Abstract:
The preparation of suitable sites for planting and growing of
tree seedlings following logging is recognized by British Columbia
Forest Service as a major silvicultural problem in the Central and
Northern Interior regions of the province. Over the past few
decades, scarification trials have been made with various types of
drag and blade scarifiers. Substantial areas, particularly on the dry
lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta latifolia) sites have also received
mechanical scarification on an operational scale.
The wet white spruce--alpine fir (Picea glauca ssp. glauca--
Abies lasiocarpa) sites, which often have a deep layer of undecomposed
organic material on the forest floor, have traditionally been
winter logged. The resulting accumulation of undisturbed duff, and
logging slash, has normally been either windrow or broadcast burned.
Some recent escape fires, e. g. the Eden Fire in the Kamloops
Forest District in September 1973, caused considerable personal
property damage, and have heightened interest in mechanical scarification
as an alternative to prescribed burning.
The author had occasion during the summer of 1974 to be
employed by British Columbia Forest Service on a research project
in the Prince George area entitled, Silvicultural Mechanical Site
Preparation (S. M.S. P.). The purpose of this study was to measure
and evaluate the performance of selected mechanical scarifiers, in
producing an economically, and silviculturally acceptable level of
planting site preparation.
This report examines the findings of the S.M.S. P. project,
and where appropriate, compares them with earlier Canadian forest
scarification studies. Recommendations for the use of specific
mechanical site preparation equipment are viewed both singly, and
in combination with other forest management practices.
