Imagine . . . If you or your organization has a special planting project and would like to request more than one tree, feel free to e-mail Urban and Community Forestry program For more information on DNR's Urban and Community Forestry program, see these webpages . Trees for the 21st Century Paper birch Betula papyrifera Paper birch is one of the most beautiful native deciduous trees. Grows as high as 80 to 100 feet, and 1 to 2 feet in diameter. White to copper-brown, smooth, and marked with brown horizontal lines of raised pores, peels in papery strips.
Suckers grow from the roots when the trunk has been cut as well as from the cut part itself.
Like alders, birches bear both sexes of flowers on the same tree. Habitat Found in the lowlands and lower mountain slopes west of the Cascades from Canada as far south as Everett, and in eastern Washington in moister valleys and canyons. They prefer well-drained sites but are also found around bogs and other wetlands. These trees are intolerant of shade, and often grow in pastures or partially cleared areas. Because paper birch bark is very strong and almost totally resistant to rot, Native Americans used it for canoes, baskets, cradles, wrapping and storing food, roofing pit houses, snow goggles, moose calls, toboggans.