Red Spruce Restoration Chris Kelly
Mountain Wildlife Diversity Biologist
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
The red spruce-Fraser fir forests of the SBR are ranked as the second most endangered ecosystem in the United States (Noss et al. 1995).
The High Peaks forest communities came about from a lack of complete glaciation during the Pleistocene.
Historic Condition
Red spruce was historically distributed over high-elevation mountain tops, side slopes, and coves.
Korstian 1937
The total acreage for the High Peaks spruce-fir forest ecosystem (which includes spruce-northern hardwood mixed stands) was about 56,000 ha (140,000 acres) prior to the late 1800's.
NCPIF 3500 feet, leeward side of ridges??
“The Big Cut” 1880s to 1930s
Substantial logging of spruce-fir did not begin until 1905 but quickly spread across the region and lasted until about 1930. Very few stands were spared from major modifications.
Logging slash burned Pisgah fires of 1925 and 1942
When fires follow logging on spruce lands, they generally destroy all the conifers left standing except occasional trees along streams or in unusually moist places. Korstian
Erosion following logging and fires
“Feet of soil incinerated and washed away” Site deterioration through loss of the surface soil is particularly rapid in the
spruce belt, during the first few years after each successive fire.
Current condition reflects past disturbance
Current condition reflects past disturbance. Conifers: scattered, patchy, mostly in ridgetops and steep areas that escaped logging. Midslopes were more easily logged and have regenerated in hardwoods
“Logging operations and associated slash fires generally occurred from valley floor to mountaintop according to accessibility and human presence. As logging operations proceeded, the distribution of red spruce was progressively “squeezed” to higher elevations. Logging operations often ended when slopes became too steep, terrain too rugged, or forests too stunted for financial gain.” Nowacki et al. 2009
Thus, the remaining unlogged red spruce stands were concentrated on upper slopes and mountaintops. Mid-elevation stands were preferentially logged and converted to hardwoods. Photo from Korstian 1937
Tortoise and Hare analogy Tortoise-and-Hare Analogy: “…opportunistic hardwoods sprinted off quickly after the destructive disturbances of the late 1800s and early 1900s, but shade-tolerant red spruce has slowly gained ground over time as forest floor conditions recover ( e.g., increased moisture, shade, and surface organics favorable for red spruce regeneration) and overtopping hardwoods senesce (releasing growing space to understory red spruce).” Nowacki et al. 2009
Conversion to Hardwoods • Germination difficult in
desiccated soil
• Limber stems buried in hardwood leaf litter
Including stands of dead and dying fir, the current total acreage is estimated to be less than 28,000 ha (70,000 acres).
Current Extent
Desired Future Condition: mixed conifer-hardwood stands
What needs to be restored?
Former mixed conifer-hardwood forests converted to Northern Hardwoods*
Nicholas et al. (1999) state that the High Peaks Forest ecosystem occurs today in “less than half of its former area because of failed regeneration due to site degradation following logging.” If this area estimate is correct, then a restoration goal of over 28,000 ha (70,000 acres) for spruce and spruce-northern hardwood would bring the total High Peaks Forest to over 56,000 ha (140,000 acres) within the Southern Blue Ridge.
* Yellow birch, sugar maple, buckeye, beech
Green = Spruce/Fir
Yelllow = Northern Hardwood
With climate warming, why bother?
The resiliency of red spruce might be tested yet again with atmospheric pollutants and impending climate change.
• Recent studies – Red spruce seems to be doing well throughout its range. Based on regeneration, recruitment, and overall health, red spruce is actually expanding in many cases (Pauley et al. 1996, Koon 2004).
• Higher elevations, where a great deal of red spruce resides, may be inherently more resistant to climate warming (Seidel et al. 2009). At these elevations, conditions may continue to support the improving trends of red spruce expressed today.
• Much of it survived a previous period of climate warming (the Hypsithermal)…
… only to face The Big Cut.
• The drastic reduction of the Southern Appalachian spruce forest is relatively recent in spruce’s history. We can put it back for species that need it as habitat.
Wildlife of the Spruce Forest
Restoration objectives for Birds of the High Peaks Forest
Habitat • increasing the stocking level of red
spruce trees for all restorable stands Up to 10% of total stocking for stands between 3500 and 4400 feet, at least 25% of stocking between 4400 and 5000 feet, at least 50% of stocking between 5000 and 6000 feet.
• diversifying structural complexity of stands;
Populations • 1,000 pairs of Northern Saw Whet Owls • 10,000 pairs of Black-capped
Chickadees
Northern Flying Squirrel’s Diet
Fungi, Lichens, Buds, Meat, Hard Mast, etc. The NFSQ can persist in high elevation forests lacking hard mast by consuming
lichens and other foods.
“The northern flying squirrel provides a key ecological function in the perpetuation of its forested habitat through its consumption of mycorrhizal fungi and
subsequent dispersal of fungal spores.” Weigl
Truffle: fruiting body of a
mycorrhizal fungus
Usnea
Options for restoring spruce
1. Plant in open areas
2. Underplant beneath hardwood canopy (followed by release)
3. Release suppressed spruce in hardwood stands (without planting seedlings)
1) Plant in open areas
but “they’re not making any more land”
2) Underplant beneath hardwood canopy
• Plant 18” tall seedlings
– Propagated seedlings or transplants
• Release work:
– Clumps of hardwoods (cut and herbicide)
– Herbaceous vegetation, briars, etc. (streamline herbicide)
3) Release suppressed spruce in hardwood stands
Use of liberation cutting or herbicide injection to release understory red spruce can potentially double spruce growth rates.
Red spruce restoration should be targeted for areas with northern hardwoods in the overstory
and red spruce in the understory where red spruce formerly dominated the canopy prior to exploitative harvesting.
Management efforts to enhance red spruce forests should emulate the natural disturbance
regime of gap-phase replacement.
The Craggy Mountains are a good candidate for this approach.
Since hardwoods were the principal post-disturbance benefactors, some of the
greatest opportunities for red spruce restoration exist where hardwoods currently dominate
former red spruce sites.
Considerations for release work
Carolina northern flying squirrel den trees
Black-capped chickadee nest trees
Southern Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative
www.restoreredspruce.org
SASRI’s work:
•Map historic extent and select places
to restore mixed stands *soils
•Expand nursery space and funding!
•Propagate and grow seedlings
Propagating Red Spruce
from seed at The Southern
Highlands Reserve
2013 Bumper Cone Crop: collected cones in 5 sky islands.
Inaugural Spruce Planting September 2013 Unicoi Mountains (Graham Co)
Not a restoration project; rather, a conservation
measure prompted by death of hemlocks in CNFS
habitat. Goal: retain a conifer component in this
recovery area.
Importance of conifers to CNFS- • Foraging, nesting, denning • Parasite suppression? • More females in Whigg Cove where
hemlock is more extensive (Hughes et al. 2002).
1,135 seedlings planted in 4 days!
We love our volunteers!
MONITORING growth, survival, pests, competition
Moving forward
PLANTING
• NEPA for future projects
• Fall 2014 Planting – Unicois
– Big Bald
VISION
How much spruce? How much money? What does success look like? How can you measure it?
PLANNING (Mapping)
• Historic and current distribution of spruce
• Reference conditions
FUNDING & PARTNERSHIPS
• Nursery facilities
• Business model for acquiring seedlings
What about Fraser Fir?
Fir forest structure has been drastically altered.
How do wildlife use the young stands of fir?
Questions? [email protected]