Red pine, also called Norway pine, is one of the most extensively planted species in the northern United States and Canada. It is a medium-size tree with lightweight, close-grained, pale reddish wood used primarily for timber and pulpwood. Trees 97 cm (38 in) in d.b.h. and 43 m (141 ft) tall in Michigan are among the largest living specimens.

Native Range - Red pine is confined to the Northern Forest region and the southern fringe of the Boreal Forest region. It grows in a narrow zone about 2400 km (1,500 mi) long and 800 km (500 mi) wide around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, most of it within or closely adjacent to the area glaciated during the late Pleistocene (76). Its range extends from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, southern Quebec, and Maine, westward to central Ontario and southeastern Manitoba, southward to southeastern Minnesota and eastward to Wisconsin, Michigan, southern Ontario, northern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. It also grows locally in northern Illinois, eastern West Virginia, and Newfoundland.

Natural stands of red pine are confined largely to sandy soils. They are most common on Entisols followed in order by Spodosols, Alfisols, and Inceptisols. Common materials are glaciofluvial and aeolian in origin, and lacustrine deposits and loamy and finer till soils are less frequently occupied. Red pine commonly grows on dry soils low in fertility, but it is also found on a variety of sites including organic debris over rock outcrops and some structured lacustrine red clays, where it may be somewhat stunted, however. Red pine is rarely found in swamps but is common along swamp borders. It does not grow where the surface soil is alkaline, although it grows on dry, acid soils overlying well drained limestones or calcareous soils. although it can grow well on silt loams, red pine grows only sporadically on heavier soils, probably because of its inability to compete with more aggressive species and because of root injuries known to occur on some such soils. It grows especially well (height growth may be doubled) on naturally sub-irrigated soils with well aerated surface layers and a water table at a depth of 1 to 3 m (4 to 9 ft) in Wisconsin. Best plantation development is made on soils that range from moderately drained to those without substantial moisture stress.