1. Groves of old-growth lodge-pole pine and aging spruce fir exploded into flame like toothpicks be-fore a blowtorch.

2. However, the lodgepole pine is expected to survive in the upper elevations of Yellowstone National Park and a handful of other locations, the study said.

3. The narrow, towering lodgepole pine trees that populate North America's western forests may disappear in the coming decades due to climate change and attacking beetles, a study said Monday.

4. The lodgepole pine trees throughout North America's western forests are at risk.

5. Bark beetles in lodgepole pine used to be more selective, leaving the younger and healthier trees alone.

6. Tipi poles were made of the slender trunks of young lodgepole pines, and were rare items on the treeless plains.

7. Four species, White Spruce (Picea glauca), Engelmann Spruce (Piceaengelmanni), Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta), and Alpine Fir (Abieslaciocarpa) comprise the spruce-pine-fir species group.

8. This may offer some protection against a continental sweep, depending on how jack pine fares as a host compared to a lodgepole pine.