Northwest Know-How: Trees: (A Tree Identification Book)

by Karen Gaudette Brewer, Emily Poole (Illustrator)

Overview

An entertaining and educational guide, Northwest Know-How: Trees introduces 54 of the Pacific Northwest's most engaging and impressive varieties, providing key identification features, statistics, facts, and beautiful line-art renderings of the awe-inspiring sentinels that dot our landscape

Trees in the Pacific Northwest are as varied as they are majestic. This celebratory guide features 54 of the most intriguing varieties in the region, providing identification tips, statistics, and fun facts for each. In addition, each profile will be paired with beautiful illustrations showing the full silhouette along with finer details such as a flower or leaf. Delighting both the curious observer and experienced arborist alike, this collection makes a perfect gift for the tree lover in your life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632176424
Publisher:	Blue Star Press
Publication date:	07/08/2025
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	56
File size:	128 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

KAREN GAUDETTE BREWER Karen was born, raised, and educated in Washington State, where she grew up playing beneath western red cedars, endlessly raking alder leaves, and skiing past forests of Pacific silver fir. She began her career as a journalist with the Associated Press and has worked as a writer and editor at the Seattle Times, PCC Community Markets, Allrecipes.com, Remedy Health Media, and NerdWallet. She lives in Seattle. This is her second book about the Pacific Northwest.


EMILY POOLE was born and raised in the mountain town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. After receiving her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design, she returned west to put down roots in the mossy hills of Oregon. She can be found exploring tidepools and cliffsides, gathering inspiration and making artwork about our fellow species and how to be better neighbors with them.

Read an Excerpt

To live in the Pacific Northwest is to dwell in a kind of
benevolent mystery.
You might spend an entire week here before it dawns
on you, during a sunbreak, that a dormant volcano has
been holding court behind the clouds all along. While hiking
you could easily wander past chanterelles like those
you’ll later savor at dinner, not recognizing their fanlike
forms amid the camouflage of a plush carpet of pine needles.
On the water you might paddle in solitude—or yelp
in surprise as a harbor seal pops up its whiskered face to
see what you’re up to.
But the greatest secret keepers are our trees: tall, confident,
constant. They shield our homes from neighbors,
shade streams so the salmon can spawn in peace, muffle
our voices with their branches, and offer our famously
introverted population a retreat from our rapidly growing
cities. The lush woods that fringe our towns and cities with
every imaginable shade of green offer a warm, welcoming
embrace and endless opportunities for exploration.
There are epic trees, ponderous evergreens far too
fat to hug, bathed in mist or sun, nourished by abundant
snowmelt. There are otherworldly trees, larches whose
golden glow gleams atop mountain crests each fall. Walk
along rocky beaches and you’ll glimpse madrones, their
oddly smooth bark peeling in strips as they stand sentinel
over waterways that once ferried explorers. That whoosh
you hear during winter is the wind combing the needles of
hemlocks and pines, spruces and firs. Better pull up your
hood: the rain may have paused, but you’ll be shocked
when giant drops eventually descend from limbs high
above to trickle down your neck.
In town trees serve as landmarks. In the country the
timberline forces us to hike ever higher to finally, finally
(finally!) ascend beyond the conifer crowns to be able to
glimpse the payoff: dazzling mountain lakes, a sweeping
view of the valley below, a peek at Mount Baker or
Adams or Hood, or Mount Rainier or Saint Helens or
Shasta shimmering in the distance.
Our native trees loom large in our imaginations
because they’ve seen more than many of us will ever see
in our lifetimes. And when our time is past, they’ll remain
to witness the future.
We hope this book helps you feel even more at home
on your next hike, ski run, or picnic now that you’ll be
better able to recognize your neighbors.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

Pacific Silver Fir Abies amabilis 1

Grand Fir Abies grandis 2

Subalpine Fi Abies Iasiocarpa 5

ShaSta Red Fir Abies magnificat var. shastensis 6

Noble Fir Abies procera 9

Vine Maple Acer circinatum 10

Douglas Maple Acer glabrum var. douglasii 15

Big-Leaf Maple Acer macrophyllum 16

Red Alder Alnus rubra 19

Pacific Madrone Arbutus menaziesii 20

Water Birch Betula occidental 23

Paper Birch Batula papyrifera 24

Incense Cedar Calocedrus decurrens 28

Netleaf Hackberry Celtis reticulata 31

Mountain Mahogany Cereocarpus ledifolius 32

Port Orford Cedar Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 35

Golden Chinquapin Chrysolepls chrysophylla 36

Pacific Dogwood Cornus nuttallii 40

Black Hawthorn Crataegus douglasii 43

Modoc Cypress Cupressus bakeri 44

Yellow Cedar Cupressus noatkatensis 47

Oregon Ash Fraxinus Latifolia 48

Western Juniper Juniperus occidental 51

Alpine Larch Larix lyallii 52

Western Larch Larix occidentals 56

Pacific Crab Apple Malus fusca 59

Tanoak Notholithocarpus densiflorus 60

Brewer's Weeping Spruce Picea engelmannii 63

Engelmann Spruce Picea engelmannii 64

Sitka Spruce Picea sitehensis 67

Whitebark Pine Pinus albicaulis 70

Knobcone Pine Pinus attenuata 73

Shore Pine Pinus contorta 74

Limber Pine Pinus flexilis 77

Jeffrey Pine Pinus jeffreyi 78

Sugar Pine Pinus lambertiana 81

Western White Pine Pinus monticola 84

Ponderosa Pine Pinus ponderosa 87

Quaking Aspen Populus tremuloides 88

Black Cottonwood Populus trichocarpa 91

Bitter Cherry Prunus emarginata 92

Klamath Plum Prunus subcordata 95

Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii 96

Canyon Live Oak Ouerous chrysolepis 99

Oregon White Oak Querous garryana 100

California Black Oak Quercus kelloggii 103

Cascara Buckthorn Rhamnus purshiana 104

Pacific Willow Salix lucida ssp. Lasiandra 107

Coast Redwood Sequoia sempervirens 110

Pacific Yew Taxus brevifolia 113

Western Red Cedar Thuja plicata 116

Western Hemlock Tsuga heterophylla 119

Mountain Hemlock Tsuga mertensiana 120

Oregon Myrtle Umbellularia californica 123

Afterword 125

Additional Resources 126

Index 129

Editorial Reviews

"A great companion for hikers, gardeners, and park goers—or any lover of trees."
—Bird's Books

From the Publisher