This study examined colonization of Frankia on actinorhizal red alder ( Alnus rubra) and snowbrush ( Ceanothus velutinus) in soils from three stands located at the H.J. Andrews experimental forest in the western Cascade Range of Oregon: an 8-year-old clear-cut planted with Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii), a young 20-year-old Douglas-fir plantation with an understory of snowbrush, and an old-growth Douglas-fir forest. Ten soil samples were collected from within each of the three stands; in each of these soils, plants were grown in a mix of soil–vermiculite–perlite (2:1:1). Alder plants were grown for 6 months and snowbrush for a year. More alder than snowbrush survived and nodulated. Of the plants that survived, 89% of the red alder nodulated; only 25% of the snowbrush produced nodules. More red alder plants nodulated when grown in clear-cut soils (100%) than in other soils, and more snowbrush nodulated (51%) when grown in soils from the 20-year-old plantation. Red alder biomass and nodule weight were highest when plants were grown in clear-cut soils. Snowbrush biomass and nodule weight were highest on soils from the young stand. The biomass of snowbrush plants grown in clear-cut soils averaged higher in bottom slope soils than in soils from any other position within the clear-cut. Correlations between plant biomass, nodule weight, and acetylene reduction activity were positive and statistically significant for both species. Differences in Frankia with regard to red alder and snowbrush were apparent in these study sites. The limited nodulation in snowbrush might have been due to an insufficient population of an effective Frankia population. Establishing snowbrush on this study site will require developing techniques for inoculating snowbrush seedlings with the relevant Frankia and then outplanting the inoculated seedlings on the sites.