Effects of Rubber-Tired Cable Skidder on Soil Compaction in Hyrcanian Forest

• Main Authors: Meghdad Jourgholami, Baris Majnounian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Forestry 2013-01-01
• Series: Croatian Journal of Forest Engineering
• Online Access: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/172584

The use of skidders equipped with rubber tires is a well accepted practice for the extraction of timber from the forest, but the application also causes considerable environmental problems. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of different slope gradient, number of machine passes on skid trails and soil depth on soil compaction. The study was designed as an experiment with the factors including slope gradient, soil moisture, and soil depth on various skid trails and with different number of machine passes. The effects of four slope classes (flat, 10%, -10% and -20%), three soil depth classes (5, 15 and 25 cm), and different compaction levels based on various number of machine passes (0, 1, 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30) were evaluated. A Timberjack cable skidder was used and the study location was in the Kheyrud Educational and Research Forest located in the Hyrcanian forest in northern Iran. The increased number of machine passes increased soil bulk density, but the highest rate of compaction occurred after the initial few passes. Uphill skidding increases soil compaction more than downhill skidding. The increases in bulk density were still significant at the maximum sampling depth of 20–30 cm. Soil bulk densities at 5, 15 and 25 cm depth averaged 35, 22 and 17% higher than densities of undisturbed soil.