A couple interesting maps..

[ironglow]

   showing the US in a clearer light..  First the map showing the coldest states, the colder being darker..

   Second map shows tree cover across the lower 48..

[Lloyd Smale]

so we have cold trees? whats the corelation

[ironglow]

so we have cold trees? whats the corelation

  Although I didn't point it out, there is a correlation (IMO)..  It seems the colder areas tend toward coniferous trees, while slightly warmer areas allow
   for a more deciduous admixture, while high plains and semi arid areas seem to produce much sagebrush...but I could be corrected.

  Perhaps somebody here can explain the difference between the large Oak trees we have in the northeast and the "live oaks", that are prevalent in the
   south..

[Graybeard]

Me thinks maybe you don't know much about the south and our oak trees. Here in Alabama alone we have 39 different species of oaks. Just here on my small acreage I'd bet I have half of those growing plus hickories and loads of pines of various types. Plenty of sweetgums, wild cherry tree and perhaps a dozen or more others just on my 6 acres.

[Lloyd Smale]

i Rember NC very well. it was as thick with trees as up here. if you took away some of the heat youd think you were in the UP in the rural areas. tons of pine with hardwood mixed in. cant tell you what kind because back then we were more interested in the wood bar in the tavern

[Dixie-Dude]

Higher elevations and northern plains.  Not many people live there.  Cities are hotter by as much as 10 degrees than the surrounding countryside. 

Also, Alabama has the most diverse plant life of any other state.  From the Gulf coast to the lower Appalachian mountains.  Lots of hills in Alabama mean more forests and less farmland due to harder to plow hills.

[ironglow]

Me thinks maybe you don't know much about the south and our oak trees. Here in Alabama alone we have 39 different species of oaks. Just here on my small acreage I'd bet I have half of those growing plus hickories and loads of pines of various types. Plenty of sweetgums, wild cherry tree and perhaps a dozen or more others just on my 6 acres.

   Bill, thanks for the reply.  The map obviously doesn't differentiate between species, and I am surprised that there are actually 39 species of Oaks !

   I was only speaking from casual observation, which is why I posited in two different spots  (IMO) and "I could be corrected"..

  Perhaps I spoke in too much a general tone.  The coniferous seem to be plentiful in places where the deciduous are slow to grow, such as near
      the normal timberline.. Certainly Oregon and Washington both have plenty of them.

    Then again, the south has it's own varieties of coniferous, witnessed by the pulp wood industry across the south. I once lived and had a home in
      the "piney woods" od east Texas...but I am no forester..    So; if I generalized too much, my apologies..

   In "Jolly olde England", they seem to keep closer records of aged trees than we do.  Pictured below is the Newland Oak, in Gloustershire..an
   ancient tree, judged to have been a sapling about 1000 AD.  It finally collapsed in1955, and was nearly all gone by 1964..but some acorns were
    saved and planted, to "carry on the line".
 
    The old saying in the UK is that oaks.."grow for 300 years, rest for 300 years, then take 300 years to die".  Of course there are outliers both ways.

   I'm guessing the UK learned to treasure some of their very old trees, because from what I understand, much of their forests were denuded
   centuries ago, many of the tall coniferous trees in Scotland, taken for masts on England's mighty navy of the middle ages.

   When America was being colonized, UK ship builders were eager to get their hands on the trall, stout eastern white pines of Maine..

.

[Graybeard]

I have a very old solitary pine tree at the far back corner of my property. It is by far the largest tree on my land. I'm sure two grown men couldn't touch each other's hands if trying to reach around it.

It's a hard to get to area due to all the muscadine vines and poison oak and poison ivy back there. I bet there is a lot of lumber in it. I haven't gotten back there to look at it in a few years. Back when I used to have a four wheeler before I bought my first JD Gator I'd go back from time to time.

[ironglow]

I have a very old solitary pine tree at the far back corner of my property. It is by far the largest tree on my land. I'm sure two grown men couldn't touch each other's hands if trying to reach around it.

