VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Pinus resinosa | Red Pine 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
Red pine wood is moderately hard and straight grained.  It is used
primarily for structural timber and pulpwood.  Red pine is also suitable
for poles, piling, mining timbers, and railroad ties because it is
easily penetrated by preservatives [14,34].


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Stands of red pine provide cover, nesting sites, and food for many
species of birds and mammals.  If preferred food is lacking,
white-tailed deer, snowshoe hares, and cottontails will browse seedlings
[34].  Moose show moderate preference for red pine browse in the winter
when other browse is dormant [1].  Bald eagles typically build nests
below the top of the crown in living red pine [26].


PALATABILITY : 
NO-ENTRY


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Red pine performs well on a variety of mine spoils, especially in the
northern Appalachian Mountain region.  It has a lower pH limit of 4.0 to
4.5 [42].  In Ohio, red pine is recommended for planting on drier upper
slopes as well as moister, better drained lower slopes on all sandy and
loamy mine spoils and on clay spoils that have a high proportion of
stone [26].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Red pine is planted in narrow strips on sandy farmland to reduce wind
erosion of soil.  It is also planted for Christmas trees [34].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Red pine is one of the most extensively planted forest species in the
northern United States.  However, there has been a decline in natural
red pine stands because the extensive harvesting and slash burning that
occurred after the turn of the century left no seed trees [13].  The
shelterwood silviculture system and clearcutting followed by direct
seeding or planting are recommended for the harvest and regeneration of
red pine [2,41].

Several sawflies (Neodiprion spp., Diprion spp., and Acantholyda spp.)
defoliate red pine and may kill seedlings.  Other insects that damage
red pine include Saratoga spittlebug (Aphrophora saratogensis),
Zimmerman pine moth (Dioryctria zimmermani), red pine shoot moth (D.
resinosella), red pine scale (Matsucoccus resinosae), European pine
shoot moth (Rhyacionia buoliana), and Allegheny mound ant (Formica
exsectoides) [34].  Red pine cone beetle (Conophthora resinosae), red
pine cone moth (Eucosma monitorana), and red pine coneworm (Dioryctria
disclusa) destroy whole cones and reduce seed production [29].  Some of
these cone predators may be controlled by fire (See Fire Management).

Red pine decline, an expanding circular area of dead and dying red pine,
affects 20- to 40-year-old pine.  The fungi Leptographium procerum and
L. terebrantis have been isolated from roots of declining trees, but not
from completely healthy stands.  The Leptographium spp. are thought to
gain access to the root system and spread by root-to-root contact.
Stressed trees then succumb to insect attack by root collar weevil
(Hylobius radicis), red turpentine beetle (Dendroctonus valens), and
pine engraver (Ips pini) [17].

Beaked hazel and American hazel (Corylus cornuta and C. americana),
aspen (Populus spp.), and mountain maple (Acer spicatum) often compete
with red pine seedlings.  A picloram/2,4-D mixture (Tordan 101) was
tested for control of these species but caused considerable mortality of
red pine seedlings [31].

Related categories for Species: Pinus resinosa | Red Pine