The needles and look strange to me, as well, but they look just like those I saw recently on some newly collected Engelmanns at Randy Knight’s place.The short fat needles are nothing like any engleman that i have seen locally either as native or bonsai. Engleman needles are invariably thinner!
Guess variation is possible, but i expect it would have to be a hybrid for that reason or some other species.
The engleman in my nursery and the mountains nearby have needles like an Ezo just a bit different color, bluer. Here is a picture of the two types from my nursery. The engleman species comes from a company called Streamside Native plants that specializes in propogation of native species for restoration projects.The needles and look strange to me, as well, but they look just like those I saw recently on some newly collected Engelmanns at Randy Knight’s place.
The engleman in my nursery and the mountains nearby have needles like an Ezo just a bit different color, bluer. Here is a picture of the two types from my nursery. The engleman species comes from a company called Streamside Native plants that specializes in propogation of native species for restoration projects. View attachment 247855View attachment 247856
I don’t doubt that it’s a blue spruce Walter. I do find it remarkable how different spruce species from similar environments can look so much alike. Here are the needles of one of my collected Alberta white/englemann spruce. I think they look a lot like those of the OP’s treeWell I do not think that there are white Spruce in Colorado. This tree is definitely from Colorado.