Description:
Western larch is fairly common on the east side of the Washington and Oregon Cascades, as well as the northeast Oregon mountains, and the northern Rockies. It is fairly sparse in the Cascades, but a bit more plentiful further east.
It is one of only a very small handful of conifers that are deciduous, which makes it quite unique in the west, along with its cousin the subalpine larch, which grows further north. The two larches overlap a little in Idaho.
This fast-growing tree takes a tall, narrow form, sometimes reaching 200 feet tall. The needles are soft, short, and grow in tufts on the branches. The yellow-green needles stand out against the deeper green of most of its conifer associates. The cones when young are a beautiful red that turn brown as they age.
Personal Observations:
Admittedly, my experience with western larch is very limited. I remember driving north in October from Bend, Oregon on my way to Washington state going over the Cascades and seeing yellow conifers. Can that be true? In the back of my mind I remembered a conifer that was deciduous. And quite a sight it was, contrasting with the deep green of the Cascade forest. The only other time I have seen that kind of contrast was with quaking aspens when they turn yellow (and sometimes red) in the autumn.
My more recent experience was when I walked through the upper reaches of Shevlin Park in autumn near Bend and saw a great, thick carpet of yellowing larch needles on the ground. My memory kicked in again and Voilà, here again were the larch. They hadn’t appeared on any maps of the area, so I logged them in my conifer database and tried to learn more about them. I have since found many of them in the Ochoco Mountains of Oregon. I also found a handful of seedlings south of Paulina Peak, quite a distance from any other populations.