Ecology and Restoration of Red Spruce Ecosystems in the Central and Southern Appalachians

Abstract

The first efforts to restore red spruce (Picea rubens) ecosystems in the central and southern Appalachians began nearly 100 years ago, following broad scale declines that resulted from industrial logging activities and associated wildfires. While many localized efforts have occurred over the last century, the scale of red spruce restoration has dramatically increased over the last two decades. In the mid-2000s, the Central Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative (CASRI) was formed to bring restoration partners together, followed by establishment of the Southern Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative (SASRI) around a decade later. The visions and missions of CASRI and SASRI serve as guiding lights for red spruce restoration across the central and southern Appalachians, promoting collaborative relationships among federal and state management agencies, non-governmental organizations, restoration businesses, and scientific researchers, and encouraging restoration practitioners to plan at the scale of landscapes.

As the interest in red spruce restoration grows, new organizations and individuals are continually joining CASRI and SASRI and engaging in red spruce restoration efforts. The idea for this book arose out of the need for a single resource to introduce new restoration practitioners to contemporary red spruce ecosystems and restoration goals and practices. As the book concept crystalized, we expanded the scope of content to include the history and potential future of red spruce and increased the depth of material covered to provide a valuable resource for seasoned practitioners and research scientists. The book begins with a focus on the historical and contempo-rary geographic distribution of red spruce, including the influence of anthropogenic activities on its decline. Chapter 2 synthesizes our understanding of the biology of red spruce. The following four chapters cover ecological communities and ecosystem dynamics associated with red spruce and spruce-fir forests, with focal topics ranging from soils to wildlife. Chapter 7 reviews the influence of climatic conditions on the physiology and distribution of red spruce and discusses potential responses of the species to rapid contemporary climate changes. The final two chapters focus on restoration of red spruce in the central and southern Appalachians, including considerations and approaches, historical efforts, and major accomplishments to date.

Over 40 scientists and managers working in red spruce ecosystems contributed to writing the nine chapters in this book, with over 30 additional individuals contributing their knowledge and expertise as content reviewers and editors. The result is not only a robust synthesis of the ecology of red spruce ecosystems in the central and southern Appalachians, but also a story of their dramatic historical decline and current efforts to restore these unique and majestic forests.

Citation

Brown, Donald J.; Thomas-Van Gundy, Melissa A.; Diggins, Corinne A.; Silvis, Alexander; Shallows, Kathryn M., eds. 2026. Ecology and Restoration of Red Spruce Ecosystems in the Central and Southern Appalachians. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. 343 p. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-19616-3.