ABSTRACT:
Forest road sideslopes have been identified as one of the major sources of erosion losses from managed forest systems. Stabilization by vegetation has shown the greatest potential for mitigation of soil erosion on forest road sidpslopes. Sediment and runoff production from a wood excelsior erosion mat, native species vegetative mix, and exotic species vegetative mix were investigated on a newly-constructed road during a two-year study. Sediment and runoff production were sipificantly reduced on both the cut slope and fill shpe by the treatments. Vegetative treatments showed mow than a 90% reduction in sediment production between the two study years. The erosion mat treatment showed increased vegetation cover and relatively insignificant sediment production for both years of the study.
Footnotes
J. McFero Grace III is research engineer in the division of Biological/Engineering Systems and Technologies for Ecological Management at the Southern Research Station of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Auburn, Ala.
- Copyright 2000 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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