• Smith, Charles Tattersall Jr.
  University of Maine Graduate School
  

Regression equations were developed to estimate the above-ground biomass of red spruce and balsam fir using National Fire Danger Rating System size classes. estimates were made of the biomass and nutrient removals resulting from a whole tree harvest of a spruce fir stand in north central Maine. Total soil nutrient reserves were estimated to be the equivalent of between 21 and 824 rotations of similar stands of spruce-fir. Exchangeable soil nutrient reserves were estimated to be the equivalent of between 0.8 and 4.8 rotations of spruce-fir. Exchangeable K and Ca reserves may be limiting in the next rotation. The soil solution of the uncut spruce fir forest was dominated by SO2 anions, since SO4 alone balanced roughly 70 percent of the cation charge in the solution, while NO3 concentrations were relatively low. Following the whole tree harvest, there was a shift in the relative importance of SO4 and NO3 that was related to soil drainage class. This shift was accompanied by an increase in the total amount of nutrients in solution. Soil drainage class was significantly related to the timing and magnitude of the changes in soil solution chemistry following whole tree harvesting.