VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Picea engelmannii | Engelmann Spruce 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
Engelmann spruce is an important commercial wood in the United States.
The wood is white, odorless, lightweight, straight grained, soft, stiff,
and can be readily air dried.  It is easy to work, glues well, holds
nails fairly well but has only average paint-holding properties.  The
wood is primarily used for lumber for home construction and for
prefabricated wood products.  Less common uses include veneer in plywood
manufacture, poles, and specialty items, such as food containers,
violins, pianos, and aircraft parts.  Spruce has not been used much for
pulp and paper, although its pulping properties are excellent [6].


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Livestock:  Livestock generally do not browse Engelmann spruce [4,89].

Wildlife habitat:  Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir forests provide forage
and habitat for a wide variety of small and large wildlife species
[4,7,57,58].  However, these properties are characteristic of where
spruce grows and the understory species associated with it rather than
to the species itself.  Animals that inhabit Engelmann spruce stands
include moose, elk, mule deer, woodland caribou, porcupine, snowshoe
hare, red squirrel, chipmunks, and voles.  A partial list of birds that
nest and feed in Engelmann spruce trees includes the mountain chickadee,
Williamson's sapsucker, red-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper, and owls
and woodpeckers [82].

Wildlife food:  The young growth of Engelmann spruce is occasionally
browsed by ungulates, but it is not an important food item and is
probably only taken as a last resort [4].  Spruce grouse and blue grouse
may feed extensively on buds and needles [56,80].  Squirrels sometimes
clip and eat twigs and buds [77].

Engelmann spruce seeds are eaten by several species of small mammals and
birds.  Red squirrels, chickarees, and chipmunks eat seeds from cached
cones [6,98].  Engelmann spruce seeds are also eaten off the ground or
snow by chipmunks, mice, and voles [4].  Numerous species of birds,
including chickadees, nuthatches, crossbills, and the pine siskin,
remove and eat seeds from spruce cones [36,56].  Small birds may make
considerable use of spruce seeds, but their foraging is scattered and
sporadic throughout subalpine forests [36].


PALATABILITY : 
The palatability of Engelmann spruce to livestock and big game is low
[26].  The seeds are palatable to small mammals and birds.  


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Engelmann spruce is low in protein but fair in energy value [26].  A
study in Montana found the following concentration of elements in
Engelmann spruce needles and twigs [86]:

                        1-yr-old green needles    twigs<.25 inch in diameter
Calcium  (mg/g [mean])          6809                         4028
Copper                             7                            9
Iron                              57                          237  
Potassium                       6914                         7034   
Magnesium                        810                          747  
Manganese                        669                          323  
Nitrogen                       10911                         4621
Sodium                           100                          128  
Phosophorus                     1841                         1264
Zinc                              69                           72   
Ash (percent [mean])               5                            3


COVER VALUE : 
Big game:  Engelmann spruce provides excellent hiding and thermal cover
for deer, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, and bear [40,50,98].  Dense stands
of this species can provide cool summertime shade for big game.
High-elevation stands provide bedding sites and protection from storms
for bighorn sheep, mule deer, and elk [59].

Small mammals and birds:  Small Engelmann spruce trees provide good
year-round hiding cover for small animals.  Blue grouse, which
overwinter in conifers at high elevations, use spruce trees for
protective cover and roosting sites [50,80].  Spruce trees in the
Engelmann spruce/soft leaved sedge (Carex disperma) habitat type in
central Idaho provide important nesting sites for the MacGillivray's
warbler, American robin, and warbling vireo [89].  Engelmann spruce
snags are used by numerous cavity-nesting birds.  Snags greater than 11
inches (28 cm) d.b.h. are most often used [82].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Engelmann spruce can be planted on disturbed sites within forest
vegetation types where it naturally occurs.  It is primarily used for
reforestation projects on cool, moist sites below upper timberline.  It
has been used to a limited extent for revegetation and long-term
stabilization of high-elevation mine spoils [4,96].  In west-central
Alberta, Engelmann spruce x white spruce hybrids were observed invading
coal mine spoils at high elevations [76].

Planting nursery stock is more successful than direct seeding.  Most
commonly, 2- or 3-year-old bareroot or container-grown stock is planted
following snowmelt [4,96].  Since seedlings are sensitive to direct
sunlight, they shoud be planted in the protective shade of stumps, logs,
or vegetation [4].  Artificial shade also is effective in protecting
seedlings from wind and sun [15].  Two- to 4-foot tall (0.6-1.5 m),
open-grown Engelmann spruce seedlings dug from the wild before breaking
dormancy have shown good survival when transplanted [15].  Methods for
collecting, processing, testing, storing, and planting seed, and for
care and transplanting of bareroot and container-grown Engelmann spruce
seedlings have been described in the literature [4,96].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Engelmann spruce is sometimes used as an ornamental landscape plant.  It
has been used for screenings, windbreaks, and as a specimen tree [90].

Native Americans used Engelmann spruce for numerous purposes.  The bark
was often peeled into sheets and used for making canoes, baskets, and
roofing.  The fibrous roots were used to make rope, and the boughs and
needles to make incense, body scents, and cleansing agents.  Various
teas and poultices were made from Engelmann spruce for medicinal
purposes.  Native Americans occasionally ate the inner bark [92].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Timber harvest:  Clearcutting and group selection silvicultural methods
favor Engelmann spruce over true firs (Abies) and hemlocks (Tsuga) but
increase the proportion of intolerant associates such as lodgepole pine
(Pinus contorta) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) [6].
Shelterwood and individual tree selection tend to favor more tolerant
associates.  The seed tree method is generally not used because of the
susceptibility of Engelmann spruce to windthrow.  In the Rocky
Mountains, clearcutting and shelterwood cutting have been the most
commonly used harvesting methods in old-growth Engelmann
spruce-subalpine fir stands because these stands tend to be even aged
and overmature [3].  Successful natural regeneration of Engelmann spruce
following logging is usually accomplished through mechanical
scarification or broadcast burns which expose at least 40 percent of the
mineral-soil seedbed [3].  Silvicultural systems and cutting methods for
managing Engelmann spruce are described in detail in the literature
[3,6].

Disease:  The most common disease of Engelmann spruce is caused by
wood-rotting fungi which results in root or butt decay.  Spruce broom
rust is also common in spruce-fir forests and causes bole deformation
and spike tops, increases susceptibility to wind breakage, and provides
entry points for decay fungi in spruce [7].  Dwarf mistletoe
(Arceuthobium microcarpum) causes heavy mortality of spruce trees in
Arizona and New Mexico [7].

Insects:  The spruce beetle is the most serious insect pest of Engelmann
spruce.  Outbreaks are associated with extensive windthrow because
downed trees provide a good food supply, causing a rapid expansion of
beetle populations.  Unabated logging slash has been responsible for
past outbreaks [7].

Related categories for Species: Picea engelmannii | Engelmann Spruce