Mechanical disturbance impacts on soil properties and lodgepole pine growth in British Columbia’s central interior

Abstract

M. 2005. Mechanical disturbance impacts on soil properties and lodgepole pine growth in British Columbia's central interior. Can. J. Soil Sci. 85: 681-691. Forest landings are areas located adjacent to haul roads where harvested trees that were skidded from the cutblock are processed and loaded onto trucks. Soils on landings are often excessively compacted by heavy timber harvesting machinery and may take many years to recover from such disturbance. This study examined soil properties and tree growth on unrehabilitated landings (with and without natural regeneration) and adjacent naturally regenerated clearcuts in the central interior of British Columbia (BC), 23 yr after landing construction. Landings (both with and without natural regeneration) had less favorable conditions for tree growth than did clearcuts, including significantly greater surface soil bulk density and mechanical resistance (on some dates) and lower total porosity and concentrations of C and N. Landings without natural regeneration had the least favorable soil conditions, which may account for the lack of natural regeneration. Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm.) growing on portions of the landings did not differ in height from those growing in adjacent clearcuts. Site index, as estimated using the growth intercept method, did not differ between naturally regenerated landings (21.7 m) and clearcuts (22.0 m), suggesting that the soils may be equally capable of supporting productive forests.Key words: Forest soil disturbance, soil mechanical resistance, soil productivity, soil water content, natural regeneration Blouin, V. M., Schmidt, M. G., Bulmer, C. E. et Krzic, M. 2005. Incidence des perturbations mécaniques sur les propriétés du sol et sur la croissance du pin tordu dans la région centrale intérieure de la Colombie-Britannique. Can. J. Soil Sci. 85: 681-691. Les jetées forestières sont contiguës aux chemins d'exploitation. Les troncs qui y sont amenés de la zone de coupe sont conditionnés à cet endroit puis chargés sur des camions. Le sol des jetées est souvent compacté à l'excès par la machinerie lourde qui sert à récolter le bois et maintes années s'écoulent parfois avant qu'il s'en remette. La présente étude portait sur les propriétés du sol et la croissance des arbres sur les jetées non restaurées (avec et sans régénération naturelle) et sur les zones de coupe à blanc adjacentes qui se sont régénérées d'elles-mêmes dans la région centrale intérieure de la Colombie-Britannique, 23 ans après l'éd-ification des jetées. Les jetées (avec ou sans régénération naturelle) offrent des conditions moins favorables à la croissance des arbres que les zones de coupe à blanc, entre autres un sol de surface à masse volumique apparente significativement plus élevée, une résistance mécanique nettement plus grande (à certaines dates) ainsi qu'une plus faible porosité totale et concentration de C et de N. Le sol des jetées sans régénération naturelle présente les conditions les plus défavorables, ce qui explique peut-êt...

Effects of rubber-tired skidder and farm tractor on physical properties of soil in plantation areas in the north of Iran

“…In this study, with increasing traffic intensity from low to high, the percent of soil porosity decreased on all skidding trails; therefore, the lowest porosity is related to high traffic classes. These findings are in agreement with the results of McNabb et al (2001), Rab (2004) and Blouin et al (2005). The change in soil water content is one of the negative impacts of soil compaction because it decreases the soil volume, which eventually leads to a decrease in total soil porosity (Kachamba 2007).…”

Recovery of soil bulk density, porosity and rutting from ground skidding over a 20-year period after timber harvesting in Iran

“…Analogous to findings in other studies (Rab 1996, Blouin et al 2005, MP values decreased significantly with increasing traffic intensity and, to a minor extent, with an increasing slope of the skid trails. During timber harvesting operations, soil particles are rearranged and the continuity of pore spaces of both micro-and macro-pores may collapse.…”

“…Nonetheless, a 20-year recovery period was insufficient for TP to approach values observed in undisturbed areas, particularly on primary skid trails, where TP were still about 15% lower. Blouin et al (2005) similarly observed that the lowest total porosity remained on landings and primary trails soils after a 23-year recovery period.…”

Modeling and mapping soil resistance to penetration and rutting using LiDAR-derived digital elevation data

“…stagnant water pools, and initiate gulley formation and washouts along slopes (Carter et al 2000(Carter et al , 2007Blouin et al 2005;Foltz 2006). Activities intended to curb negative soil disturbance effects refer to (1) seasonally imposed rules and regulations for on-and off-road vehicular transport, (2) adherence to agreed upon best management practices and related certification requirements with respect to minmizing soil disturbances, and (3) follow up in terms of quality control by way of soil disturbance monitoring and best management practice effectiveness evaluations, recommendations, and guidelines (Duckert et al 2008;Miller et al 2010).…”