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? Christine.kelly@ncwildlife.org