 Douglas-firs are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including autumnal moth, bordered white, engrailed moth, pine beauty and turnip moth.The gelechiids "Chionodes abella" and "Chionodes periculella" and the tortrix moth "Cydia illutana" have been specifically recorded on "P. menziesii".A California Native American myth explains that each three-ended bract is the tail and two tiny legs of a mouse that hid inside the scales of the tree's cones during forest fires, and the tree was kind enough to be its enduring sanctuary.