Soil Interpretations for Intensive Forest Biomass Harvesting

Intensive forest harvesting for traditional wood products and for the emerging biomass and biofuel markets has the potential to decrease soil quality. Site productivity and sustainability will be key issues as timber rotation ages decrease and production increases due to demand. The goal of the international Long-Term Soil Productivity study, with over 100 field locations in North America, is to develop soil quality guidelines across large areas and site gradients with respect to harvesting treatments. Data could be used in conjunction with mappable soil information, such as geology, land form, and soil type to develop risk maps of productivity decline due to intensive harvesting. This study provides a unique opportunity to supply information of long-term impacts across soil types with differing forest management practices. Potential uses of this data will be presented across a site gradient in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain