The lodgepole pine has a very flexible wood that was once used by the native people to build tepees and lodges, hence its name. It grows 30 to 35 metres high and lives for 200 years.

Its needles are strongly twisted.

Its cones have scales with a curved prickle that is held closed by a resin bond. To open, the cones need to be exposed to intense heat from a wildfire or from direct sunlight. Most pure stands are therefore established on burn areas.

The lodgepole pine is found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. It is distributed inland to western Alberta.

It is found in pure, sometimes very dense, stands, and on different types of soils.

Its wood is soft to moderately hard and light yellow in colour. An important source of timber, it is used in construction and for pulp wood, and after treatment with preservatives, for railway ties and poles.