Pine Trees That Are Used to Make Corrugated Cardboard

Largest Pine Tree

Sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) is the largest and tallest member of the pine tree family. Sugar pine can grow to 250 feet tall and up to 10 feet in diameter. Strong and durable, sugar pine trees can live up to 500 years. Found at elevations ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 feet, sugar pine trees are harvested for use as lumber and to provide wood chips used in the paper industry.

Gray pine (Pinus sabiniana), also known as digger or foothill pine, is found in the California hills at between 500- to 4,000-foot elevations. The cones of the gray pine are quite large and heavy with very sharp points on the outside cone scales. The cones are so heavy they can cause serious injury if you are walking under a tree as a cone falls. Commercial use of the gray pine wood includes using the wood to build railroad ties, pallets and to provide wood chips for paper mills.

Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), also known as shore pine, coast pine or beach pine, is one of the most prolific pine trees found in America. Lodgepole pine can be found in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific coast regions, extending south to Baja California and north into the Yukon Territory. Forests dominated by lodgepole pine blanket over 20 million acres of Canada and more than six million acres of the United States. The tree derives its name from its traditional use as a support pole for Native American teepees and its use to build primitive log cabins. A tall slender pine tree, the wood is typically commercially harvested for posts, poles and fodder for the chip mills.

There are more than 750 million acres of forest land in the United States. The dominant tree in the majority of United States forests is the pine tree. Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) is the primary pine tree harvested in the southeastern portion of the United States. Loblolly pine is primarily used for sawdust and chips to produce corrugated cardboard, particle board and paper. One of the fastest growing pine tree species, loblolly pines are drought and disease resistant and will grow in almost any type of soil.