An assessment of three year old crown land plantations in the province of New Brunswick
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Date
1985
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University of New Brunswick
Abstract
The Forest Management Branch of the New Brunswwick Department of Natural Resources planted 5 577 ha with a mixture of jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lanb.), black spruce (Pieca mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.), white spruce (Picea glauca (moench) Voss.), and larch (Larix laricina (Du Roi) k. koch) on Crown land in 1977. This report assess the statuses of these plantations through an examination of trends in survival percentages and height growth rates for various species, stock types, and scarification methods. Permanent sample plots were randomly distributed within plantations, (one plot for every ten hectares), and remeasured after one and three years. The mean survival percentage and mean height growth rates were significantly greater for planted trees of paperpot stock than for those of bare root stock, with the exception of jack pine. The average height growth rate for jack pine of bare root stock, from 1978 to 1980, was greater than for those of paperpot stock. A minimum acceptable density of 1 500 trees per hectare, (including acceptable natural regeneration), was not met in 20% to 53% of the sample plots in each of the management regions. A comparison between scarification methods for both survival percentages and height growth rates of planted trees was investigated, as well as relationships between survival percentages and height growth rates with natural regeneration.