• Granger, Gregory
  University of Maine Graduate School
  

White Pine Decline is characterized by thinning of the crown  and mortality (26% of basal area) in pole-sized stands in southern Maine. Most dead trees had their last year of growtgh in 1996 or 1997. Recent studies have demonstrated that the drought of 1995 incited the decline, and that potential rooting depth of less than 30cm is a key predisposing factor. White Pine rooting depths can be limited by plow pans, high water table, shallow bedrock, or lithiological discontinuities (fine texture soils overlaying coarse texture soils). Many white pines regenerated on potentially restricted sandy soils after extensive farm abandonment in southern Maine.