Pseudotsuga menziesii, Douglas Fir (16)

Douglas Firs are single stemmed evergreen conifers that range in height from 125 feet to 200 feet. They have soft needles on slender twisted branches arranged in a bottlebrush like formation. The cones are very distinctive and occur in drooping clusters throughout the tree and can be up to about 3 inches long. Their scales are thin, and they have delicate three lobed bracts between each scale. The Douglas Fir is not a true fir (it is in the genera Pseudotsuga rather than Abies), though the two are similar in appearance (Stuart and Sawyer, 2001).

The Douglas Fir has a very wide distribution. It is found naturally all along the Pacific coast from Canada to Mexico and also in the Rocky Mountains. It can also be found in the Sierra Nevada north of Yosemite (Cockrell, 1976; Stuart and Sawyer, 2001).

The main significance of the Douglas Fir in California is two fold (Stuart and Sawyer, 2001). First, it is often home to endangered species of birds, such as the spotted owl, and to other species of wildlife. Second, it is the most important timber tree in the United States and Canada (Cockrell, 1976). The timber produced from the Douglas Fir is of very high grade and is used for construction timbers as well as for plywoods and particle boards. Unfortunately, the two significances of the Douglas Fir are at odds with each other. Until recently, the second seemed to win out in general. Today, however, what remains of old growth Douglas Fir is offered more protection from logging.