The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is high in the White Mountains

White Mountains (California)

The White Mountains of California are a triangular fault block mountain range facing the Sierra Nevada across the upper Owens Valley. They extend for approximately as a greatly elevated plateau about wide on the south, narrowing to a point at the north, with elevations generally increasing...

 in Inyo County

Inyo County, California

-National protected areas:* Death Valley National Park * Inyo National Forest * Manzanar National Historic Site-Major highways:* U.S. Route 6* U.S. Route 395* State Route 127* State Route 136* State Route 168* State Route 178...

 in eastern California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) trees grow between 9,800 and 11,000 feet (3000-3400 m) above sea level, in xeric alpine conditions, protected within the Inyo National Forest

Inyo National Forest

Inyo National Forest is a federally administered forest in the United States. The forest covers parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California, and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. It contains two wilderness areas: the John Muir Wilderness and the Ansel Adams Wilderness...

. Foxtail Pine

Foxtail Pine

The Foxtail Pine is a rare pine that is endemic to California, United States, where it is found in two areas with a separate subspecies in each, the typical subsp. balfouriana in the Klamath Mountains, and subsp. austrina in the southern Sierra Nevada.-Description:Foxtail Pine is a tree to tall,...

 (Pinus balfouriana) also grow in the forest.

Methuselah

The Methuselah Grove

Grove (nature)

A grove is a small group of trees with minimal or no undergrowth, such as a sequoia grove, or a small orchard planted for the cultivation of fruits or nuts...

 in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is the location of the "Methuselah

Methuselah (tree)

Methuselah is a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine tree growing high in the White Mountains of Inyo County in eastern California. Its measured age of 4,842 years makes it the world's oldest known living non-clonal organism...

", a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine more than 4,750 years old. This is 1,000 years older than any other tree in the world. "Methuselah" is not marked in the forest, to ensure added protection from vandals.

Geography

The forest is east of the Owens Valley

Owens Valley

Owens Valley is the arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States, to the east of the Sierra Nevada and west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the west edge of the Great Basin section...

, high on the eastern face of the White Mountains in the upper Fish Lake-Soda Spring Watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

, above the northernmost reach of the Mojave Desert

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

 into Great Basin

Great Basin

The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...

 ecotone

Ecotone

An ecotone is a transition area between two biomes but different patches of the landscape, such as forest and grassland. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local or regional...

. The forest's mountain habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

 is in the Central Basin and Range ecoregion

Central Basin and Range ecoregion

The Central Basin and Range ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency with 26 different Level IV ecoregions...

 (EPA) and Taiga and Boreal forest ecoregion

Taiga

Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...

 (WWF). The Patriarch Grove is the source of Cottonwood Creek

Cottonwood Creek (Inyo County, California)

Cottonwood Creek originates in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forests of the White Mountains of California. The creek flows eastward from the 14,000-foot crest of the White Mountains and steeply descends through groves of aspen, eventually flowing into a sagebrush desert. Numerous springs feed the...

, a designated Wild and Scenic River.

Fire

On September 4, 2008, a fire destroyed the visitor center and several bristlecone pines. Rebuilding the center began the next day.

Visiting

The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is generally open from mid-May through the end of November, weather permitting.

• Schulman Grove and Schulman Grove Visitor Center - daily interpretive talks and natural history lectures mid-June through Labor Day, and hiking trails.
• Patriarch Grove - home of the world's largest Bristlecone Pine, the Patriarch Tree, and a self-guided nature trail.