Pacific Coast Tree Finder: A Pocket Manual for Identifying Pacific Coast Trees (Nature Study Guides)

The Pacific Coast Tree Finder is the best tree identification guide I’ve come across. It is easy and fun to use, and on your way to IDing a tree you learn a lot about trees (and nature) in general.The book is set up to guide you through this or that type choices that constantly narrow down the possibilities until you end with the name of the tree in front of you.A LOT of information is packed into this little book. The high success rate in quickly identifying a tree makes it a staple to bring on a family hike.

I 1st bought this book back in the 70s and this is an update. I have bought many other tree guides since but this one is great and easy to use and fits in your pocket. I "rediscovered" it when I was yet again confused by the cypress of California and was looking online at Amazon and there was this book that I had lost my copy of a decade ago. I promptly bought it and with Prime I had it days later. It's pocket size is both a blessing and a curse; easy to carry in you pocket on even a short walk but easily lost in the detritus of our lives. It is amazingly simple but useful. I find it ironically funny however that the reason I looked and found it, the California cypresses, the author also finds too complex and confusing for this very small book!

Very logical and easy to use, compact, packed full of useful information. Includes all common native trees and some shrubs and naturalized trees. I have used the book on backpacking trips and day hikes throughout California, in Washington, and Alaska. With this book, I went from knowing nearly no trees to knowing many or most of them. Bring the book with you any time you are out in nature.Other great books in the finder series include the Desert Tree Finder and Pacific Intertidal Life. I have found the wildflower finders more difficult to use. This tree book is probably the one you will use most.

Cheap and effective -- keep one in my car and one in my pack. No index, but a nice key system and better drawings than the Pacific Coast Berry Finder book. I'd still rather have higher quality line illustrations or photographs, but this gets the job done.I especially like the range maps for various species -- very informative and useful for identification.

After reading the rave reviews about this little guide I decided I needed it with me on my routine adventures. And boy, I'm glad I decided to get it! Super easy to use, cute and compact (fits in my back pocket and I have horribly designed female jeans that hardly fit a lipstick, let alone an entire book.) I love carrying this with me on my daily hikes and it's helped me learn so much about the beautiful place I call home!

This book is the best natural guide to learning about trees that I have found. Rather then searching through a guidebook for a picture or drawing the guide helps you to learn why a specific tree is that tree because of the key system it uses. This would be an excellent addition for any Kamana student or coyote mentor. It gives a very in-depth look at the fine points that differentiates species, for ID. Certainly having a field guide to reference later would be an excellent addition. When packing in the woods its light weight means that you will take it along, as opposed to heavy field guides which are best left back in base camp or the car.

My daughter's scout patrol leader could use this to help the younger kids identify trees for rank advancement in scouts. Very helpful book. I learned about this book from BSA volunteers. Great, easy to use.

Identify all the trees! This book is fantastic and very easy to understand. Great illustrations. Very portable.

Love this book! Its light yet detailed.

This is a fantastic compact key, ideal for indetifying any tree found along the west coast of the USA. There are no photos, but every species is differentiated using a vegetative key accompanied by line drawings and distribution maps. The book is tiny (about 15 x 10 cm), so can easily be kept in a rucksack for a day's hiking.A very unprepossessing book - nothing at all to look at, but packed with superb botanical information. Not for beginners perhaps, but essential for anyone wanting to identify any and every tree species they come across.