Question
There is a large pine tree in my yard and every fall all of the needles turn golden yellow all at once. I have watched this for years and every spring it comes back green.  Is this a special type of pine?  At first I thought it was dying, but it comes back each year.
I live in north eastern NY

Answer
Although most conifer trees are considered evergreens, they all eventually drop their needles. What makes them evergreen is that their leaves persist more than one year before falling. Since new needles are added every year, there is always an overlap between green needles and those due to fall.

Most pine trees retain their needles for three to four years before dropping. Depending on the species, however, the period of retention can range anywhere from two years for some faster growing types to more than 15 years for some slower growers like bristlecone pine. In the Midwest, the evergreen with the most prominent needle drop is white pine. Every fall these trees appear sprinkled with yellow, desiccating needles. People that experience this for the first time often assume these trees are sick or dying.

There actually are a few types of conifers that shed all their needles every year. These deciduous conifers include larch, bald cypress and dawn redwood. The larch with its golden yellow and the bald cypress and dawn redwood with their bronze hues can add great beauty to the fall landscape. Such trees are unusual enough that more than one story has been told about people that removed such trees after they were mistakenly determined to be dead.

Since you said the needles turn a golden yellow I would think it is larch instead of a pine tree. Here is a web link to information on larch. http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=124

IF it is this species this needle drop is normal and the tree sounds ok.