Impact and Control of Forest Diseases in Canada

Abstract

For the period 1977-1981, estimates of annual timber losses in Canada as a result of disease are 65 million m 3 . Intensive forest management presents an opportunity for utilizing pathological recommendations for reducing these losses in order to maintain forest productivity. Control of nursery diseases, root rot, dwarf mistltoes, and Dutch elm disease has been most successful. The accuracy of net inventory volume has been greatly improved. There is a need to develop more reliable surveys for loss estimates and to predict future fosses, particularly on an individual stand basis. The utilization of biological information to develop new control strategies for use in intensive forest management is a challenge facing forest pathologists and forest managers in Canada today.