Abstract
Abstract
Purpose of Review
Lowering the impact of forest utilisation on the forest environment is a part of the improvement in sustainable forest management. As part of forest utilisation, timber harvesting can also cause environmental implications. The main impact of forest operations is on the soil, on regeneration and on the residual stand. The aim of the present review was to identify the state of the art in forest utilisation, identifying how and how much forest operations affect forest soil, regeneration and the remaining stand. Particular attention was paid to the level of impact and potential to limit this.
Recent Findings
There are a large number of publications tackling forest harvesting, but most of them do not give a comprehensive framework and they mainly focus on one or very few aspects of forest damage. In order to improve general knowledge of the impact of forest operations, it was proposed that the scope of recent findings should be examined and a compilation of the available results from different regions should be presented in one paper.
Summary
It was found that the least impactful machine-based forest operations were harvester–forwarder technologies, while a larger scale of damage could be expected from ground-based extraction systems (skidders) and cable yarders. Animal power, if applicable, tended to be very neutral to the forest environment. A decrease in damage is possible by optimising skid trail and strip road planning, careful completion of forest operations and training for operators. The existence of legal documents controlling post-harvesting stand damage are rare and have been implemented in only two countries; there is no post-harvesting control on soil damage and natural regeneration.
Funder
Poznan University of Life Sciences
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Nature and Landscape Conservation,Ecology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics,Forestry
Reference91 articles.
1. Higman S, Mayers J, Bass S, Judd N, Nassbaum R. The sustainable forestry handbook: a practical guide for tropical forest managers on implementing new standards. London: Earthscan; 2005.
2. Heinimann H. Forest operations engineering and management – the ways behind and ahead of a scientific discipline. Croat J For Eng. 2007;28:107–21.
3. •• Schweier J, Magagnotti N, Labelle ER, Athanassiadis D. Sustainability impact assessment of forest operations: a review. Curr Forestry Rep. 2019;5(3):101–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40725-019-00091-6This paper provides a comprehensive review of sustainability indicators and their application in sustainability impact assessments. One of the key conclusions was that the inclusion of indicators measuring the extra value of the forest should be considered. The authors suggest adopting sensitivity analysis during the assessment of key processes to observe the effect on the hot spots.
4. Cambi M, Certini G, Neri F, Marchi E. The impact of heavy traffic on forest soils: a review. Forest Ecol Manag. 2015;338:124–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.11.022.
5. Hartmann M, Niklaus PA, Zimmermann S, Schmutz S, Kremer J, Abarenkov K, et al. Resistance and resilience of the forest soil microbiome to logging-associated compaction. ISME J. 2014;8:226–44. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2013.141.
Cited by
87 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献