Longitudinal air permeability of pinewood with beetle transmitted blue-stain

The mountain pine beetle epidemic is destroying an extensive volume of the lodgepole pine forests being one of the most commercially harvested trees in British Columbia. The purpose of this study was to test the permeability of wood of four different classes regarding the time of the beetle attack. The experiments used the ‘‘falling water’’ unsteady-steady method of measuring superficial air permeability. The results showed that the specific permeability is not significantly different between the infested classes tested. The same conclusion could be reached for comparisons of uninfected and infested wood.