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All true fir trees have flat, soft needles about an inch or two long, and fat upright resinous cones on top branches which disintegrate on the tree after one season, the scales and seeds falling to the ground and an upright spike remaining on the branch.

The Douglas-Fir is not a Fir at all, but is listed here due to the similarity of name, and since the Douglas-Fir is no closer to any other conifer of the area.

Subalpine Fir : needles soft and flattened, 1 to 1 3/4 inches long on lower branches except shorter near treeline. The second-most common tree of the high forests, this tree forms tall, narrow, spire-like trees, the narrowest trees of the Rocky Mountain forests. The foliage tapers to a point less than a foot across in the upper part of the tree.

Corkbark Fir : similar to Subalpine fir, but the bark becomes thick and soft or corky and broken into ridges, in color grey, ash-white, creamy-white, or pale- yellowish. It is found only in the southern half of Colorado and northern New Mexico.

White Fir : needles flattened and soft, 1 3/4 to 3 inches long on lower branches. Found below 10,000 feet, in the mountains of central and southern Colorado and of northern New Mexico.

Douglas Fir : It has short flat soft needles, only 3/4 to 1 1/2 inch long, but the cones are very distinctive and unlike true fir cones: they are pale brown, and only 1 to 3 inches long, they have dry papery scales with papery three-pointed strips protruding between them, hang down from the branch, and fall intact from the tree.

Douglas-fir is widespread throughout the entire southern rockies, where moisture is abundant (not in very dry areas).The Douglas Fir is not a true fir; it has similarities to spruces and hemlocks as well as firs. Finding abundant Douglas-fir cones on the ground under a tree is a strong clue to identification.