shook, ladder stock, basket and crate veneers, and 
paper pulp. It is suitable for building lumber but 
is not used so extensively for that purpose as 
Douglas-fir. Because of its comparatively limited 
occurrence it will probably be used less for lumber 
than for specialty products and paper pulp. 
WESTERN REDCEDAR 
Western redcedar is one of the most important 
commercial species in the region. Its wood is light 
and soft and splits easily, and the heartwood is ex- 
The principal use of 
western redcedar is for shingles. It is used also 
for shakes, sills, siding, interior trim, molding, 
posts, piling, and poles. The saw-timber stand is 
less than 25 billion board feet, of which more than 
81 percent is in western Washington. 
tremely resistant to decay. 
PORT ORFORD WHITE-CEDAR 
Port Orford white-cedar (fig. 14) brings higher 
stumpage prices than any other forest tree of the 
region, owing to the intrinsic excellence of the wood 
and to its scarcity. The wood is valued highly for 
veneer stock, interior finish, boat construction, pat- 
tern stock, ties, block flooring, interior trim, and 
airplane construction. It is most widely used for 
specialty veneer products such as battery separators 
and venetian blinds. It is light in weight, straight- 
grained, easily worked, and exceedingly durable. 
It is in great demand abroad, particularly in Japan, 
and is exported in large quantities as logs, cants, 
and manufactured products. The region’s total 
stand of this useful species is only 1.2 billion board 
feet, all located in the southwestern corner of 
Oregon. 
BALSAM FIRS 
The balsam firs, with a total volume of 48 billion 
board feet, include Pacific silver fir, noble fir, 
Shasta red fir, grand fir, white fir, and alpine fir, 
none of which is now utilized to any great extent. 
Noble fir is generally considered to be superior to 
the other balsam firs for lumber, and is cut in 
small quantities each year. Sometimes this tree 
has been called “‘larch’? by lumbermen, and its 
products have masqueraded under that misnomer. 
It is used for siding, interior finish, shop lumber, 
and box shooks. Pacific silver fir and grand fir are 
utilized in small quantities, chiefly as pulpwood. 
34 
Alpine fir and Shasta red fir occur in nonoperable 
locations, and there is little immediate prospect of 
their utilization. All the balsam firs are well 
adapted to the manufacture of wood pulp, and will 
probably be used more extensively for that purpose 
in the future. Pacific silver fir leads them all in 
volume, with 32.9 billion board feet. 
PONDEROSA AND SUGAR PINES 
Ponderosa pine and sugar pine are much less 
important here than in other western forest regions, 
chiefly because of limited quantity. In the Rogue 
River unit they are more important in lumber 
manufacture ‘than Douglas-fir; elsewhere in. this 
region they are not important. The wood of these 
two species is used chiefly for sash and doors, box 
shook, common boards, and interior finish. 
OTHER CONIFERS 
The other conifers shown in table 6 are com- 
mercially unimportant here, because they occur in 
inaccessible locations or in insufficient quantities 
or because their wood is of poor quality. Engel- 
mann spruce and mountain hemlock are suitable 
for pulpwood but are largely inaccessible. Western 
white pine, an important timber tree in other 
regions, is likewise found chiefly in the mountains 
beyond the reach of present lumbering operations. 
Redwood is so limited in occurrence in Oregon as 
to have little economic importance. 
HARDWOODS 
The hardwoods are of minor importance in this 
region. Red alder composes more than half the 
total hardwood volume. The wood of this tree is 
fine-grained, light, and relatively strong. It is used 
for furniture manufacture, turnery, and fuel. 
Next in importance among the hardwoods is 
bigleaf maple, used in furniture manufacture, for 
veneer, and for fuel wood. Small quantities of 
maple burls have been exported to Europe. A 
large part of the bigleaf maple volume is in under- 
story trees in conifer saw-timber types and under 
present practice is destroyed when the conifers are 
logged. 
Northern black cottonwood 
quantities as pulpwood and for excelsior and 
cooperage. The oaks are used for fuel wood and 
in small quantities for cooperage and handle stock. 
is used in small 
