Natural Recovery of Compacted Soils in an Upland Hardwood Forest in Indiana

Abstract

Abstract Recovery of soils compacted from conventional ground-based logging operations was assessed on six upland oak-hickory timber sales in south central Indiana. Two areas were selectively harvested in each of the years 1984, 1986, and 1988. Mean bulk density of undisturbed forest soils ranged from 0.93 to 1.02 mg/m3 for the silt loam soils found on all six study areas. Even though soil disturbance averaged 18% of the total sale area immediately after harvesting, the visible amount of soil disturbance decreased to 2.0 and 2.5% for the areas sampled 2 and 4 years after logging, respectively. Compacted soils on secondary skid trails (i.e., 1.08 mg/m3) recovered to preharvest bulk density in 2 to 4 years, but primary skid trails and landings with higher bulk density values (i.e., 1.19 to 1.28 and 1.35 mg/m3) will require somewhat longer than 4 years to recover. North. J. Appl. For. 9(4):138-141.