When I was a boy we used to eat ponderosa pine for pleasure . . . called it "slivers". In the spring the bark is really gorged with starches and sugars and tastes quite sweet. It's also high in vitamins.
From Wikipedia:
Pine nuts produced in Europe mostly come from the Stone Pine (Pinus pinea), which has been cultivated for its nuts for over 6,000 years, and harvested from wild trees for far longer. The Swiss Pine (Pinus cembra) is also used to a very small extent.
In North America, the main species are three of the pinyon pines, Colorado Pinyon (Pinus edulis), Single-leaf Pinyon (Pinus monophylla), and Mexican Pinyon (Pinus cembroides). The other eight pinyon species are used to a small extent, as are Gray Pine (Pinus sabineana), Coulter Pine (Pinus coulteri), Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana), Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana) and Parry Pinyon (Pinus quadrifolia).
In the United States, pine nuts are mainly harvested by Native Americans, particularly the Uto-Aztecan: Shoshone, Paiute and Hopi, and Washoe tribes.[4] Certain treaties negotiated by tribes and laws in Nevada guarantee Native Americans’ right to harvest pine nuts.[5]