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Harvard Forest Research Project 2024
- Title: Measuring Hemlock Decay
- Principal investigator: Meghan MacLean (mgmaclean@umass.edu)
- Institution: University of Massachusetts - Amherst
- Primary contact: Meghan MacLean (mgmaclean@umass.edu)
- Team members: Taylor Lucey
Shersingh J Tumber-Dávila - Abstract:
Our study aims to improve the understanding of how forest pests and wood markets impact carbon dynamics. Understanding the balance between in-forest carbon and harvested carbon to maximize carbon storage in all facets of our landscape is a priority for mitigating climate change. Recently, there have been studies suggesting using eastern hemlock as a source of material for mass timber products, such as cross-laminated timber, as a way of keeping more carbon in storage as many of these trees die and slowly decay following infestation by hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). However, very little is understood about how HWA may alter wood quality, and therefore the viability of hemlock as a source for mass timber products.
Therefore, we seek to measure changes in wood density and quality of eastern hemlock at Harvard Forest at different stages of HWA infestation. We will use non-distructive wood quality sensors (e.g., a resistograph and a tomograph) to look at wood density and decay patterns in a few different hemlock stands, including the hemlock plot and ForestGEO plot, that range from relatively healthy to heavily impacted by HWA. These measures, along with visual measures of tree health, will help us understand how HWA may change the wood density and quality and therefore usability in mass timber products.
