SOIL DISTURBANCE PROTOCOL RELATED TO MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES IN SUPERIOR NATIONAL FOREST

Forest management activities are necessary to control health and diversity. The Dynamic Soil Properties (DSP) project assesses if post-treatment management plots have changed soil properties, and if those changes negatively impact site productivity or ecology. Recovery time may be in conjunction with these conditions and is assessed in line with these changes. Soil cores were collected in post-treatment management plots and prepped for chemical analysis to assess variation not able to be observed in the field. Sample collection was completed by obtaining four 10-centimeter cores at depths between 0-40 on different levels of compaction throughout the timber sale site. Variables considered in plot selection include harvest method, harvest season, time since harvest last occurred within the plot, soil texture, and soil compaction. Compaction is defined as the application of force on soil that causes a smashing of the layers. It can occur when a great stress, such as logging equipment, presses down upon the earth. This is hypothesized to affect site productivity and diversity. Different sites include variant levels of compaction disturbance. Pedon descriptions were taken in class zero disturbance areas to act as comparison to negatively impacted sites. A higher-level disturbance is classified as two or greater on a scale of compaction; from zero (none) to three (highest). A hypothesized correlation was observed between increased compaction classified soils and decreased rates of vegetation and ecological diversity. Such observations imply negative change in productivity and ecology post-treatment. This field data is still being collected and processed. Once our collected samples have been prepped for the lab, the findings will be used to determine if soil properties have been changed in a negative way that would affect the productivity of the site. The data will give an insight on how long it may take for soils to recover to previous productivity rates. By using the DSP protocol, we can give valuable data about the soil conditions to foresters, soil scientists, timber managers, ecologists and more. The DSP project goal is to preserve our timber sale site diversity and productivity to protect future forest health and timber sales.