VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Betula alleghaniensis | Yellow Birch 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
Yellow birch is an economically important source of lumber.  The wood is
heavy, strong, and close-grained.  It is used for furniture, cabinetry,
charcoal, pulp [14], interior finish, veneer, tool handles [29], boxes,
woodenware, and interior doors [32].


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Yellow birch is browsed by moose, white-tailed deer, and snowshoe hare.
Deer consume large numbers of seedlings in summer, and prefer green
leaves and woody stems in fall [32,104].  Yellow birch seeds are
consumed by common redpoll, pine siskin, chickadees, and other songbirds
[104].  Ruffed grouse feed on seeds, catkins, and buds.  Red squirrel
cut and store mature strobili, eat yellow birch seeds, and also feed on
birch sap.  The yellow-bellied sapsucker uses yellow birch as a summer
food source [32,104].  Beaver and porcupine chew the bark of yellow
birch [104].


PALATABILITY : 
Yellow birch was listed as a highly preferred browse species in northern
hardwood forests [110].  In New Hampshire, white-tailed deer browsed
birch twigs (both yellow birch and paper birch) at a browse index rate
of approximately 4 (i.e., four times the expected rate based on
availability) [104].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Early colonizers of a site denuded of vegetation by brine (used for
well-injection fluid) included yellow birch.  Soil salinity levels had
returned to slightly above normal when initial colonization occurred [7].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Yellow birch can be tapped for sap which is used to make an edible
syrup.  Tea can be made from the twigs and/or inner bark [31].

Yellow birch chips can be used to produce ethanol and other products [13].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Numerous management guidelines for yellow birch and yellow
birch-containing types [43,46,73,111], and recommendations for
silvicultural treatments [68,98,113,114] are available in the
literature.  Shaw [104] reported on management considerations for
wildlife in northern hardwoods.

Harvest System and Regeneration:  Yellow birch regenerates primarily by
germination; very little advance regeneration is usually present
[38,60].  Early twentieth century logging practices that favored shade
tolerant species resulted in a decrease in yellow birch [84].  The
effects of different harvesting systems and conditions on yellow birch
regeneration have been studied and reviewed [70,92,109].  Harvest should
coincide with good seed years [99].  Clearcutting small patches or
strips provides suitable conditions for yellow birch seedling
establishment in the Northeast [32,38,74,82,84].  Yellow birch
reproduces well on patch cuttings of up to 0.3 acre (0.12 ha) [43].  In
New Hampshire, strip cutting failed to increase the proportion of yellow
birch in the stand but it did increase the percentage of yellow birch
likely to become crop trees [47].  Group selection can significantly
increase the proportion of yellow birch by creating openings for yellow
birch regeneration [27,83].  In New Hampshire, after 38 years of group
selection yellow birch comprised one-quarter to one-third of the trees
in the 4- to 12-inch d.b.h. class.  The pretreatment proportion was not
reported; however, under single-tree selection yellow birch will usually
decline to less than 20 percent, and sometimes to less than 10 percent,
of stocking [27,72].  In the Great Lakes States, 20 years after group
selection yellow birch had not increased in proportion to other species
[34].  Shelterwood systems designed to increase the proportion of yellow
birch have been investigated [46,49,64,115].

Seedbed Preparation:  Scarification of seedbeds improves yellow birch
seedling establishment [38], although the effects may be short-lived if
organic matter is scraped away rather than mixed in with the mineral
soil [64].  Yellow birch can be direct seeded after harvest in the
northern hardwood forest zone [45].

Harvesting Considerations:  Yellow birch is windfirm on deep,
well-drained loam and sandy loam soils, but is subject to windthrow on
shallow, poorly drained soils.  It is susceptible to winter sunscald
[32].  Yellow birch is sensitive to high soil temperatures and sudden
exposure [43].  It is also susceptible to root, stem, and crown injury
due to logging and is subject to insect attack as a consequence of
injury.  Top dieback and some mortality occur after heavy cuts in mature
and overmature stands [32].

Damaging Agents:  Yellow birch is susceptible to ice and snow load
damage, and young trees are vulnerable to late spring frosts.  Yellow
birch is susceptible to injury at 3.5 ppm sulfur dioxide but is tolerant
of ozone at 0.25 ppm [32].  Hacker and Renfro [48] rated yellow birch as
slightly sensitive to ozone.  Top dieback sometimes occurs following
heavy seed crops [32].  Heavy or repeated browsing by deer and moose
kills small yellow birch.  Sometimes browsing prevents regeneration
[62].  In New York, growth of yellow birch was not detected on
postharvest plots that were unfenced [11].  Porcupine feeding damages
birch crowns, reduces wood quality, and is sometimes fatal.  Red
squirrel cut new germinants [32].  Heavy feeding by yellow-bellied
sapsucker reduces growth, lowers wood quality, and is sometimes fatal
[32].  Yellow birch has relatively few species-specific insect pests,
but is frequently attacked by pests typically associated with other
northern hardwood species [5].  Insect and disease damaging agents are
listed [32].

Related categories for Species: Betula alleghaniensis | Yellow Birch