Red alder: new markets for this hearty tree: red alder is starting to get respect.

• Author: Swagel, Will

Alaska, of all places, should appreciate a true pioneer like the red alder. The deciduous hardwood tree thrives in exposed mineral soil and is the first tree to take root in places where the ground has been scoured down to rock, a foothold too harsh for other trees. Alder grows where landslides have occurred, along streambeds and in places that were logged in the past. In most of Southeast Alaska, red alder trees line the roads.

Like a good pioneer, red alder not only thrives on adversity, but also helps create the richer soil needed to support the civilized softwoods that come later, like Sitka spruce and western hemlock. Forest scientists are finding that having alder in a stand of conifers results in larger softwood trees and more board feet of marketable lumber.

In Oregon and Washington, red alder is a prized species, fetching good prices--a high point in the otherwise oft-dismal Pacific Northwest wood industry. The Tongass National Forest, in red alder's northern range, has several million board feet of red alder. Yet, until only recently, the wood has been considered little more than a weed.

Why does this pioneer get so little respect?

MEET ALDER

As late as the 1970s, red alder was considered a weed species in Washington and Oregon, as well. Forest management favored conifers and much of the technical literature on alder was devoted to how to eradicate it. Then, along with the increasing environmental awareness of the period, forest managers began to see alder as the hardy pioneer it is, taking root in the rockiest soil and fixing that soil with nitrogen, which allows other plants, and ultimately wildlife, to thrive.

Alder is fast-growing; a tree reaches marketable size in 20 or 30 years, half to a third the time required for conifers. Red alder is not to be confused with Sitka alder, which is a bushy plant. Red alder is a fast-growing tree that can reach heights of 50 feet or more and can live for 50 years.

And red alder wood is very uniform, both between the newer inner and older outer layers of the tree and from the top of the tree to the bottom. This is a boon to woodworkers, who prefer consistent, predictable density in their work materials.

Alder is used in a wide variety of products, from the well-known chips for smoking food to fine cabinetry and furniture. While alder represents only 3 percent of all hardwoods in the U.S., 40 percent of the hardwood used in furniture in California is red alder, says Scott Leavengood, a wood...