forest soils management project

FOREST SOILS MANAGEMENT PROJECT Timber Management Plan and Summary of Soil Impacts

Tuscarora State Forest – Licking Creek Tract

Prepared by Eric O’Neal and Rob Lusk

Outline• Tract Description

• Timber Management Plan

• Timber Management Plan Implementation Impacts

• Timber Management Plan Sustainability

Tract Description

Tract Location- Mifflin County, PA- Tuscarora State Forest- Accessed by Licking Creek Rd- 1,754.7 acres

40°28’09.12” N77°39’ 37.92” W Reeds Gap

McVeytown

Topographic Features

Predominant Soil Associations

Map unit Description Acres

AoBAndover

extremely stony loam 0-8%

270.0

At Atkins silt loam 11.0

BxDBuchannan

extremely stony loam 8-15%

262.5

HTFHazelton-Dekalb association, steep

643.2

LcDLaidig, extremely stony loam 8-25%

568.1

Significant Landform and Soil Characteristics

• Shoulder and Back Slopes• Hazelton Dekalb Association (25-80% slopes, very rocky, well drained)• Limitations: too steep, boulders, low pH, and largely inaccessible

• Foot Slopes• Laidig and Buchanan Soil Series (8-25% slopes, rocky, well drained)• Limitations: steep, rocky, and low pH

• Toes Slopes• Laidig and Buchanan Soil Series (5-15% slopes, rocky, moderately well

drained)• Limitations: rocky and low pH

• Valley Floor• Andover and Buchanan Soil Series (0-8%, 8-15% slopes, fragipan)• Limitations: Sensitive trout stream and poorly drained soils

Timber Management Plan

Timber Management Goals• Timber production

• Oak and tulip poplar

• Recreation• Trails, aesthetics• Wildlife habitat

• Future sustainability• Timber• Soil• Water

1

2

3

4

5

Timber Management UnitsUnit Delineation Factors- Accessibility- Slope- Site Indexes- Drainage

Timber Management Plan• Units 1, 3, 5

• Not managed for timber, but for recreation• Hiking trails, foot bridges, overlooks, parking areas• Haul road and bridge will be constructed in unit 3, in order to

access units 4 and 5

• Very large riparian buffer to protect trout stream and water resource

Timber Management Plan• Timber Management Units 2 and 4

• Managed for oak (unit 2 and 4) and tulip poplar (unit 4)• Two-stage shelterwood prescription

• w/ long-term residuals • Chainsaw felling and grapple skidding• Slash scattered and left on site• Liming to adjust pH from 4.6 to 6.0

Infrastructure Construction and Water Control

• Haul roads• Broad-based dips, water bars, French mattress, culverts, “day-

lighting” • Creek crossing (permanent bridge) for tri-axle trucks

• Skid trails• Non-bladed, concentrated operations, water bars• Reusable

• Log landings• Offset from Licking Creek Rd• Reusable

Site Retirement• Haul roads to offset landings

• Straw + wildlife grass seed mix• Vehicle access restricted

• Log landings• Ruts filled• Slightly graded• Straw + wildlife grass seed mix

• Skid trails• Ruts filled• Permanent water bars• Grass seed mix + native vegetation

Timber Management Plan Implementation Impacts

Soil Impacts Units 1, 3, 5

Impact

• Compaction • Runoff/Erosion• Loss of fertility due to

movement of nutrients to inaccessible micropores

• Less aerated conditions leads to loss of microbial activity

• Mixing/loss of organic matter

Control

• Isolate compaction to trails, overlooks, and haul roads

• Vegetation on the sides of the trail will help control erosion

• Confined to trails and roads • Confined to trails and roads• Intact forest canopy will

redeposit organic matter back to the trails

Soil Impacts Units 2 and 4

Impact

• Compaction• Runoff/Erosion • Loss of organic matter

inputs• Loss of fertility due to

movement of nutrients to inaccessible micropores

• Less aerated conditions lead to loss of microbial activity

Control

• Use of the same roads, skid trails, and logging decks for both harvests

• Preservation of long term residual trees will help hold the soil in certain areas

• Leaving of slash on site will help redeposit lost organic matter

Impacts on Water Quality On and Off-Site

• Units 1, 3, 5 will have no significant affect on the water quality on or off site

• However harvesting units 2 and 4 could have an impact both on and off-site• By leaving unit 3 unharvested and positioned downhill of the

harvesting units we leave a very large riparian buffer to protect the trout stream and reduce if not eliminate the water quality impacts on/off-site.

• Additionally the construction of high quality foot bridges and haul road bridges ensure that any stream crossing has minimal impact.

Timber Management Plan Sustainability

Long-Term Timber Sustainability• Completely preserves the timber in units 1, 3, 5 • Two stage harvest with a heavy emphasis on desirable

species regeneration • Preservation of long term residual seed trees • Site preparation can be completed if necessary for regeneration to

establish • Establishing regeneration is one of the most important

goals of our harvest in order to obtain long term ecological and economical sustainability of the stand.

Long-Term Soil and Water Quality• The greatest threat to long term soil sustainability is

compaction • We combat this by concentrating our compaction to the same haul

roads and skid trails as much as possible • Use the same roads and trails for future harvest• The use of residuals will help to slow the kinetic energy of rainfall

and hold soil in place• Leaving slash will help increase the organic matter on the site

• Water quality on the tract and downstream will be controlled by a large riparian buffer that will prevent any long term water quality issues

Conclusion• Overall our timber harvesting plan focuses on

sustainability on a variety of different levels which should allow for long term timber production on the stand.