White pine seedlings need exposed mineral soils to take root and get a head start against competing brush and vegetation. Periodic fire created both. With human settlement of the land, fire was controlled and broadleaf species, less adapted to surviving fire than pines, came to dominate the landscape. With the changes in forest types brought on by human settlement came associated changes in wildlife. White-tailed deer populations rose sharply around the turn of the century, to the detriment of the white pine.
Deer eat the terminal bud of white pine causing the tree to die or grow with trunk deformities.
The fungus infects tree needles and moves down branches to the trunk of the tree, eventually killing it. With all of these challenges , growing white pine can be difficult, yet not impossible. Just as a teacher helps students succeed by first getting to know them and then creating a situation in which they can do well, success in growing white pine begins with understanding the characteristics of the species and planting them into conditions in which they will thrive. In natural settings , white pine grows most frequently as a component of a mixed forest containing other tree types, growing in small clusters or scattered individuals with other pines and northern hardwoods. This is contrary to the popular notion that pure stands of white pine blanketed the state in pre-settlement times.