Forest Health Considerations for Tree Species Selection

The impact of forest health factors needs to be considered when selecting tree species at the stand and landscape levels.

Some problems due to forest health could have been prevented if the prescribing foresters had known what we know now about seed selection. For example:

Sitka spruce stock from Haida Gwaii deployed in pure stands in the Kitimat Valley were severely damaged by spruce leader weevil, Pissodes strobi
Sitka spruce were planted in high hazard areas on the West Coast of Vancouver Island
Planting lodgepole pine were planted in known high hazard areas at too low a density given expected mortality from hard pine stem rusts