Height growth of black spruce in British Columbia

Abstract

Black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) is a boreal species that occurs extensively across the northern half of British Columbia. Forest managers require better growth and yield information for black spruce given the anticipated increase in demand for wood in the northern part of the province. The purpose of this study was to develop height-age models for black spruce. Ninety-one stem analysis plots were established in the BWBS and SBS biogeoclimatic zones. Three black spruce site trees from each plot were stem analyzed and the data were converted into height-age data. A conditioned log-logistic function was fit to the data. Indicator variables were used to test for differences in height growth between the sampled subzones. Although the warm subzones had different height growth patterns than the cool subzones, there was general agreement among the height-age models from British Columbia, Alberta, and New Brunswick up to about age 100.