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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants |
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VALUE AND USE
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE:The economic value of pond pine is variable. Some consider pond pine a commercially valuable species [40] as a timber source [36]. However, others have determined pond pine has low economic value as a pulpwood source [20]. The wood is course-grained, resinous, and of fair quality. Pond pine is apt to have more defects than other southern pines on the market, largely due to its susceptibility to red heart disease which substantially reduces its lumber value [8] and may make it more susceptible to fire damage [66]. Pond pine has not been widely cultivated, due to its "low" economic value [59]. Pond pine is the principal commercial species of the pocosins of North Carolina. According to Besse [6], in 1952 the tree occurred on approximately 2 million acres of the coastal plain of North Carolina and the total board foot volume was 1.75 billion board feet. On wet sites characteristic of present day pond pine forests, yields are comparatively low, and logging costs are high. Observations indicate that growth rates of pond pine may be 25% to 33% lower than loblolly pine where the species grow together [66].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:Bottomland forests, in which pond pine is found, tend to be among the most productive habitats for wildlife, with surface water that moderates temperature extremes and serves as escape habitat. There is a predominance of broad-leaved evergreen plants in the understory and mast-producing trees in the overstory that provide an abundance of branch cavities and mast for over-wintering migrant birds [56]. Animals found in pond pine habitat in North Carolina include the marsh rabbit, silver-haired bat, eastern cottontail, grasshopper mouse, meadow vole, black bear, long-tailed weasel, and bobcat [15]. Pocosins, in which pond pine dominates the overstory, serve as habitat for the specialized swallowtail, Hessel's hairstreak butterfly, the rare pine barrens tree frog, the eastern diamondback rattlesnake (endangered in North Carolina), and the federally endangered American alligator. Pocosins are also refuges for native species such as black bear, white-tailed deer, and smaller mammals such as the bobcat, marsh rabbit, and gray squirrel [61,62]. The endangered red-cockaded woodpecker inhabits mature pond pine in pocosins [17,28,61,62,73]. Pond pine often dominates the flatwoods habitat that supports various populations of birds and small mammals such as the cotton rat, cotton mouse, and short-tailed shrew. Avian densities are low throughout the year with some increase in winter due to the influx of migratory winter residents. No mammal is exclusive to the flatwoods, although the fox squirrel is highly characteristic of flatwoods with open understory. Three large mammals native to Florida use flatwoods: white-tailed deer, black bear, and the endangered Florida panther [2].
PALATABILITY:No entry
NUTRITIONAL VALUE:No entry
COVER VALUE:Pond pine is an important cover species for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker [30,52,61,62,63,73,88]. The red-cockaded woodpecker usually inhabits pond pine trees between the ages of 30 to 170 years old; in South Carolina and Mississippi, however, they primarily use 54 to 119 year old pond pine trees [30]. Trees must be infected with heart rot disease that softens the wood and allows red-cockaded woodpeckers to excavate roost and nest cavities [52].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:Seedlings of pond pine were planted on cleared shrub oak areas in South Carolina. The average survival was 72% after 2 years. Although pond pine is characteristically a wet site species, it showed good early response on this relatively dry site [68].
OTHER USES AND VALUES:Subsequent to regional timber removal in early development of the Southeast, pocosin ecosystems have generally been considered of low economic value for agriculture, although they have recently been recognized as a source of peat [65].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:The draining of pond pine habitats has created much controversy. The southern forested wetlands are home to a wide variety of endangered, threatened, and candidate plant and animal species. It is thought that these species, along with pond pine, may be jeopardized if the wetlands are drained [1,61]. In general, forested wetlands comprise about 60% of all the U.S. wetland areas (exclusive of deepwater habitats, such as submerged grasslands and lake bottoms), and loss of forested wetlands acreage is particularly high. From 1940 to 1980, forested wetlands areas were decreasing at an annual rate of 0.3% nationally [1]. Today humans are changing the flatwoods ecosystem, which is important to pond pine, in 2 major ways: the destruction of stands in favor of alternative land uses such as crops, improved pastures, and urban development; and the alteration of various ecosystems and community characteristics by management practices associated with timber, pulpwood, and cattle production. It is predicted that if current trends continue, extensive future alterations and declines will occur [2]. However, an opposing view states that pond pine may respond favorably to drainage. Although pond pine is most frequently found on poorly drained lands, the species can make excellent growth on mineral soils or on land that is not continuously waterlogged. In an eastern North Carolina site, basal area and height growth of pond pine was nearly doubled by drainage [8].
Related categories for SPECIES: Pinus serotina | Pond Pine |
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