VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Acer rubrum | Red Maple 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
Red maple is an important source of sawtimber and pulpwood [42] but is
often overlooked as a wood resource [100].  The wood is used for
furniture, veneer, pallets, cabinetry, plywood, barrels, crates,
flooring, and railroad ties [25,49,62].


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Red maple is browsed by some wildlife species, including white-tailed
deer, moose, elk, and snowshoe hare [97].  It is a particularly valuable
white-tailed deer browse during the late fall and winter, and is
considered an important deer food in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine,
and Minnesota [31,51,60,70,94].  Although red maple is browsed by moose,
it is often only lightly used [19].  Irwin [51], however, reported that
red maple is an important fall and winter moose browse in parts of
northeastern Minnesota.


PALATABILITY : 
Red maple is one of the most palatable white-tailed deer foods in
Minnesota [31]; stump sprouts are especially sought out by deer [74,92].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
The nutrient content of red maple browse varies with the genetic make-up
of the individual plant, plant part, position in the crown, phenological
development, and geographic location [22,28].  Soil moisture, soil
nutrients, fire history, and climatic conditions also influence food
value [22,28,29].


COVER VALUE : 
Maples provide cover for many species of wildlife [78].  The screech
owl, pileated woodpecker, and common flicker nest in cavities in many
species of maple [44].  Cavities in red maples in river floodplain
communities are often well suited for cavity nesters such as the wood
duck [36].  Riparian red maple communities provide autumn roosts for
blackbirds in central Ohio [75].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Red maple can be planted onto many types of disturbed sites.  It can be
propagated by seed or by various vegetative techniques. Cleaned seed
averages approximately 23,000 per pound (51,100/kg).  Red maple is
reported to be somewhat tolerant of municipal landfill leachates [41].
Seedlings have been observed colonizing strip mine spoils in parts of
Maryland, West Virginia, and Florida [45,72], but seedlings transplanted
onto strip-mine spoil banks often do poorly [97].  Direct seeding in
oldfield communities has not been successful [97].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Red maple is characterized by showy fruits and flowers and colorful fall
foliage [25].  Red maple was first cultivated in 1656 [78], and many
cultivars are available [23,63,84].  Red maple can be used to make maple
syrup, although sugar maple is much more commonly used [55,97.
  


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Toxicity:  Red maple browse is toxic to cattle and horses, particularly
during the summer and late fall [5,15,58].

Insects/disease:  Loopers, spanworms, the gallmaking maple borer, maple
callus borer, Columbian timber borer,and various scale insects are
common damaging agents [4,97].  Red maple has experienced periodic
declines in past decades.  Although the precise pathogens have not been
identified, evidence suggests that insects can weaken the trees, making
them more vulnerable to decline [4].

Damage:  Red maple is tolerant of water-logged soils and flooding [3,6]
and is intermediately tolerant of ice damage.  Red maple is susceptible
to decay after mechanical damage.  Butt rot, trunk rot fungi, heart rot,
and stem diseases are common in damaged trees; even increment boring can
cause result in serious decay.

Pollution:  Red maple is relatively tolerant of landfill-contaminated
gases [6], but ambient air pollution can damage the foliage [57].  Red
maple persists in industrially damaged woodlands near Sudbury, Ontario,
despite the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil [52].

Chemical control:  Red maple is resistant to herbicides and girdling
[66,97].  Picloram or cacodylic acid injected directly into the stems
can control red maple.

Silviculture:  Red maple is often poorly regarded as a timber species
due to its susceptibility to defects and disease, and poor form of
individuals of sprout-clump origin [27].  Red maple usually grows
rapidly after heavy cutting or high-grading, and crop tree release may
be a low-cost management option [27].  Mechanical thinning of clumps can
produce good-quality sawlogs on good sites [26].
  

Related categories for Species: Acer rubrum | Red Maple