Effects of felling residues reinforcement of the strip roads on soil damage after logging operations in the northern taiga subzone

For the conditions of cutting areas with excessive soil moisture, it is important to determine the possibilities of protecting them with a brush mats of felling residues on strip roads when felling low-bonity tree stands. This is necessary to adjust the technological parameters of the development of cutting areas in the northern taiga subzone (Arkhangelsk region) due to the vulnerability of the soil and vegetation cover. Within the boundaries of the cutting area, which was developed by a complex of logging machinery, we selected plots with 4 forwarder passages loaded with 20 m³ of spruce and birch assortments. The initial area of the forest was represented by blueberry spruce of the V class of bonitet, the stand composition was 80 percent represented by spruce, 20 percent by birch, and pine was a single, growing on soils with binomial deposits (the top of the profile is sandy loam, the bottom is silty clay). We conducted a detailed study of the structure of the ruts, opened the soil and made a description of the horizons / soil layers, determined the moisture, penetration resistance and bulk density in the thickness of 0-20 cm. As a control, we selected similar samples at the cutting strips. The laboratory determined the particle density and calculated the total porosity and porosity of aeration. It was found that the use of felling residues in the amount of 0.008 m³/m², which is typical for this forest type, with a minimum number of vehicle passes does not exclude the negative consequences of damage to the soil and vegetation cover, but is able to minimize them. First of all, this excludes the formation of ruts in the places where loaded vehicles passed. The negative impact is manifested in the compaction of the forest floor, however, a brush mats of felling residues protects the 20-cm - thickness of the soil from compaction and disturbance of the water-air regime, compared with the ruts on strip roads without felling residues. With a larger number of vehicle passes, the available thickness of the felling residues may not be enough, and the damage may be higher.

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