- by Friends of the Wild Swan and Swan View Coalition
 
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"424","attributes":{"alt":"Private Land Soil Erosion in Oakridge, Oregon","class":"media-image","longdesc":"soil erosion on private land Oakridge, Oregon","style":"width: 333px; height: 250px; margin: 3px 10px; float: left;"}}]]Soils are the foundation of terrestrial life. Forest productivity is directly tied to soil conditions. Soil takes thousands of years to develop and is not "renewable"on a human time scale. Soil is an ecosystem in itself that must be healthy in order to provide for healthy forests, grasslands, and aquatic systems. Actions impacting such complex systems are prone to unintended consequences. Given the life-support role soils play, special care and prudence are essential.  
 
The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) prohibits "irreversible damage" to soils as well as "substantial and permanent impairment of productivity of land." Loss of soil (erosion) and displacement clearly cause "irreversible damage" and "permanent impairment of productivity of land." Loss of coarse woody debris causes soil damage that can last a century or more. Soil compaction negatively impacts soil productivity, overland flow, erosion, stream sedimentation, and late season flows. Soil compaction from logging can persist 50 – 80 years. 

 
Avoiding soil damage is the only option; full restoration of soil damage is not generally possible. Compacted soils are not completely mechanically restorable. Mechanized decompaction is only partially effective at decompacting and can compound problems by mixing rock and mineral soil with topsoil resulting in long term reduced productivity. Replacing eroded or displaced soil is problematic. Artificial coarse woody debris replacement is not practical over large areas such as burned clearcuts.
 
Timber harvest practices including road building, log skidding and slash disposal have caused most soil damage on forest lands. 
 
Nutrient recycling is a critical function of soils that historically has been damaged by treatments that negatively affect the amounts, types, and distribution of organic matter retained on site. Many years of piling and windrowing of slash using dozer blades has removed not only the litter plus duff layers but also the thin layer of organic rich mineral soil (A horizon) from large acreages of forested lands. Guidelines for retaining adequate coarse woody debris should be developed based on the site potential and be within the historic range of variability for the fire regime of the site. Coarse woody debris needs to be maintained at natural levels in the interface zone, with exception granted immediately around structures and residences. 
 
Control of livestock concentration, especially in sensitive riparian areas is essential to maintaining soil porosity and bulk density. The moist soils in these areas become compacted by concentrations of cattle in only a few days. Gentle upland ridge tops and swales are other "gathering places" for cattle that require special efforts to control their distribution to protect soils from detrimental compaction. 
 
The process of nutrient cycling on the forest lands is primarily effected through fire; this recycling is key to forest and grassland ecosystem health. Therefore, the use of fire when treating vegetation should be in accordance with the natural fire regime for the site, and organic matter left on site should be within the natural historic range of variability for the site type. 
 
Mycorrhizal fungi are an essential component of productive soil. Most regeneration failures may be due to problems with mycorrhizae. Monitoring mycorrhizae needs to be part of soil condition assessments. Mycorrhizae are very temperature sensitive, so soil temperatures need to be monitored.
 
Monitoring of detrimental soil disturbances needs to include: compaction, displacement, rutting, severe burning, erosion, loss of surface organic matter (especially coarse woody debris), soil mass movement, soil temperature, and damage to micro-biological components of soil (especially mycorrhizal fungi). 
 
Given that monitoring has demonstrated an extensive legacy of soil damage, it is time to include that information in watershed health assessments. There needs to be an inventory of where these highly damaged soils occur and the extent to which they are damaged. The Forest Plan needs to quantify the acreages by watershed and do cumulative effects analysis, including the road systems to understand the full impact management has had on watershed health.