Ponderosa pine of the Willamette Valley, western Oregon

Ponderosa pine is an overlooked component of the historical vegetation in the Willamette Valley of western Oregon. Pollen, historical, and field data show that ponderosa pine has been a component of both lowland/floodplain and upland/foothill vegetation. In the latter, it was an important constituent of the savanna and open oak woodland vegetation that was widespread in the early 1800s. Much of the historical range of ponderosa pine has been converted to other land uses, such as agriculture, or changed by ecological succession to a closed forest dominated primarily by Douglas-fir. Efforts to understand past Willamette Valley vegetation or to restore historical ecosystems in the Valley should recognize the important ecological position once held by ponderosa pine.