Species composition and stand structure of a large red spruce planting 67 years after its establishment in western North Carolina

Abstract

Red spruce (Picea rubens Michx.) is a large and long-lived species that dominated high-elevation forests of the southern Appalachians before most stands were heavily logged in the early 1900s. Restoration of spruce forests by artificial methods has been studied since the 1920s, but little information is available on characteristics of older planted stands. Woody vegetation was inventoried in part of a 50 ha stand of red spruce planted in the Pigeon River watershed of the Pisgah National Forest from 1941 to 1943. The purpose of this study was to determine vegetative composition and structure of the stand, and effects of site variables on growth of red spruce.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings from the conference on the ecology and management of high-elevation forests in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains

Citation

McNab, W. Henry; Holbrook, James H.; Oprean, Ted M. 2010. Species composition and stand structure of a large red spruce planting 67 years after its establishment in western North Carolina. In: Rentch, James S.; Schuler, Thomas M., eds. 2010. Proceedings from the conference on the ecology and management of high-elevation forests in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains. 2009 May 14-15; Slatyfork, WV. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-64. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 126-133.