The relationship between site and tree characteristics and the presence of wet heartwood in black spruce in the boreal forest of Quebec, Canada

Wet heartwood in black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) causes considerable problems during the drying process. Forest companies try to avoid harvesting stands with wet heartwood, but no relationship has been yet established between the incidence of wet heartwood and tree or site characteristics. To characterize areas containing a significant proportion of black spruce affected by wet heartwood, a total of 635 black spruce trees were sampled in eighteen 400 m(2) study plots under management in the central boreal forest of Quebec. A total of 18 study sites were analysed and classified as wet, intermediate, or dry, based on the proportion of individuals with wet heartwood. Thirteen of the study sites were classified as wet, two as intermediate, and three as dry. The average age calculated for trees on wet sites was significantly (p = 0.0001) higher than that of the other two classes, whereas growth rate was significantly lower on wet sites. No difference was noted in the average height or diameter of the individuals from all three classes. The wet sites contained organic soil, whereas Podzols characterized two of the three dry study sites. An additional sampling of black spruce (n = 509) revealed a significant relationship between the groundwater level and heartwood moisture content classification (i.e., dry, intermediate, or wet). Trees in the dry heartwood class grew on sites with the lowest groundwater levels (p = 0.002) compared with trees in the wet or intermediate classes.