44 FOREST RESOURCES; PRINCIPAL TREES AND REGIONS 



kind of lumber found in our American markets. It is also cut to some 

 extent in Washington and Idaho, and in all the western mountain 

 states. 



True Firs. These are chiefly white fir, Abies concolor, red fir, Abies 

 magnified, and noble fir, Abies nobilis. They are found principally 

 in Washington, Oregon, and California in frequent mixture with Doug- 

 las fir and sugar pine, and occasionally ponderosa pine at the higher 

 elevations. White fir entered the lumber markets prominently for 

 the first time in 1929 when 307,000,000 b.f. were reported by the 

 Census Bureau. This species was exceeded in production by only 

 six western softwoods. The true firs include 131,933,000,000 b.f. of 

 standing timber and are exceeded in volume of saw timber only by 

 Douglas fir and ponderosa pine. They will probably enter the future 

 lumber markets still more prominently because of the large available 

 stands and the large size of the trees. At present they are used 

 locally on the Pacific Coast for common and inexpensive forms of 

 lumber and timber. 



Western Hemlock. There are 86,464,000,000 b.f. of saw timber 

 of this species. It has recently entered the lumber markets in sub- 

 stantial volume. It is found almost entirely in Washington and Oregon 

 and is a very prominent tree in British Columbia and the coastal 

 section of southern Alaska. It enters the Atlantic Coast lumber 

 trade where it is often sold interchangeably with Douglas fir and for 

 the same general purposes. It is even preferred to fir for some uses. 

 Formerly considered of little or no value, it is now logged commonly 

 in most of the large operations of the North Pacific Coast. 



Spruce. There are 61,582,000,000 b.f. of spruce. Of this, 36,000,- 

 000,000 b.f. are chiefly Engelmann spruce in the Southern Rocky 

 Mountain region, largely at high elevations in Colorado. There are 

 about 12 billion b.f. of Sitka spruce, which reaches extremely large 

 size along the Pacific Coast from Oregon to southern Alaska. It is 

 frequently logged in both pure stands and in mixture with other 

 species in western Oregon and western Washington. There are 

 immense stands of this species in the Olympic Peninsula. There 

 are over 12 billion b.f. of spruce in the Northern Rocky Mountains. 

 This consists largely of Engelmann spruce in northern Idaho and 

 western Montana. A small amount of blue spruce is found in the 

 Southern Rocky Mountain region, chiefly in Colorado. 



Redwood. In the narrow strip along the northern California coast, 

 which extends into southwestern Oregon, 57,233,000,000 b.f. of stand- 

 ing redwood saw timber is found. This consists of large trees up 

 to 10 feet or more in diameter and 300 feet in height. There is suffi- 



