Hardwood Utilization

The California Hardwood Resource

It surprises many to learn that California has a hardwood resource. California, one of the nation’s most forested states, is well known for its majestic coastal redwood and giant sequoia softwood species. It is also one of the nation’s leading producers of commercial lumber including Douglas-fir, white fir, ponderosa pine, and many other softwood species. In addition, the California forests are home to about 25 billion cubic feet of hardwoods, that’s one fourth of the total forest tree volume in the state. These hardwood trees – primarily California black oak, Oregon white oak, tanoak, madrone, and the live oaks of the coastal regions, inland valleys and foothills – are found in the vast forestlands and rangelands of the state. Add to this a sizable stock of both indigenous and exotic trees in urban areas and it becomes difficult to ignore the California hardwood resource.

As California is also the nation’s leading consumer of hardwood lumber and products it would logically follow that it is also a leading producer of hardwood lumber. But that is not the case. Of the 100 million board feet of hardwood lumber used in California each year only about 5% is produced locally from the California resource.

UC Forest Products Laboratory projects include evaluation and utilization of wood from trees killed by Sudden Oak Death (SOD) and the Hardwood Handbook. Check out the California Hardwoods Video for an introduction to some of the issues regarding utilization of California grown hardwoods.

Reports and presentations are available for download below. They summarize projects that dealt with examining the potential for more hardwood processing in California and providing recommendations on milling and drying to produce high quality hardwood products.

Title	Content	Type	Date Added
Tanoak Utilization	Tanoak Lumber Recovery and Yield Study	PDF	8/28/12
California Hardwoods - Opportunities and Challenges	Overview of the opportunities and challenges facing the industry. Includes information on the physical and wood working properties of underutilized species found in areas of California	PDF	5/31/11
Oak Woodland as a Potential Resource	An examination of oak woodland as a potential resource for higher-value wood production	PDF	5/31/11
An Examination of the Oak Woodland as a Potential Resource for Higher-Value Wood Products	In 'Proceedings of a symposium on oak woodland: ecology, management, and urban interface issues; 19-22 March 1996: San Luis Obispo, CA. (General Technical Report PSW-GTR-160, Albany, CA: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Pacific Southwest Research Station.)	PDF	6/6/11
Does it Make 'Cents' to Process Tanoak to Lumber?	Summary of project to develop recovery, yield and processing information on the manufacturing of lumber from the tanoak resource in northwest California	PDF	5/31/11
Developing a Drying Schedule for a "New-to-You" Species	Information and techniques required for developing a drying schedule for a "new-to-you" wood species, using Tanoak in a detailed example.	PDF	5/31/11
Lumber Drying Principals and Practice	This document presents drying methods and techniques to minimize drying defects	PDF	5/31/11
Oak Woodland Utilization	Presentation given as part of a webinar series: Guidelines for Managing Oak Rangelands. University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. March 22, 2011.	PDF	6/6/11
Drying California Hardwoods	Presentation given at Urban Forest Products of California Conference. San Fransisco, California. May 19, 2011	PDF	6/6/11

Red gum eucalyptus

High quality Modesto ash logs

Sawing of logs using Lucas mobile sawmill

Air drying milled lumber

6MBF Koetter Dry Kiln - tanoak lumber

Tanoak hardwood flooring

Madrone and tanoak