“Pie Slice” wedge of red spruce growing on the lower western slope of Grandfather Mountain, NC within the boundary of Grandfather Mountain Golf and Country Club.

Sample contains 169 growth increments but no pith. Red spruce is a non-resinous conifer. The tree this sample came from is the same tree as Sample #2. The tree’s roots were damaged by construction activity, and the southern pine beetle attacked this and other nearby red spruce. This sample was collected in 2000. For more than a century, forest entomologists knew that the southern pine beetle attacked red spruce; however, fewer than 20 forest entomologists have ever seen a southern pine beetle-attacked red spruce and even fewer have held a sample from such a tree.

Jim McGraw was fortunate to not only accomplish both but also own samples of wood from a SPB-attacked red spruce.