Salvage logging versus natural regeneration post-fire practices in a forest: Soil chemical and microbial aspects

A tool was developed to allow managers and foresters to quickly assess reforestation needs following forest fire and salvage logging at the stand level in both pure and mixed black spruce and jack pine stands. This on-site operational assessment tool was created using a forest regeneration model that simulates the natural regeneration densities of black spruce and jack pine following fire and salvage. Tree species basal areas used for simulations represent the natural range expected in the field. Additional parameters include the abscission schedule of the species, the percentage of optimal (exposed mineral soil or humus) post-fire seedbeds, and the timing of the salvage operation. The tool also allows for rapid planning of both salvage operations and planting. It has important advantages over conventional seedling surveys in that it can be employed immediately following fire, can guide management decisions about the planning of road construction and the harvest sequence, and takes into account the entire establishment phase. Using the tool to adjust the harvesting schedule to minimize replanting, the likely final cost of reforestation can be estimated for an entire burn. The tool shows that a higher percentage of optimal seedbeds are necessary following salvage: (1) for black spruce to regenerate adequately compared to jack pine (i.e., planting of black spruce will almost always be necessary); (2) as basal area of the species of interest decreases; and, (3) to adequately regenerate burned intact and salvaged stands in late-season fires compared with those from early-season fires.

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Pine Forest Soil Characteristics and Major Soil Impact Factors for Natural Regeneration

Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer ◽

10.7745/kjssf.2017.50.3.179 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 50 (3) ◽

pp. 179-186 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Min-Suk Kim ◽

Yong-Suk Kim ◽

Hyun-Gi Min ◽

Jeong-Gyu Kim ◽

Namin Koo

Keyword(s):

Forest Soil ◽

Natural Regeneration ◽

Soil Characteristics ◽

Pine Forest ◽

Impact Factors ◽

Pine Forest Soil

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A landscape-level tool for assessing natural regeneration density of Picea mariana and Pinus banksiana following fire and salvage logging

Forest Ecology and Management ◽

10.1016/j.foreco.2016.04.036 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 373 ◽

pp. 189-202 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tadeusz B. Splawinski ◽

Sylvie Gauthier ◽

Yves Bergeron ◽

David F. Greene ◽

Osvaldo Valeria

Keyword(s):

Picea Mariana ◽

Natural Regeneration ◽

Pinus Banksiana ◽

Salvage Logging ◽

Landscape Level

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Combined influence of fire and salvage logging on carbon and nitrogen storage in boreal forest soil profiles

Forest Ecology and Management ◽

10.1016/j.foreco.2014.04.021 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 326 ◽

pp. 133-141 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Vincent Poirier ◽

David Paré ◽

Juliette Boiffin ◽

Alison D. Munson

Keyword(s):

Boreal Forest ◽

Forest Soil ◽

Soil Profiles ◽

Nitrogen Storage ◽

Salvage Logging ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen

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Is deadwood helping regeneration? Natural regeneration dynamics in a stand replacing windthrow area.

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14348 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Davide Marangon ◽

Mattia Pilotti ◽

Federico Zancanaro ◽

Maximiliano Costa ◽

Emanuele Lingua

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Natural Regeneration ◽

Large Scale ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Mountain Forest ◽

