Wood quality for longleaf pines: a spacing, thinning and pruning study on the Kisatchie National Forest

Twenty 70-year-old longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) trees were harvested from a spacing, thinning, and pruning study on the Kisatchie National Forest, LA. Tree property mapping was used to show the property variation within and between three of the trees. The construction of such maps is both time consuming and cost prohibitive using traditional test methods. However, we were able to construct tree property maps using NIRVANA (Near InfraRed Visual and Automated Numerical Analysis), a spectroscopic system developed for automated property determination for increment cores. This allows wood quality to be determined throughout the tree, and presented in the form of a readily interpretable map. Thus, the effects of spacing, thinning and pruning at different ages were observed within, as well as, between trees. The effect of high levels of extractives in the heartwood on the property determinations remains to be completely resolved.