The Taringatura Study: The Effects of Harvest Machine Traffic and Tillage on a Forest Soil in New Zealand
Authors
Matthew J. Wood
Forestry Tasmania
Robert A. Douglas
University of Canterbury
Roger Sands
University of Canterbury
Abstract
A selection of the results from a comprehensive field and laboratory study on the impact of mechanised harvesting operations on a forest soil in New Zealand are presented. The season during which machine trafficking took place (“dry” and “wet”), machine type, and number of passes (from 1 to 30) were the input variables. Soil response was measured with pedological and geotechnical field and laboratory testing procedures. It was determined that although the soil was in some treatments heavily disturbed, it was not compacted, given that the natural water content was well above the laboratory determined optimum water content for compaction. Practical implications are discussed.
