Ancient ponderosa pine near Creston torched by lightning

Don Hauth believes the colossal ponderosa pine he once dubbed “the sentinel” was likely alive and growing in 1431 when Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in France.

“It was definitely here before Christopher Columbus sailed,” said Hauth, a former wilderness ranger for the U.S. Forest Service.

And alive and well during the hundreds of years when indigenous peoples hunted and gathered in the Flathead Valley.

Hauth, 68, stood Wednesday morning with Allen Zimmerman, 80, and gazed up at the tree that has been special to the Zimmerman family since John Jacob Zimmerman homesteaded the land in what is now Creston in 1887.

Around 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 10, a powerful thunderstorm that moved through the valley delivered a lightning strike to the ancient ponderosa, which grows alone alongside an alfalfa field and is readily visible from the home of Lisa Zimmerman Woods.

“Our daughter was looking out at the storm and she saw the lightning hit the top of the tree and saw it burst into flame,” said Nancy Zimmerman, 79, who is Allen’s wife.

Lisa called the Creston Fire Department and firefighters responded. But water from hoses could not reach the top of the tree, whose height was estimated in 2003 to be 125 feet.

Ultimately, the charred topmost reaches of the tree splintered off. Portions landed on the ground while large sections got hung up high.

And the whole neighborhood began to grieve, with the deepest sorrow felt by the Zimmermans.

“It’s been part of our hearts since I can remember,” Allen said.

Hauth, who lives in Creston and helped measure the tree in 2003, also felt the loss.

“It makes a grown man want to cry,” he said.

He acknowledged there is a chance the tree will survive the lightning strike and the fire. Yet its compromised condition might make it more vulnerable to destructive insects, he said.

The measurements in 2003 of the ponderosa included the “diameter at breast height,” which Hauth calculated to be 63 inches. He said he once counted the rings in a felled ponderosa pine whose diameter was only about 48 inches and determined that the tree had been 660 years old.

He said “the sentinel” might have enjoyed better growing conditions than the comparison tree. For many years, it has stood solo, with no competition from other trees, in an agricultural field west of Blaine Mountain in the Swan Range.

Still, Hauth thinks the tree might be 700 years old or older.

Ponderosa pines grow best in full sun and deep, moist, well-drained soil, according to the Arbor Day Foundation.

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation maintains a Register of Big Trees, a program that relies on volunteers for updates, measurements and nominations.

According to this register, the biggest ponderosa pine in Montana is in Mineral County. Records show that tree is 195 feet tall and has a diameter at breast height of 78 inches.

Allen Zimmerman said his grandfather wanted his children and grandchildren to be good stewards of the ponderosa pines that grew on the family dairy farm. And Allen said he and his brother, Ray, and sisters Evelyn and Jean have tried to honor that wish.

Allen said he and his family feel grateful for how hard the Creston Fire Department worked to try to save “the sentinel.”

Will the ponderosa survive the lightning strike and fire?

“We’ll know by next spring,” Hauth said.

Reporter Duncan Adams may be reached at dadams@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4407.