Global Changes ◽

Salvage Logging ◽

Regeneration Dynamics ◽

Pest Outbreaks

Forests provide many important ecosystem services. Natural disturbances, such as wildfires, pest outbreaks and windrows, are the main phenomena shaping forest ecosystems. Due to both climate and global changes, extreme events are increasing in frequency and forests are thus increasingly being affected by stand replacing disturbances. Mountain forest dynamics and ecosystems services are critically influenced by disturbances, in particular storm. In this framework, is crucial to understand these environmental modifications, finding the best management strategies to restore or maintain ecosystem services provided by forests. After large disturbance, there are two different issues to deal with: the large amount of deadwood on the ground, and the needs of&#160; regeneration in order to re-establish the forest cover. To face these problems different management strategies can be adopted. Salvage logging (total or partial) and no-intervention are the two opposite approaches to handle the large amount of deadwood. Natural regeneration or reforestation, instead, are the main strategies to consider to re-establish forest cover. In this study we focused on post-windstorm conditions, in particular concerning large windthrows caused by the Vaia storm, occurred in October 2018 on Eastern Italian Alps. After such large-scale event, natural regeneration is the most convenient strategy to regenerate forest. This process should take place in an area with a high amount of coarse wood debris (CWD). For this reason is crucial to understand the interaction between windthrown timber and regeneration dynamics. In this study we analyzed how CWD is able to create a favorable regeneration microsite enhancing seedling establishment probability. In particular, we focused on two different facilitative mechanisms provided by CWD: microsite amelioration and seedling protection. The former has been analyzed measuring temperature and SWC in the proximity of seedling planted in the surrounding of deadwood elements, the latter by recording browsing evidence at the end of the season. &#160;In order to infer the CWD contribution, control sites have been established in empty sites (no CWD presence in the surrounding). Our results showed that in southern slopes, microsite with significative lower temperature are found northern to the logs, decreasing water stress for saplings. The ameliorative function of logs and CWD in general contribute to decrease the transplanting shock, increasing the probability to establish for saplings. Moreover, the presence of lying deadwood decreased significantly the browsing on saplings. The result of our study highlighted the importance of favorable regeneration microsites provided by deadwood, both for natural regeneration dynamics and for increasing the survival probability for planted saplings. Favorable microsites and nurse biological legacies should be considered in defining post-disturbance management strategies, promoting only a partial salvage logging or non-intervention &#160;approaches as much as possible.

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Do alter post-wildfire straw mulching application and salvage logging pine natural regeneration after wildfires?

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-3384 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja ◽

Cristina Fernández ◽

Pedro Antonio Plaza- Alvárez ◽

Javier González-Romero ◽

Esther Peña-Mollina ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Properties ◽

Seedling Growth ◽

Natural Regeneration ◽

Seedling Recruitment ◽

Soil Parameters ◽

Mediterranean Forests ◽

Seedling Density ◽

Short Term ◽

Salvage Logging ◽

Pine Species

Mulching application and salvage logging are often performed in forests after fire to recover timber values and avoid soil erosion. These post-fire practices are believed to positively and negatively impact soil properties and initial seedling recruitment or seedling growth in pine stands. Mulch may increase soil moisture and lower soil temperature, which thus promotes seedling recruitment, whereas logging operations may generate soil compaction and destroy seedlings. As Mediterranean forests are delicate ecosystems, and different pine species or contrasting microclimate conditions (semiarid vs. subhumid Mediterranean climates) can display several natural regeneration trends, we investigated whether mulching combined with logging significantly alters soil properties, initial seedling recruitment and seedling growth in burned Pinus halepensis (Lietor) and Pinus pinaster (A Gudi&#241;a) stands in the short term. Our results demonstrated that soil organic matter and total nitrogen were the only soil parameters affected by treatments at site Li&#233;tor. Monitoring activity confirmed that regardless of tree felling or not, mulch treatment improved seedling density in the short term with a semiarid Mediterranean climate. At Li&#233;tor, seedling density was over 40% higher when mulching was applied, whereas aerial seedling length was the only seedling variable affected by this treatment. Conversely, the mulching+logging combination showed the highest seedling density, which could be related with more light availability after tree felling and the almost null effect of employed logging machinery. The harsh conditions at Li&#233;tor due to the limited water and light demands of pine species when water resources were ensured at site A Gudi&#241;a could be decisive for understanding the effect of mulching and logging operations for initial seedling recruitment. Our results generally suggest short-term soil changes and contrasting initial seedling recruitments after mulch and logging in burned semiarid and subhumid Mediterranean pine forests.&#160;&#160;

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Effect of salvage-logging on post-fire tree establishment and ground cover vegetation in semi-natural hemiboreal forests

Silva Fennica ◽

10.14214/sf.10334 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 54 (5) ◽

Author(s):

Annija Kārkliņa ◽

Guntis Brūmelis ◽

Iluta Dauškane ◽

Didzis Elferts ◽

Lāsma Freimane ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Natural Regeneration ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Ground Cover ◽

