The bristlecone pine is a rare tree that thrives in high, arid places: near mountain tops, on plateau rims and living singly among other conifers. No two are the same. Youths shapely and aspiring, middle-agers with thick-needled bows flagrantly displayed, and retirees goldening dolomitic slopes in full-on gnarl. How rare? Rare enough that you can count individuals. On the Anthill, a few dozen on the northeast summit ridge. Same on the north side of Brown Benchmark. A colony burgeons beneath Lion Mountain near Happy Valley. Cedar Breaks boasts the region’s most with 17,000 individuals.* 

Five bristlecone thrive within bounds at Brian Head. Our species, Pinus longeava, has the longest life span of any nonclonal plant species on Earth. Will they remain?

*Heibert and Hamrick, 1984.