Description & Range

PNW Native
Ranges along western North America, from Alaska to California.
Sitka spruce grows up to 70 m / 300 ft tall and regularly reaches a diameter of up to 2 m / 7.5 ft. Bark is red-brown and breaks into scales with age, and main branches are straight and untampered with straight horizontal main branches. Seed cones are 5-8 cm long with thin red-orange-brown scales interlocking like fish scales. Needles are yellow-green or blue-green, 1-3 cm long, surround the whole branchlet, and are stomata-lined on all four sides; easily identifiable because they are the sharpest and stiffest needles in the region. (PM),(DM)

Ecology

Sitka spruce forests exist at various points of ecological succession. They provide critical habitat for mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Some birds consume Sitka spruce, but ungulates do not heavily browse it. Sitka spruce is more valuable as hiding and thermal cover. Old growth Alaskan and British Columbian Sitka spruce forests are relied on by Sitka Deer for thermal cover during winter. Old growth forests screen out snow and provide thermal cover during cold months. Large sitka spruce forests are needed by Sitka deer for their seasonal migrations, and the forests provide habitat to woodland caribou, mountain goat, Roosevelt elk, and Alaskan brown bear. Snags and broken-top trees provide important nesting ground to cavity nesting birds. Bald eagle roost primarily on Sitka spruce trees on admiralty island, and in British Columbia, the trees are used for platform and cavity nesting by peregrine falcons. (G)

Sitka spruce grows most readily along shorelines at up to 1000 ft elevation by the Pacific Ocean and prefers alluvial soil. It grows on moist sites with good drainage, marine terraces, bogs, river headlands, glacial outwash, and avalanche tracks. In WA, the tree rarely grows above middle elevations but grows up to timberline in the Queen Charlotte Islands through maritime Alaska. Sitka spruce grows both in mixed forest stands and in its own forests. (PM) The most abundant, old, and magnificent Sitka spruce forests are found in river floodplains on Vancouver Island at Carmanah Pacific Park and the Hoh River Rainforest in the Olympic National Park, which houses the biggest Sitka spruce known to date. The regular flooding of these erratic rivers frequently washes out parts of the forest and restarts the cycle of ecological succession with willows and alders while depositing alluvial soil Sitka spruce prefers. After a few decades of alders and willows, they begin to die off after enriching the soil, facilitating Sitka spruce to take their place. Due to their fast growth, Sitka spruce will dominate the canopy after a few centuries. In the aforementioned forests, selective browsing by elk to avoid the prickly spruce needles maintains spruce stands longer than they would otherwise naturally persist. (DM)
 

Equity: Cultural and Historical Significance

Sitka Spruce was used widely by Northwest Peoples. Shoots and inner bark were eaten during times of hardship, and tea was made from spruce shoots. The pitch was used medicinally, chewed like gum, and used to caulk canoes and kayaks. Roots were woven into rain hats and baskets. (G) Only the Makah were recorded eating Sitka Spruce, specifically raw young shoots, but both the Quinault and Makah chewed Sitka spruce pitch as chewing gum. All tribes along the Pacific coast in the region, including the Quileute, Quinault, and Makah, widely used the roots of Sitka spruce for basket and rain hat weaving, whereas inland on the Puget Sound, red-cedar roots are used instead by the Lushootseed tribes. (EG) The Haida and Tlingit weave their rain hats and baskets from spruce roots as well, and their weaving is world-famous. Weavers are very selective about which roots of which Sitka spruce trees they take, searching in sandy, well-spaced clearings for the single longest root they can find. (NT) Both the Quileute and Quinault used spruce root to tie the tines of salmon spears and spruce pitch to caulk their canoes. Among the Quinault reported uses of spruce root included tying house parts to each other, tying crosspieces into canoes, and sewing the corners of boxes together. Spring poles for animal traps were harvested from spruce saplings. Medicinally, the Makah burn a mixture of bitter cherry bark and Sitka spruce bark and place it on an newborn baby’s navel after the umbilical cord comes out. A tea made from soft spring inner bark is made by the Quinault and used to treat mild sore throat or the bark is chewed for similar purpose. The spruce gum is also applied to wounds and cuts by the Quinault. The Makah scrub their body with spruce boughs during bathing. (EG) Sitka spruce wedges used for splitting bark from trees were found in the famous Ozette site. Partial harvesting of live plants was done with Sitka spruce amongst other species. During the early Holocene, many forests that are now dominated with western red-cedar were instead dominated by Sitka Spruce, which led to its more widespread usage amongst earlier indigenous people. Many members of coastal tribes ceremonially coat their hunting implements and tools with smoke from Sitka spruce as a form of the smudging practice. This also serves to cover up human scent. (NT) The sharp spruce needles were believed to provide energetic protection from evil thoughts, which falls in line with the pattern of thorny and sharp plants being used for spiritual protection by Northwest Coast Peoples. This also lent itself to ceremonial uses in winter dances by the Nuu-chah-nulth. (PM) Tree cambium, including that of Sitka spruce, was probably one of the oldest foods eaten by indigenous people of the circumpolar region, (NT) and was either eaten fresh by central and northern coast peoples, especially the Haida and Tlingit, or dried into cakes and eaten with berries. (PM) 
Historically, pioneers used Sitka spruce shingles for roofing and siding. (G) James Cook, the first European explorer to chart much of the Pacific Ocean, gave his shipmates “spruce beer” to prevent scurvy, likely made from Sitka spruce from Vancouver Island. (NT) The early airplane industry constructed many plane parts from Sitka spruce, including the Wright Brother’s Flyer and the early warplanes used in WWI and WWII. (DM)

Economics

Sitka spruce is an economically important tree for timber due to its high strength-to-weight ratio, sound resonance, and straight grain. These properties lend itself to Sitka spruce’s applications as sailboat masts, racing sculls, oars, ladders, piano sounding boards, guitars, and turbine blades in smaller windmills. It is the most commercially profitable tree in Alaska, (G) and Sitka spruce has been widely planted across Northern Europe. A hybrid between Sitka spruce and white spruce has potential for commercial planting due to its natural resistance to the white pine weevil. (DM)