Logging Intensity Impact on Small Oak Seedling Survival and Growth on the Cumberland Plateau in Northeastern Alabama

topography and geology. The most viable and often cost-effective option to improve poor quality stands on the better sites is through clearcutting. Assessments of ground disturbances that result from silvicultural operations under site conditions similar to the Cumberland Plateau region have focused on physical site characteristics. Relevant studies for the mid-Cumberland do not exist. Studies from other areas that examined soil and litter displacement have described the surface soil conditions associated with forest operations conducted with the appropriate equipment (Aust et al. 1998, Dryness 1965, Greacen and Sands 1980, Green and Stuart 1985, Incerti et al. 1987, Miller and Sirois 1986, Reisinger et al. 1988). Few studies in the Cumberland Plateau region have focused on the impacts of harvesting traffic on small oak reproduction (Shostak et al. 2002). This study was designed to assess the effect of restricted and unrestricted traffic by harvesting equipment on small oak advance reproduction following clearcutting. Because of the nature of sites on the Plateau top, clearcutting operations with a feller-buncher and grapple skidding usually allow the feller-buncher free access to all trees on the site and result in unrestricted traffic throughout the site. An alternative to this free-access technique is to designate trails of access and allow the feller-buncher to harvest only trees that can be reached from these trails. Trees are then bunched and placed on the trail for skidding. Current management objectives include maintaining the oak component while providing a complex and diverse species mix that will complement wildlife habitat requirements and objectives. The objectives of this study were to examine the soil surface disturbance under two harvest-traffic intensities, to document the response of small ( 1 ft tall) oak advanced reproduction, and to assess the overall composition and size of the reproduction cohort.