Rocky Mountain Douglas-Fir

About Rocky Mountain Douglas-Fir in Alberta

Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir is a native Alberta conifer of warm, dry, montane and foothill valley systems, especially on the eastern slopes and nearby river corridors of the southwest and central Rockies. In Alberta it is most important not as a common general forest tree, but as a long-lived niche species of specific slopes, escarpments, and open montane forests, with some of the province's most striking heritage examples surviving in Calgary's Bow River valley, the Porcupine Hills, the Abraham Lake - Kootenay Plains corridor, and Jasper's northern montane outliers.

Identification: Needles are flat, soft, and fragrant when crushed, usually about 15-35 mm long. They are dark green to gray-green or bluish green, arranged spirally around the twig but often appearing two-ranked because they spread to the sides. Tips are blunt to slightly notched rather than sharp. The soft feel and sweet resinous scent help separate Douglas-fir from sharper, stiffer Alberta conifers.

Alberta range and habitat: Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir is native to Alberta and is concentrated in the southwest and central eastern-slopes belt. It is a Montane Natural Subregion species first and foremost, with strong wild occurrence in places such as Waterton, Kananaskis, the Porcupine Hills, the Calgary Bow River escarpment stands, the Ya Ha Tinda area, the Abraham Lake - Kootenay Plains corridor, and Jasper National Park, where it reaches its northernmost known Alberta limit.