Alnus rubra

Alnus rubra, Red Alder is a deciduous tree that grows  fast to 10', moderately to 20', slow to 50'.

Red Alder is native to Berkeley, Crescent City, Pt. Reyes, up along the coast in British Columbia and Alaska, inland into Shasta in northern California and down to, (at least historically,) to the Santa Inez mountains. Red Alder grows best near the coast, but tolerates inland areas with water, and will tolerate salty brackish water.

It needs water, sun to shade.  Not super hardy. Hardy to only 10-15 F deg. before stems froze. Dead at 0-5 degrees F, back in 1990. But tolerated a whole bunch of 10-12 F in 2013 and did fine. Probably tolerates the Shasta area because of regular snow pack? Or maybe the cover of the Grand Firs?

"The wood, ... turns reddish brown on exposure to air, or if cut in autumn, a pale golden yellow..... It is a hardwood of many fine qualities; if properly seasoned and stored it does not warp or check appreciably in any plane." (Peattie)

Useful if you have a neighbor that waters too much and the runoff comes your way with a lot of salts. Also on the edges of the catch basins, retention basins or as they are now called bioswales. After established they become about as drought tolerant as an apple tree.

It is nitrogen fixing (Pinyuh), good for wetland revegetation.