Root Disease Management Guidebook

Provides a background and management tools for forest root disease.

Root disease epidemics, because much of the activity takes place in soil and out of sight, pose special challenges to growers who seek to manage them and to scientists who study them. All relevant topics of root disease epidemics and their management are presented: The critical aspects of specific disease components including inoculum, host roots, mycorrhiza and the soil environment are explored. Challenges of disease assessment and the temporal and spatial aspects of epidemic development are considered, and approaches to root disease management including host resistance, chemical, biological and cultural management are discussed in detail. The book fulfills the needs of researchers, teachers, and practitioners of plant pathology.

Sitka spruce, the largest of the world's spruces, is an important component of British Columbia's coastal forests. Its ecology gives it a special place in the sustainable management of the province's forests. However, in west coast forestry it is poorly known in comparison with its main coniferous companions -- Douglas-fir, western redcedar, and western hemlock. As an important international forestry resource, it is crucial that Sitka spruce -- its ecology and the ecosystems in which it occurs -- be clearly understood by those who are involved with its management.

This guidebook is intended to assist field practitioners in determining forest health issues and the incidence of forest health factors in high-hazard forest ecosystems. The first section describes the attributes of hazard & risk rating and briefly outlines some available hazard & risk rating systems. Section two covers forest development plan-level surveys, and includes procedures for landscape-level forest health factor surveys. Topics covered include aerial overview surveys, classification of damage, map processing, survey for pest incidence, and windthrow risk evaluation. The final section reviews stand-level surveys. Appendices include a glossary, example inventory data & field data forms, and a table of damage agents & associated pest severity ratings.

The objectives of this report were to: provide an overview of the data collected for the 5 years 1991-1995; identify pest-affected stands using treatment levels provided by the FHG and POYS surveys pest impact codes; identify those pests that are most damaging to young stands; and identify topics related to pests of young stands that require further research.