Soil compaction rate caused by steel tracked skidder traffic in two skidding directions (Case study: Soordar Vatashan in Nour city)

Forest utilization is mostly associated with the harmful effects to forest ecosystem and changes in physical and chemical properties of soil and damages to the revival of natural and remaining trees. In this study, the rate of soil compaction on the skidding trails with steel tracked skidder LTT-100A is investigated by measuring some physical properties of soil (e.g. bulk density, moisture content and total porosity) in three classes of traffic in two skidding directions. The soil samples were taken by cylinder sampling method (cylinder 10 cm in length and internal diameter 5 cm) from a depth of 0-10 cm. The results showed that with increase of traffic on the skidding trails, rate of compaction increased significantly and the most compaction occurred at the second traffic of skidder. The amount of soil compaction on upward skidding was the more than downward. Thus skidding should be done in a downward direction and the landing will be constructed on the bottom of each compartment.