I’ve been reading Donald Peattie’s 1953 A Natural History of Western Trees with real enthusiasm.  This is a fine book for woodworkers who have traveled some in California and the Western states.  After a botanical description of the tree, Peattie goes into describing the tree in layman’s terms, the areas where the tree might occur, its commercial uses, if any, and the history and lore of the wood.  He is aware of the difficulties that exist, and does not wear rosy-colored glasses, but it is a 1950's book, and of course he doesn’t see the climate disaster coming.  Thus the book makes one nostalgic for the good old days such as they were.  This is about the trees and the woods we use and love, like Doug fir, Redwood,  Port Orford Cedar, Bay Laurel and Osage Orange.  The prose is charming, like a ramble through the West with a dignified, erudite gent, who knows his trees and where they fit in the landscape.  You might find the book in libraries, unless they have been culled out like the one I got from Amazon.