Parallels the coast from the northern tree limits in coastal Alaska southward to central California. Primarily a montane forest (with a little of the subalpine type in the Cascades that extends into B.C.).

Subalpine:
Subalpine fir, mountain hemlock, Engelmann spruce, Pacific silver fir and noble fir..

Montane:
Best developed on the Olympic Peninsula, with western hemlock, western cedar, grand fir, Douglas-fir, and hardwoods including red alder and bigleaf maple. North of the Puget Sound, more Sitka spruce, western hemlock, and mountain hemlock are found. Southward from the Olympic Peninsula, Port-Orford-cedar and Douglas-fir become more important in the mountians. Along the coast, Sitka spruce is replaced by redwood in the fogbelt to San Francisco. The "Inland Empire" extends eastward from Puget Sound to the west slope of the Rockies, with western hemlock, western red-cedar, Douglas-fir, western larch, western white pine, and grand fir..