Commonly called tamaracks in the east, our larches are fast-growing, skinny, straight, tall, long-lived and somewhat fire resistant. The needles come back green in the spring, of course, and they ...

There is a group of evergreens whose members don’t fully fit the typical mold of conifers and must have been a brainteaser for the early botanists to name and classify.

The Western larch — which may look like a normal evergreen tree in the spring and summer — is a deciduous conifer tree, producing cones while also dropping its golden needles in the fall.

The larch tree, during the spring and summer, looks little different from the coniferous evergreen trees that keep their bright green hues even in the height of fall.

Iron Bear — Teanaway Ridge . Forest Service Road 9714 . Round-trip distance: 6.5 miles . Elevation gain: 1,900 feet . Pass: None. This trek near Blewett Pass is great for spying western larches ...