• Seymour, Robert S
  University of Maine
  

The ability of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) to persist as emergent trees makes this species well suited to silvicultural systems in which they are retained as isolated reserves after a regeneration harvest. While such systems are implemented throughout the Acadian spruce-fir region of Maine, little is known about the growth response and financial performance of eastern white pine following complete release from competition. We measured bole and crown dimensions of 77 sample trees from 8 sites throughout the Acadian spruce-fir region; increment cores were extracted at breast height, as well as from the top of the valuable first 16 foot log. A subsample of 9 trees climbed to measure basal diameter and vertical location of each branch to develop allometric leaf area equations and to examine influence of site productivity and age on growth efficiency. Leaf area-volume increment relationships were modeled with a nonlinear power function with a random effect for site, and employed to forecast future growth. A sawmill simulator was used to estimate post-release standing tree values and financial analysis was performed to assess performance of completely released trees for an unprunedand a hypothetical pruned scenario.