Western woods: a matter of geography

(El f NCE eeography. not national 9 borders, defines western wood species, products from 12 ofthe western United States and two Canadian provinces qualify commercially as western woods.

In the United States. 17 species grorving in an area extending east and west from the Black Hills of South Dakota to the Pacific Ocean and from the Mexican border on the south to the Canadian border on the north are marketed as western woods. Knorvn as the U.S. Western Lumber Producing Region, this area includes Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona. New Mexico. Colorado. Utah. Nerada, Idaho, Monana,'frfoming and a portion of South Dakota. Included within the region are the Coastal Region of the Pacific Northwest, the California Redwood Region and the Inland Region.

This area covers nearly 30% ofthe U.S. and contains about 1,364 billion board feet of commercial softwood saw timber. In 1985, it produced 56Vo of the annual U.S. softwood output not including redwood. The addition of redwood production figures raises the totalto6l%.

The area is considered the world's largest lumber producing area.

Wood from this growing region is identified not onlv bv correct botanical name of the various species, but by a multitude of romantic descriptive names often indicating the locality where it is found or a reference dating back to the Indians. Because many of the species grow close together, making it virtually impossible ro harvest, manufacture and market each of them separately, western woods in the U.S. have been combined into U principal marketing groups.

These groups include Douglas fir/ larch; Douglas fir/south; western hemlock; hem-fir; mountain hemlock; subalpine fir; Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine; Fonderosa pine/sugar pine; Idaho white pine and western red cedar.

Western woods from the Canadian prwinces of British Columbia and Alberta also are grouped into marketing unis. Hem-fir is the commercial name for western hemlock and amabilis fir. Western spruce-pine-fir, the largest reserves of commercial softwood in Canada at 1.5 trillion board feet. includes white spruce, Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine and alpine fir.

Yellorv cedar and western red cedar are marketed as individual species. Only British Columbia produces any appreciable quantities of yellow cedar which grows only in the area from the northern Oregon border to Alaska. Sitka spruce. a tree which requires a great deal of moisture, also is grown in large enough quantities to be marketed as a separate commercial species in British Columbia.

A large portion of the western wood producers in the U.S. are represented by the Western Wood Products Association based in Portland, Or. Those producing western red cedar lumber are often mem- bers of the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association. also based in Fortland. In Canada western lumber producers are represented by the Western SprucePine-Fir Association which is nnde upof the Alberta Forest Products Association. Cariboo Lumber Manufrcnrrers' Association. Interior Lumber Manufacturers' Association and Northern Interior Lumber Sector. Council ofForest Industries of British Columbia (COFI).

Story at a Glance

Wood productsfrom both U.S. and Canada qualafy as w€stern uloods allgraded to ALS standards ... each country has its own prcducer associataons ...

The Arnerican Soft*ood LumberSandards provide the criteria for grading western woods produced in the United States. Since a great deal ofCanadian wood is used in the U.S.. Canadian western woods also rneet AL,S standards as well as the National Lumber Grades Authority of that country which is certified by both the Canadian Lumber Standards Accreditation Board and the AnBrican lmber Sandards Comminee. Locality has little effect on the characteristics of most western woods. All arc prized for their strength, workability, durability, insulation qualities and beauty.