Lodgepole pines are a two-needled pine species, Pinus contorta, native to western North America. According to the USDA Forest Service Silvics of North America, the species includes several geographic varieties—coastal shore pine, Bolander pine, Sierra lodgepole pine, and Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine—and ranges from the Yukon Territory south to Baja California and east to the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Forests dominated by lodgepole pine cover about 6 million hectares (15 million acres) in the western United States and about 20 million hectares (50 million acres) in Canada. The inland form often grows at elevations from roughly 1,600 to 12,000 feet; many Rocky Mountain stands produce serotinous cones that open after fire and help the species regenerate after stand-replacing burns.
Source: USDA Forest Service — Silvics of North America: Lodgepole Pine
Image: Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) by GlacierNPS, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.