Lodgepole Pine Bole Wood Density 1 and 11 Years after Felling in Central Montana

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Estimates of large dead and down woody material biomass are used for evaluating ecological processes and making ecological assessments, such as for nutrient cycling, wildlife habitat, fire effects, and climate change science. Many methods are used to assess the abundance (volume) of woody material, which ultimately require an estimate of wood density to convert volume to biomass. To assess wood density and decomposition rate, this study examined in situ wood density of lodgepole pine logs at the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest, central Montana, 1 and 11 years after felling. Wood density decreased from 0.39 g cm−3 to 0.35 g cm−3 over 10 years and the single exponential decay rate was 0.0085 yr−1. A common 5-category decay classification system was evaluated for estimating wood density by decay class; however, the relationship was only partially significant.