Assessment of a Salvage Logging Operation after Winter Storms: A Case Study of Ihsangazi Forest Directorate, Kastamonu-Turkey*
Abstract
Timber extraction (logging), an initial stage of forest operations, involves felling of timber and removing them off the stands. This stage of forestry, if not planned and supervised properly, is the reason for various adversities one never expects happening in forested areas, such as erosion, sedimentation, soil compaction and displacement, etc. Logging on the other hand, is a never ending process which will happen here and there as the forests continue to exist. That’s why this unavoidable part of forest management demands operational planning in micro detail because especially edaphic and topographic factors differ tremendously in close distances. As previously reported in many studies, logging may cause far more serious circumstances to soil and the environment when it is not contracted and practiced professionally. Natural disasters especially winter storms potentially lead to devastating impacts on forest ecosystem and turn logging into even more complicated tasks that require well planned forest operations. In the scope of this study devised following a logging operation which occurred in Ihsangazi Forest Directorate in the spring of 2015 after an unexpected windstorm had swept a 100+ years old Scots pine forest in February, 2015, it was determined that excessive ground water further worsened the soil compaction within the first 20 cm. Results revealed that reduced impact logging principles should be implemented especially in environmentally sensitive areas, otherwise hastily executed practices may yield even worse results.
Keywords
Operational Planning,Salvage logging,Skidding operation,Soil Compaction
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