VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Picea glauca | White Spruce 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
White spruce wood is light, straight-grained, and resilient.  It is an
important commercial tree harvested primarily for pulpwood and lumber
for general construction [45].  Logs are used extensively for cabin
construction [60].  It has also been used for specialty items such as
sounding boards, paddles and oars, cabinets, boxes, and food containers
[44,60].


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Browse:  Livestock and wild ungulates rarely eat white spruce.  Snowshoe
hares sometimes feed heavily on white spruce saplings and seedlings.  On
a cut-over site in northern Alberta, 40 percent of 2- and 3-year-old
white spruce seedlings were browsed by hares [62].  In Alaska, white
spruce needles, bark, and twigs comprise a major portion of the snowshoe
hare's winter diet.  During this time of the year, snow covers many
other foods, leaving only trees and shrubs above snowline available for
hares to browse [64].  Mice and voles eat spruce seedlings [62].  Red
squirrels clip twigs and feed on vegetative and reproductive buds in the
spring [9].  Consumption of leaders and the ends of upper branches by
red squirrels tends to be greatest during poor cone crop years.  Spruce
grouse feed entirely on spruce needles during winter [20].

Seed:  Numerous seed-eating birds and mammals feed on white spruce seed.
White spruce seed is a primary food of red squirrels [9].  White spruce
habitats are favored by red squirrels because of the highly palatable
seeds; squirrel density is much greater in white spruce stands than
black spruce stands [9].  Red squirrels are so dependent on this food
source that population density is directly related to the periodicity of
good seed crops [69].  Mice, voles, shrews, and chipmunks consume large
quantities of white spruce seeds off the ground [45].  Chickadees,
nuthatches, crossbills, and the pine siskin extract seeds from open
spruce cones and eat seeds off the groud [29].


PALATABILITY : 
White spruce is not a preferred browse.  Its palatability is low for
moose, elk, white-tailed deer, and mule deer, but it may be moderately
palatable to bighorn sheep [11,21].  Red squirrels prefer white spruce
seed over black spruce seed [9].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
White spruce seeds are nutritious and are a good energy source for red
squirrels which can survive the winter on a diet consisting entirely of
white spruce seeds.  In Alaska, white spruce seeds averaged 6,615 cal/g
[9].

Data from a nutritional study of white spruce needles collected in the
winter on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, are presented below [20]:

             (percent chemical composition and caloric content)
                               range           mean
       
protein                      5.5 - 8.1         6.32
fat                          2.8 - 4.1         3.34
crude fiber                 21.0 - 25.9       23.5
ash                          2.6 - 4.4         3.27
nitrogen free extract       61.4 - 65.0       63.51

Kilogram calories/100 g       486 - 506        494.8



COVER VALUE : 
White spruce provides good wildlife cover.  It may be particularly
important as winter shelter [45,52], especially to caribou which use it
for protection from strong winter winds [30].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
White spruce is useful for long-term revegetation of coal mine
overburden.  In Alberta, it is considered one of the best conifers for
this purpose [63].  White spruce x Engelmann spruce hybrids have been
observed naturally invading coal mine spoils at high elevations in
west-central Alberta [51].  White spruce has also naturally invaded coal
mine overburden in south-central Alaska.  At this location, the
overburden had a clay content of 42 to 44 percent, and was redeposited
on the mined area and graded back to the original contour [18].  On
anthracite strip mine spoils, however, survival of planted white spruce
seedlings was poor to adequate after 5 years [63].

Results of direct seeding of white spruce onto logged-over areas and
abandoned farmland has been variable [53].  The fact that it naturally
invades mine spoils indicates, however, that direct seeding may be
useful on some disturbed sites.  White spruce seed remains viable for up
to 10 years when stored in sealed containers in a cool, dry environment
[53].  The seed requires moist, cool stratification for 60 to 90 days to
break dormancy [53].  Seed from Alberta is an exception, and requires no
presowing treatment.

Two-year-old or older white spruce nursery stock has been planted in
disturbed areas with relatively good success.  Bareroot stock is
recommended for harsh subalpine sites in Alberta where frost heaving may
occur [63].  It is not recommended for planting on steep slopes subject
to erosion.  In northeastern Alberta, overwinter survival of
container-grown and transplanted white spruce seedlings was satisfactory
on amended oil sand tailings [23].

White spruce can be readily propagated by rooted cuttings [45].  Methods
for collecting, processing, storing, and planting white spruce seed have
been described [52].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
White spruce can be planted as an ornamental and used in shelterbelt
plantings [45].

White spruce was important to native peoples of interior Alaska [45].
Poles were used to construct dwellings, and bark was used as roofing
material.  Thin, straight, pliable roots were used as rope.  Pitch,
watery sap, and extracts from boiled needles were used for various
medicinal purposes.  Boughs were used for bedding, and rotten wood for
smoking moose hides [34,45]].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Regeneration following timber harvest:  Natural regeneration of white
spruce following timber harvest is unreliable [53].  Spruce seedlings
are, therefore, commonly planted following timber harvest.  For adequate
natural regeneration mineral soil seedbeds are required.  Mechanical
treatments or broadcast burning may be used to expose mineral soils.
Following timber harvest in Alaska, white spruce seedling density was 10
times greater, frequency 2 times greater, and cover 4 times greater on
scalped versus unscalped surfaces [67].  White spruce seedlings die when
shrub competition becomes severe [17].

Pests and diseases:  The most common insect pests and diseases of white
spruce include needle and stem rusts, root diseases, trunk rots,
mistletoe (Arceuthobium pusillum), bark beetles, wood-boring insects,
weevils, the spruce budworm, and the yellowheaded spruce sawfly, all of
which have been discussed in detail [45,53].  

Related categories for Species: Picea glauca | White Spruce