Yellow Cedar, (aka Alaska Yellow Cedar) is a wonderful species. Although not produced in the same quantities as Western Red Cedar shingles and shakes, this unique wood has many properties that allow it to perform extremely well against the elements - arguably better than red cedar.

Yellow Cedar is actually a cypress, (chaemacyprus nootkatensis) rather than a cedar, (red cedar = thuja plicata, white cedar = thuja occidentalis). It grows only in the mountains of Washington, British Columbia and Alaska and due to the shorter growing seasons, has very tight annual growth rings. This makes it a strong, heavy wood, one third more dense than red cedar. It also has a high content of natural oils that inhibit the agents of decay very effectively.