Impacts on soils from cable-logging steep slopes in northeastern Tasmania, Australia

Physical properties of soil can be affected by machines that are used for skidding which have the potential to impact soil sustainability and forest productivity. The present study evaluated the effect of timber skidding by a rubber-tired skidder and farm tractor on the soil physical properties. The study site was located in Hafdaghanan plantation region in the north of Iran. Two treatments that consisted of skidding by HSM 904 skidder and ITM285 farm tractor equipped with trailer were applied. The trails were included in three traffic levels: primary, secondary and tertiary. Treatment effects were tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with skidding machine types and traffic levels. Results indicated that machine type and traffic intensity are the effective factors on soil physical properties. The results showed that with an increase of traffic frequency, bulk density increased but total porosity and soil water content decreased. The results of the study provide clear evidence that farm tractor is a more environmentally friendly machine than rubber-tired skidder in the plantation area.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Nikooy¹,

Ahrari²,

Salehi³

et al. 2015

“…In comparison with our study McMahon (1995) found 71% undisturbed and shallow disturbance, 4% deep disturbance, and 37% compacted, when rubber-tired skidders were used. Laffan et al (2001) indicated that after logging by conventional ground-based skidding from steep slopes the most observations (> 70%) were slash cover (47%) and undisturbed soils (25%). Disturbed soils accounted for nearly 30% of observations with the most comprising slightly (17%) and moderately…”

Section: Soil Surface Disturbancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soil compaction and decreased total porosity are unavoidable consequences of ground skidding operations that can vary in intensity and distribution as a result of the interaction between machine and site factors at the time of harvest. The dimension of the impact varies according to many factors such as skidder passage, skid trail slope, site characteristics, harvesting machines, planning of skid roads and production season (Laffan et al 2001;Demir et al 2007;Najafi et al 2009). The number of machine passes is a key factor that significantly influences the degree of soil damage.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The impacts of ground-based logging equipment on forest soil

Solgi¹,

Najafi²

2014

Soil properties can be affected by heavy equipment used for skidding but these impacts vary greatly with site conditions and operational practices. We assessed the effects of ground-based skidding on site disturbance and soil physical properties. We also tested the effects of skid trail slope and traffic frequency on soil compaction, total porosity, and moisture content. On average, about 30% of all harvested area was disturbed to varying levels. Intact forest floor (undisturbed) and light slash were the dominant surface conditions, covering an average of 68.9% of harvested area. Deep disturbed soils accounted for only just over 1.1% of observations. Results showed that dry bulk density, total porosity and moisture content were affected considerably on skid trails by traffic frequency and skid trail slope. Measurements of soil properties in the surface layer (0-10 cm) showed that bulk density is 57% higher and total porosity is 31% lower on the skid trail compared to the undisturbed area. Average moisture content has been measured as 35% on the skid trail versus 47% in the undisturbed area.

“…As a result, the soil would experience high pressures. In the same conditions of soil tension, steep slope receives greater damage compared to gentle slope due to altering the forest hydrological function and soil morphological process (Laffan et al 2001;Moore, Wondzell 2005). Therefore, it was assumed that slope aspect carries a high weight in determining the hazard zoning status and steep slope can be called an ample window of damage (Cerdà, Doerr 2005;Cerdà, Lasanta 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling and mapping of soil damage caused by harvesting in Caspian forests (Iran) using CART and RF data mining techniques

Shabani¹

2017

Shabani S. (2017): Modelling and mapping of soil damage caused by harvesting in Caspian forests (Iran) using CART and RF data mining techniques. J. For. Sci., Controlling the soil damage caused by forest harvesting has a key role in forest management due to its effect on forest dynamics and productivity, mainly through modifying the physical, mechanical, and hydrological context of soil. This study was conducted to evaluate the soil damage susceptibility in one of the Caspian forests, Iran. For this purpose, two data mining techniques including classification and regression tree (CART) and random forest (RF) were applied. A total of 224 soil damage locations were identified primarily from field surveys. Then, 10 conditioning variables were produced in GIS. For model performance, the outputs of the analyses were compared with the field-verified soil damage locations. Our results show that slope degree, soil type, and slope aspect had the highest weight on soil damage, in the order of their appurtenance. Additionally, according to the relative operating characteristics curve, RF is a more suitable prediction model for soil damage zoning compared to CART. In summary, the findings of this study suggest that soil damage susceptibility mapping is an effective technique for Caspian forests, Iran.