This Douglas-fir is a Morton Arboretum specimen.

The Douglas-fir is one of the world's most important and valuable timber trees and historically it was used for telephone poles and railway ties, among many other uses. Today Douglas-fir is also grown for Christmas trees. The winged seeds are eaten by western squirrels, the red tree mouse, and the dusky-foot woodrat. The foliage and twigs are browsed by antelope, mule and white-tailed deer, elk, and mountain sheep. The staminate cones and needles of Douglas-fir provide a significant winter food of the blue grouse.

Douglas-fir, also called red-fir, Oregonpine, Douglas-spruce, and piño Oregon (Spanish), is one of the world's most important and valuable timber trees. It has been a major component of the forests of western North America since the mid-Pleistocene. although the fossil record indicates that the native range of Douglas-fir has never extended beyond western North America, the species has been successfully introduced in the last 100 years into many regions of the temperate forest zone (31). Two varieties of the species are recognized: P. menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii, called coast Douglas-fir, and P. menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco, called Rocky Mountain or blue Douglas-fir.

The latitudinal range of Douglas-fir is the greatest of any commercial conifer of western North America. Its native range, extending from latitude 19° to 55° N., resembles an inverted V with uneven sides. From the apex in central British Columbia, the shorter arm extends south along the Pacific Coast Ranges for about 2200 km (1,367 mi) to latitude 34° 44' N., representing the range of the typical coastal or green variety, menziesii; the longer arm stretches along the Rocky Mountains into the mountains of central Mexico over a distance of nearly 4500 km (2,796 mi), comprising the range of the other recognized variety, glauca- Rocky Mountain or blue. Nearly pure stands of Douglas-fir continue south from their northern limit on Vancouver Island. (1)