
And of the Oaks my favorite is the Burr Oak then follow closely is the White Oak (Quercus alba).

Trouble with Sugar Maples is if left alone and with no disruption they will create a forest with too much shade (no under story of other plants) and they are allelopathic. For those 2 reasons alone Sugar Maples are no good in my woods.

As far as just esthetics I'd prefer the American Beech.

Maple are pretty. White oaks for hunting deer and hickory for squirrels.

I don't like oaks because they hang onto their leaves much later than other trees into the winter.

I recommend the book Tree Crops by J Russel Smith for those interested in trees that provide forage for wildlife and livestock. He makes a case for a bunch of different ones.

Aspen
Tamarack
Big old pondos
Ancient juniper

At home I like sitting a big area of big white pine or norways.

Love seeing a huge Burr Oak.
Hard to fathom how many critters it's fed.

Eastern Hemlock

I love my tall straight Red Oaks, then a Large white oak.

Lodgepole

Shag Bark Hickory. I was a grown man when I realized they weren't a feeder tree, a hickory. Second as a bonus, Sycamore.....

I like those big old soft Maples. They house a lot of wildlife as they are usually full of holes and crevices. Had one in the yard where I grew up that had families of owls, wood ducks, coons and about a million squirrels over the years.

I’m gonna have to agree with warrior, loblolly pine is what pays the bills and feeds the family around my place so by default it is absolutely my favorite.

Wish we had more Maple and Oak up here,White Pine were real common many many years ago,Clump Birch are nice as well.

Southern magnolia. Down here the magnolias grow in mesic hammock areas surrounded by lower, wetter pine flatwoods. Deer and turkeys love these higher, sandier magnolia hammocks.

Man that looks like cool country Swamp Wolf!

Big bluestem on a tall grass prairie! lol

what's them boards look like, Lee?

Kinda skinny, but make good toothpicks!

Shag bark hickory for me

Hickory

Whenever I see see popple trees, I always am put in a beaver trapping frame of mind. The big old white pines that are still left in this area of Wisconsin always take me back to deer hunts past.

If its a mess of squirrels I'm after, shagbark hickory.
If its a beautiful tree I want to look at, Burr oak.
If its in my backyard in the suburbs, pawpaw. I may well have the largest pawpaw tree in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I need to have someone from the Champion Tree organization to come out and officially measure it.

If I'm hunting for spruce grouse or red squirrels I would always go for spruce trees.

White oak for the acorn drop, tamarack for that majestic yellow in fall, and big, old scotch pine for the shelter they offered in inclement weather; from my days roaming the woods as a boy in search of wildlife.

Burr oak

As others have stated, a tall majestic white pine, has elegance and when one views a grove of those here in Wisconsin we can think of the rich history that tree brought to our state and the many dwellings they provided wood for.

Bryce