Assessment of a Salvage Logging Operation after Winter Storms: A Case Study of Ihsangazi Forest Directorate, Kastamonu-Turkey*

Year 2016, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 41 - 47, 17.11.2016

Arif Oguz Altunel , Cigdem Ozer Genc , Pakize Torun

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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