Excerpt
Pine needles that accumulate on the forest floor help protect the soil surface from erosion, conserve soil moisture, provide soil nutrients and organic matter, moderate soil temperature, and inhibit weed growth. Pine needles tend to interlock and form a straw layer that is not easily dislodged by high wind or water flows but retains a loose structure that allows air, water, and nutrients to easily reach the soil surface (Carson 1994). These soil-enhancing and protective qualities, as well as the fact that it provides an attractive soil cover, have made pine straw a valuable landscaping mulch. To meet the increasing demand for this product, pine straw harvesting has become a multi-million dollar business in several states.
When sold commercially, pine straw is economically profitable for landowners, harvesters, and retailers and undoubtedly provides substantial environmental and aesthetic benefits for areas where it is applied. However, pine straw harvesting has also raised serious environmental concerns because the nutrients, soil protection, and other mulching benefits of the straw layer are lost from forests where the harvesting takes place. These concerns are supported by research showing that removal of the pine straw layer from the forest floor significantly increases water, soil, and nutrient losses …
Footnotes
Daniel H. Pote is a soil scientist at the Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center, USDA Agriculture Research Service, Booneville, Arkansas. Tommy C. Daniel is a professor in the Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas.
- © 2008 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.