Because seeds in trees are mature and ready for dispersal by fall, white spruce can quickly invade areas after fall burns, especially during good seed crop years. Under most circumstances, it can rapidly invade burned sites only when fire consumes the organic layer exposing mineral soil and when surviving trees provide a seed source. Frequent fires can eliminate White Spruce from an area because it does not produce seed in quantity until it is 30 years old or older. Mammals Palatability low for moose and deer Snowshoe hares sometimes feed heavily on saplings and seedlings Mice, voles, shrews, and chipmunks consume large quantities of seeds off the ground. Mice and voles eat the seedlings.
Red squirrels clip twigs and feed on vegetative and reproductive buds in the spring.
Consumption of leaders and the ends of upper branches by red squirrels tends to be greatest during poor cone crop years. Seed a primary food of red squirrels, which prefer it over Black Spruce seed. Seeds are nutritious and a good energy source for red squirrels which can survive the winter on a diet consisting entirely of White Spruce seeds. Red squirrels are so dependent that population density is directly related to seed crop cycles. Spruce grouse feed entirely on spruce needles during winter.