An adaptive management process for forest soil conservation

Abstract

Soil disturbance guidelines should be based on comparable disturbance categories adapted to specific local soil conditions, validated by monitoring and research. Guidelines, standards, and practices should be continually improved based on an adaptive management process, which is presented in this paper. Core components of this process include: reliable monitoring protocols for assessing and comparing soil disturbance for operations, certification and sustainability protocols; effective methods to predict the vulnerability of specific soils to disturbance and related mitigative measures; and, quantitative research to build a database that documents the practical consequences of soil disturbance for tree growth and soil functions. Key words: soil disturbance; soil compaction; rutting; monitoring (implementation, effectiveness, and validation); criteria and indicators; Montreal Process