It's a hard to get to area due to all the muscadine vines and poison oak and poison ivy back there. I bet there is a lot of lumber in it. I haven't gotten back there to look at it in a few years. Back when I used to have a four wheeler before I bought my first JD Gator I'd go back from time to time.

   A tree that size, must have plenty of years behind it !

[TrumpWon]

A good read
Lawrence S. Earley
Looking for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of an American Forest

Covering 92 million acres from Virginia to Texas, the longleaf pine ecosystem was, in its prime, one of the most extensive and biologically diverse ecosystems in North America.

In Looking for Longleaf, Lawrence S. Earley explores the history of these forests and the astonishing biodiversity of the longleaf ecosystem, drawing on extensive research and telling the story through first-person travel accounts and interviews with foresters, ecologists, biologists, botanists, and landowners. For centuries, these vast grass-covered forests provided pasture for large cattle herds, in addition to serving as the world's greatest source of naval stores. They sustained the exploitative turpentine and lumber industries until nearly all of the virgin longleaf had vanished.

[Dixie-Dude]

They say when the first settlers arrived in the early 1600s, a squirrel could go from the Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi River and never have to touch the ground. 

I know of white oak, black oak, pin oak, and water oak in my area.  Also hickory and pecan I think are in the oak family.  Long leaf pines are now raised by paper companies because in 10 years from seedling, they can be harvested for making paper, like toilet paper, tissue, paper towels, paper plates and cups.  In 20 years they are big enough for making lumber and paneling.  The companies will go in and clear cut several acres, then immediately replant seeding trees.  They manage their property well.  The clear cut areas grow grass and bushes that attract deer, quail, and rabbit.  You once could pay $10 to the paper company and hunt any of their land in the state.  Now thy lease their land to hunting clubs. 

[ironglow]

.From DD..  "   In 20 years they are big enough for making lumber and paneling.  The companies will go in and clear cut several acres, then immediately replant seeding trees.  They manage their property well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   
   Yes; proper management can be so important I have a 2nd cousin Steve, who is in forestry , lumbering and forest management, which in this case
  means primarily hardwoods.  In fact, he is 4th generation at this profession, so sometimes I will question him.

  His late Dad Bob, had a business where he shipped Veneer logs around the world. Bob once told me thatthe best veneer logs come form my area or
   an area in Missouri.  Actually I believe there used to be some companies in Missouri that furnished some beautifukl gun stocks. Foir one, the name
  'Bishop' comes to mind.

   But when it comes to largest and oldest..we all must bow to California...with their redwoods and sequoias for size, and the Great Basin Bristle
    Cone Pine for age.  Some of them 5,000 years old.

   Here's a bit of trivia on Ohio's state tree.. and sports teams..

 
    "In 1953, the Ohio Legislature designated the Ohio Buckeye, Aesculus glabra, as Ohio's official state tree. The tree is called the buckeye because its nuts resemble the shape and color of a deer's eye. The buckeye is relatively common in Ohio, growing especially well along rivers and streams and in floodplains."

.

[Lloyd Smale]

pines up here that get that big are usually spruce pine and it isnt used much for framing lumber. more for pulp to make paper. works for tongue and grove paneling too. theres some huge ones on the fed proprty bordering my yard. but not for long because there cutting it off this winter.dirty shame. im sure those trees have been alive longer than anyone alive today. oh well it will make it an easy winter for the deer. tamarac isnt great lumber pine either but grows BIG. i think southern yellow pine is simular. pine up here is  about 50% jack pine. a hard pine great for lumber but its an ugly tree that gives off CLOUDS of pollen.   

I have a very old solitary pine tree at the far back corner of my property. It is by far the largest tree on my land. I'm sure two grown men couldn't touch each other's hands if trying to reach around it.

It's a hard to get to area due to all the muscadine vines and poison oak and poison ivy back there. I bet there is a lot of lumber in it. I haven't gotten back there to look at it in a few years. Back when I used to have a four wheeler before I bought my first JD Gator I'd go back from time to time.