PATHOLOGICAL DETERIORATION IN WIND-THROWN BALSAM FIR IN NEWFOUNDLAND

Fifty wind-thrown balsam fir were examined in Newfoundland for pathological deterioration 3 to 4 years following death. Ninety-eight per cent of the trees examined possessed incipient deterioration in the form of a reddish-brown, or occasionally, a yellowish discoloration. The average depth of radial penetration of incipient deterioration was 0.5 inches. Twenty-two per cent of the trees possessed advanced deterioration, mostly a brown cubical sap rot. The incipient deterioration, caused predominantly by STEREUM CHAILLETHI Pers., occupied approximately 33 per cent of the total merchantable volume. The advanced deterioration was caused chiefly by LENZITES SAEPIARIA Wulf. ex Fr. and occupied less than 1 per cent of the total merchantable volume. Based on present practices in Newfoundland, the loss from deterioration in these windthrown trees once the wood has reached the mill amounts to the volume occupied by advanced deterioration, less than 1 per cent. There are, however, several types of losses which may be incurred before the raw material has reached the mill.