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SUNY ESF
White Pine

Managing White Pine in the Adirondacks

About this workshop

A daylong workshop was held at the SUNY ESF Adirondack Interpretive Center, Newcomb, NY on August 19, 2014. Workshop participants explored options for managing planted or natural white pine stands based on interdisciplinary research funded by the US Forest Service McIntire-Stennis Program.

About the project

Currently, there is very little proactive management of the white pine resource in New York. The standard practice has been to allow white pine stands growing on quality sites to revert to hardwoods. Silvicultural investments to re-establish white pine on better sites, characterized by nutrient-rich mesic soils, where the species can attain impressive yields and quality, are rare due to perceived costs associated with controlling competing hardwoods, woody shrubs and herbaceous plants. Legitimate concerns about white pine weevil and white pine blister rust further exacerbate a reluctance to invest in management.

We investigated those circumstances where such investments may be warranted for commodity markets, landscape diversity, and wildlife habitat with presentations, discussions and site visits. A second workshop is planned with the culmination of this phase of the research.

Presentations

Please contact Stacy McNulty for a copy of these presentations. 

  • The Tree that Built America - René Germain
  • New Findings in the Silvics of White Pines - Christopher Nowak and Quincey Oliver
  • New Findings in the Silviculture of White Pines - Christopher Nowak and Quincey Oliver
  • The Faunal Community in White Pine Plantations and Impacts of Forest Operations on Wildlife - Stacy McNulty & Charlotte Demers
  • Measuring White Pine Log and Lumber Yields - René Germain

How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Truck?

Huntington Forest White Pine Harvest

As part of a research and demonstration project funded under McIntire-Stennis, sixteen acres of 96 year-old white pine were harvested in the fall of 2012 on the Huntington Wildlife Forest. The objective of this research was to investigate the economic feasibility of growing white pine on nutrient rich sites where hardwoods would normally grow. In addition to the economic factors, changes in the suite of bird and mammal species utilizing the site is also being investigated.