UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1437 
Washington, D. C. 
September, 1926 
RED ALDER OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST: ITS UTILIZATION, WITH 
NOTES ON GROWTH AND MANAGEMENT 
By Herman M. Johnson, Forest Inspector; Edward J. Hanzlik, Forest 
Inspector; and William H. Gibbons, in Charge, Office of Forest Products, 
Portland, Oreg., Forest Service 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Importance 1 
Supply 3 
Annual consumption 5 
Properties of red alder wood 5 
General description 5 
Structure and identification 7 
Physical and mechanical proper- 
ties 7 
Durability 10 
Seasoning 10 
Utilization by industries 15 
Primary industries 15 
Secondary industries 18 
Methods of lumbering 25 
Logging 25 
Milling 26 
Transportation 29 
Water 29 
Autotrucks 29 
Railroads 30 
Page 
Stumpage, log, and lumber values 31 
Characteristics, growth, and yield of 
red alder 32 
Associated species 33 
Soil and climatic requirements- 33 
Light requirements 33 
Susceptibility to injury 33 
Reproduction and development- 35 
Yields 36 
Perpetuation of the supply 37 
Management 37 
Better utilization 39 
Volume tables 40 
Summary 42 
Classified list of uses for red alder — 43 
Reported uses 43 
Possible uses 43 
Directory of producers and consumers- 44 
Oregon 44 
Washington 44 
IMPORTANCE 
Red alder (Alnws rubra), although a wood of comparatively 
little importance outside of the region where it is found, is yet the 
leading hardwood of the Pacific Northwest. The red alder cut 
in 1923 amounted roughly to thirteen and one-half million board 
feet, or only 0.2 per cent of the total cut of hardwood lumber in 
the United States. Its importance locally is due both to the in- 
trinsic qualities of the wood and to the scant supply of other com- 
mercial hardwoods throughout its range. 
Because of its color, almost white to light reddish brown, its 
medium weight, and the ease with which it may be worked, red 
alder is well adapted for the manufacture of turned and flat parts 
of furniture, chairs, novelties, and the like. It is especially valuable 
also in the manufacture of three-ply and five-ply panels, serving 
both as cores and cross-bands. Its use for this purpose appears to 
be increasing rapidly. The growth of the furniture and similar 
wood-using industries of the Pacific Northwest may indeed be said 
103296°— 26 1 1 
