Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is not a true fir at all, nor a pine or spruce. It is a distinct species named after Archibald Menzies, a Scottish physician and naturalist who first discovered the tree on Vancouver Island in 1791, and David Douglas, the Scottish botanist who later identified the tree in the Pacific Northwest in 1826. The species is known by a number of common names including Oregon Pine, British Columbian Pine, Red Fir and even Douglastree; however, the U.S. Forest Service settled on Douglas Fir some years ago. Douglas Fir is North America's most plentiful softwood species, accounting for one fifth of the continent's total softwood reserves. 

Western Larch (Larix occidentalis), sometimes called Mountain Larch or Western Tamarack, was discovered in 1806 in western Montana. However, it remained for the botanist Thomas Nuttall to recognize and describe the tree as a previously unclassified species in 1834. It is one of only two conifers that sheds its needles in the winter, with new needles developing in spring. Western Larch is native to eastern Oregon and Washington, Idaho, Montana, and southern interior British Columbia. Like Douglas Fir, it is among the strongest and hardest softwood species. 

Nearly 40 million acres of commercial timberland* in the U.S. West are forested in Douglas Fir and Western Larch. In addition, there are millions more acres of Douglas Fir and Western Larch standing in the West on the nearly 50 million acres of federal forested land now protected from harvesting through legislative, administrative, or judicial withdrawals, or set aside in parks, scenic reserves, wilderness areas, habitat reserves and research areas. 

Douglas Fir timberlands are the most productive softwood timberlands in the U.S. in terms of volume per acre. More softwood lumber is produced in Oregon than in any other state due in large part to the predominance of Douglas Fir in its coastal forests. Known as the "timber basket," where systematic replanting has been documented since 1912, the northwestern region is governed by some of the world's toughest environmental laws providing protection for habitat, watersheds, soils and biological diversity, thus fostering a multiplicity of forest values in perpetuity. Reforestation and management practices are not voluntary, they are enforced by law. 

For the U.S. overall, 2.4 billion trees were planted in 1993 and a similar number are planted every year by timberland owners, including the forest products industry, private tree farmers and federal, state and local agencies. Growth on Western timberlands exceeds harvest by more than 35% overall and by more than 50% in some areas. 

In the West, timber for products is managed primarily in natural stands, on long rotations. It is estimated more than 557 billion board feet of Douglas Fir and Western Larch sawtimber is growing on commercial timberland in the west. Although production is much greater in Douglas Fir, the two species accounted for 45% of all Western softwood produced in 1994 -- some 7.2 billion board feet. 

Douglas Fir lumber products are identified by region. Products from trees growing west of the Cascade Crest to the Pacific Ocean, the most abundant region for Douglas Fir, are simply identified as "DF" on the grade stamp. East of the Cascades, Western Larch grows intermixed with Douglas Fir. The two species are often kept separate in appearance grade products but are combined in dimension products and marketed as "DF-L". Because Douglas Fir and Western Larch share nearly identical structural characteristics and physical working properties, the two species are interchangeable in dimension products.