Wood: The wood, like all firs, is soft and coarse-grained and therefore most suitable for pulp, boxes and crates. Because the wood lacks an odor, it is also used to make tubs for storing butter.
Wildlife: Blacktail and mule deer feed on the leaves and buds in winter while porcupines feed on the bark. Douglas pine squirrels harvest the seeds from cones and grouse eat fallen seeds.
Horticulture: A. concolor is an important
horticultural plant in the eastern states and it is commonly planted in
Canada because of its attractive foliage, moderately fast growth, hardiness,
and drought and shade tolerance. The root system is usually shallow which
makes this tree easy to transplant but also easily damaged by soil compaction
and grading. The blue-gray foliage compliments the more somber evergreens
and various cultivars provide a variety of growth habits: 'Globosa' is a
dwarf, low growing cultivar, 'Conica' produces a cone-shaped bush and 'Pendula'
has a weeping habit. This tree has a slow growth rate for the first 25 to
30 years, but is then comparable or even faster than its associated species.
Seed reproduction is abundant and aggressive and tree maturity is reached
at 300 years.
