Modeling the effect of wheeled tractors and skidded timber bunches on forest soil compaction

Grigorev, Igor; Kunickaya, Olga; Burgonutdinov, Albert; Tikhonov, Evgeniy; Makuev, Valentin; Egipko, Sergey; Hertz, Edward; Zorin, Maksim

doi:10.5937/jaes0-28528

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This aligns with our observation of a higher water table in disturbed plots across different age classes. We also found that harvesting has altered soil bulk density, increased water retention by reducing mesopore volume, which is common in mineral soils after machinery impact (Cambi et al 2015;Frey et al 2009;Grigorev et al 2021;Magagnotti et al 2012), leading to increased anaerobic conditions. However, we did not find any significant difference in the net emissions of CH4 between the ruts and the adjacent non-impacted control areas.…”

Section: Impact Of Harvesting Machines On Peat and Vegetationmentioning

confidence: 66%

Impacts of thinning activities on boreal peatland forests

Lepilin

2023

Diss. For.

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Boreal peatland forests are an important source of timber. Recently, timber harvesting has been extended to warmer months, resulting in machinery traffic over unfrozen soils, and leading to higher levels of soil disturbance, such as deeper ruts. Despite this, our knowledge of the impact of soil disturbance on peat physical properties and soil biochemistry is still limited. To address this gap, I conducted a study to examine the effects of soil disturbance caused by harvesting machinery during thinning operations on the soil physical, chemical, and biological properties and vegetation of drained boreal peatland forests. To assess the rate of recovery, I sampled six sites that formed a chronosequence covering 15 years since thinning. The results showed that soil disturbance caused an increase in the bulk density and field capacity of peat, along with a decrease in total porosity. In the vegetation, moss biomass and root production were reduced, but sedge cover increased. Furthermore, recently disturbed areas exhibited greater soil CO2 production potential, as well as higher soil CO2 and CH4 concentrations compared to control areas. However, CO2 and CH4 emissions, microbial communities, and cellulose decomposition rate were not impacted. Although the rate of recovery varied, all studied properties impacted by disturbance were fully recovered within 15 years. As the water retention characteristic (WRC) describes soil structure and its alterations, it a useful for disturbance assessment. Thus, I propose how WRC can be predicted using artificial neural networks. Overall, the study demonstrated that while drained boreal peatlands are sensitive to disturbance, they are also resilient to mechanical soil disturbance caused by thinnings.

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Section: Impact Of Harvesting Machines On Peat and Vegetationmentioning

confidence: 66%

Impacts of thinning activities on boreal peatland forests

Lepilin

2023

Diss. For.

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“…Earlier, harvesting has been found to alter soil bulk density and increase water retention due to the reduction of mesopore volume (Lepilin et al 2019), which hinders soil aeration. This is common on mineral soils after machinery impact (Frey et al 2009;Magagnotti et al 2012;Cambi et al 2015;Grigorev et al 2021) and leads to increased anaerobic conditions. Yet again, we observed no difference in the net emissions of CH 4 between the ruts and the adjacent non-impacted control areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of vegetation and soil biological properties to soil deformation in logging trails of drained boreal peatland forests

et al. 2022

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In the boreal region, peatland forests are a significant resource of timber. Under pressure from a growing bioeconomy and climate change, timber harvesting is increasingly occurring over unfrozen soils. This is likely to cause disturbance in the soil biogeochemistry. We studied the impact of machinery-induced soil disturbance on the vegetation, microbes, and soil biogeochemistry of drained boreal peatland forests caused by machinery traffic during thinning operations. To assess potential recovery, we sampled six sites that ranged in time since thinning from a few months to 15 years. Soil disturbance directly decreased moss biomass and led to an increase in sedge cover and a decrease in root production. Moreover, soil CO2 production potential, and soil CO2 and CH4 concentrations were greater in recently disturbed areas than in the control areas. In contrast, CO2 and CH4 emissions, microbial biomass and structure, and the decomposition rate of cellulose appeared to be uncoupled and did not show signs of impact. While the impacted properties varied in their rate of recovery, they all fully recovered within 15 years covered by our chronosequence study. Conclusively, drained boreal peatlands appeared to have high biological resilience to soil disturbance caused by forest machinery during thinning operations.

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“…There is therefore an urgent need to identify the machine-based forest operations with the smallest impact on soils in order to ensure sustainable forest management (Marchi et al 2018;Schweier et al 2019;Picchio et al 2020). The aim of many studies has been to assess and reduce the impact of harvesting and extraction machines on forest soils (Sakai et al 2008;Labelle and Jaeger 2011;Abdi et al 2017;Giannetti et al 2017;Cambi et al 2018;Labelle et al 2018;Grigorev et al 2021), and effective technological solutions have been developed (Engler et al 2021), such as the use of machines equipped with bogie tracks (Edlund et al 2013;Cambi et al 2016;Ala-Ilomäki et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timber Provision on Soft Soils in Forests Providing Protection Against Natural Hazards: A Productivity and Cost Analysis Using the Koller 507 in the Horizontal Yarding Direction in Switzerland

Schweier

Werder

Bont

2022

Small-scale Forestry

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Forest soils can be sensitive to traffic for various reasons, such as a high water table and the absence of sturdy ground, both of which can lead to fragile ground conditions under wet weather conditions. Extracting timber from such stands is a challenge, and cable-based systems might be the best option. While damage to the remaining stand and to the soil during extraction is not always avoidable, the use of cable-based systems completely eliminates ground-based traffic in the case of fully suspended loads and at least reduces soil compaction, soil surface damage and erosion. From a technical viewpoint, cable-based systems can be applied in most forest types and at almost any time if they are equipped properly and with an appropriate configuration (e.g. with all-terrain cable yarders). However, only a few previous studies have been focused on the productivity and related costs that can be expected when cable-based systems are used in flat and environmentally sensitive areas. Therefore, we evaluated a forest operation using a Koller tower yarder with the aim to develop a productivity model that makes it possible to predict the productivity of comparable yarding operations beforehand and estimate related costs. In June 2021, we collected data from 473 cubic metres over bark (m 3 ob) during 104.25 h of commercial operation. We analysed the resulting 276 work cycles using ordinary least squares regression models. We categorised the work steps into felling (28.3%), yarding (68.0%) and piling (3.7%). The average yarding cycle time was 10.77 ± 5.40 min and resulted in an average yarding productivity of 9.95 m 3 ob PMH 15 −1 . The variable payload, which was suboptimal in the analysed case, was the predictor with the greatest impact on productivity. Production costs were 86.65 CHF m 3 ob −1 at roadside, corresponding to 80.59 € m 3 ob −1 .

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Modeling the effect of wheeled tractors and skidded timber bunches on forest soil compaction

Cited by 5 publications

References 19 publications

Impacts of thinning activities on boreal peatland forests

Impacts of thinning activities on boreal peatland forests

Response of vegetation and soil biological properties to soil deformation in logging trails of drained boreal peatland forests

Timber Provision on Soft Soils in Forests Providing Protection Against Natural Hazards: A Productivity and Cost Analysis Using the Koller 507 in the Horizontal Yarding Direction in Switzerland

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