• Minerowicz, Edward A.
  University of Maine
  
• Gauvin, Debra A.
  University of Maine
  
• Kagalwala, Mobez
  University of Maine
  
• Hill, Marqueta K.
  University of Maine
  
• Genco, Joseph M.
  University of Maine
  

Spruce budworm-killed balsam fir was harvested from test plots in Baxter State Park in Maine in cooperation with the USDA. These fir trees were determined to have been dead less than 1 year, 1-2 years, 2-3 years, or longer than 3 years based on cambial activity studies performed by the USDA. Properties of the dead fir trees were compared with those of live, healthy fir.

Wood properties examined were moisture content, specific gravity, bark content, chip classification on the basis of size, and solubility of the wood in 1% sodium hydroxide. Kraft pulping experiments were carried out on live and dead trees. Characteristics examined were total and screened yield and kappa and permanganate numbers.

Compared with live trees spruce budworm-killed trees had significantly decreased moisture contents; lower specific gravity and bark content (but with enough variance that the reductions were not statistically significant), and smaller sized chips as a function of time-since-death. Killed trees also had greater solubility in 1% NaOH as a function of time-since-death. When pulped, the killed trees showed a decrease in both total and screened yields. The data obtained for kappa and permanganate numbers (approximations of the pulp lignin content) were not definitive.

The results obtained are consistent with an overall decrease in quality of spruce budworm-killed fir and in the quality of the pulp produced from these fir trees.