Tree Regeneration ◽

Term Effect ◽

Understory Vegetation ◽

Forest Types ◽

Tree Establishment ◽

Salvage Logging ◽

Ground Cover Vegetation

Fire is a common disturbance in boreal forests causing changes in biological diversity at various spatial scales. In the past 100 years, forest management has limited fire outbreaks, but in the future, the fire-affected forest area is expected to increase in many regions due to climate change. Burned forests are typically salvage-logged, but the effect of this type of management versus natural regeneration on biological diversity is not well understood, particularly the mid-term effect to tree establishment and understory vegetation composition and diversity. Various management methods were used after a large fire in 1992 in a peatland-forest complex and neighbouring managed forests, which created an experimental setup for study of the effect of management after fire in the Sliteres National park, northwestern Latvia. Understory vegetation was described in plots using a design of four forest and three management types: natural regeneration (unmanaged) and managed sites with salvage logging followed by no further human intervention and salvage logging with planting. Post-fire management had different effect in each forest type. Species richness was higher in forest types with salvage logging than in natural regenerated sites on rich wet and rich dry forest types, but not for the poor forest types. Tree regeneration was generally greater in salvage-logged stands, but differed between forest types. Species composition was related to tree regeneration and canopy openness. In contrast to other studies, salvage logging had a positive mid-term effect to ground vegetation diversity and tree establishment in the studied stands, implying potential for concomitant management and conservation of ground cover vegetation in semi-natural stands.

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The effectiveness of granular chalk use for growing winter wheat on grey forest soil

Agrobìologìâ ◽

10.33245/2310-9270-2020-157-1-181-191 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 181-191

Author(s):

M. Tkachenko ◽

N. Borys ◽

Ye. Kovalenko

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Physicochemical Properties ◽

Forest Soil ◽

Active Substance ◽

Mass Fraction ◽

Gray Forest Soil ◽

Mineral Fertilizers ◽

Acidic Soils ◽

Grey Forest Soil

The research aims to establish the eff ectiveness of granular chalk use produced by «Slavuta-Calcium» Ltd. under growing Poliska–90 winter wheat variety, changing the physicochemical properties of grey forest soil and the wheat productivity. It also aims to establish optimal dosis of «Slavuta-Calcium» granular chalk as the meliorant and mineral fertilizer for grey forest soil in the system of winter wheat fertilization. In the temporary fi eld studies, various doses of nutrients N60–90–120P30–45–60K60–90–120 combined with «Slavuta–Calcium» granular chalk in a dose of Ca230–460–690 kg/ha of the active substance were studied against the background of secondary plowing of rotation products – soybean biomass that averaged 2.34 t/ha. Granular chalk is a modern complex highly eff ective meliorant with the content of Ca – 37.7 and Mg – 0.2 %, the mass fraction of carbonates (CaCO3 + MgCO3) makes at least 95 %. It is characterized by a high level of solubility when interacting with moisture in soil. It has a form of white granules, the mass fraction of 4.0–6.0 mm in size granules makes not less than 90 % and the one of 1.0 mm in size makes less than 5 %. Reactivity – 97 %. The granular chalk is advisable to apply on acidic soils, as a highly concentrated calcium-magnesium fertilizer, with the former as the dominant fertilizer, to optimize the physicochemical properties of the soil, as well as the plant nutrition system, in particular, increasing the availability of an element for assimilation by plants and as long-term ameliorants. The eff ectiveness of the use of mineral fertilizers, in particular acidic nitrogen on highly and medium acidic soils, after chemical reclamation is increased by 30–50 %, and slightly acidic by 15–20 %. The increase in productivity of crops from the combined eff ects of nutrients and chalk granulated is usually higher than when separately applied. The eff ectiveness of the integrated action of these elements is manifested in the growth of plant productivity and the quality of the resulting products, as well as the optimization of physical chemical properties and soil buff ering in the long term. In order to optimize the physicochemical properties of the arable layer of gray forest soil and the productive nutrition of agricultural crops, winter wheat, in particular, biogenic elements should be used in doses N60-90-120P30-45- 60K60-90-120 with granulated chalk «Slavuta-Calcium» in doses of Ca230-460-690 kg/ha of active substance. Granulated chalk obtained as a result of industrial grinding of solid sedimentary carbonate rocks of natural origin, subsequently under the infl uence of the granulation process of the starting material contains Ca and Mg carbonates of at least 95 %, dense granules which facilitates convenient mechanized application, as well as chalk suitable for accurate metered application on the quest map. Key words: granular chalk, gray forest soil, chemical reclamation, crop productivity.

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