Popović Maja, PhD

The behavior of the vehicle-soil interaction and reduction of the possible soil damage to an acceptable level is one of the goals of forest engineering. This study aimed to analyze the impact of a 6-wheeled forwarder on water-physical soil characteristics on lowland soil – pseudogley. The research was conducted using a 17-ton Timberjack 1710B forwarder, which forwarded 694.1 m3 volume of oak (Quercus robur L.) assortments. Soil characteristics were measured after each of the eight passes of the loaded forwarder. Bulk density measured on the surface layer ranged from 1.01–1.23 (Me=1.10) g/cm3 (undisturbed soil); 1.14–1.70 g/cm3 (multiple passes of the loaded forwarder). The highest soil density increase was observed after the first pass of the loaded forwarder (16%). Soil solid phase ranged from 2.49 to 2.73 g/cm3 with no statistically significant difference between undisturbed soil and soil after multiple passes of the vehicle. The highest porosity decrease was observed after the first pass of the loaded forwarder (10%). The highest soil water retention capacity decrease was observed after the first pass of the loaded forwarder (3%). The highest soil air capacity decrease was observed after the first pass of the loaded forwarder (30%) compared to the undisturbed soil of the forest stand.

In today's modern forestry, which is founded on sustainable management and development, it is essential to carry out the design phase of forest roads with quality, both for financial and environmental reasons. The basis for this is high-quality field data. This research tested available and potentially suitable methods for field surveys in the process of designing a forest road, including the classical survey method, GNSS and total station survey, as well as structure from motion and airbone lidar scanning survey. A total of 23 forest road designs were created through 3 design methods. Four important forest road parameters were tested: cut and fill volume, carriageway value and roadway width. No statistically significant difference was found for any of the tested parameters between the methods. Total station and ALS-based designs showed the lowest values of cut and fill volumes, 2.41 m3 and 2.54 m3 for the total station design, and 3.20 m3 and 2.47 m3 for the ALS design. Although some deviations were found between SfM designs based on different flight parameters, they were not significant. The results indicate the possibility of using all tested methods in forest areas with steep terrain, after a salvage logging has been performed. Also, by using three design methods and testing their results provides guidance how to test different measurement systems in the future when designing forest roads.

In today's modern forestry, which is founded on sustainable management and development, it is essential to carry out the design phase of forest roads with quality, both for financial and environmental reasons. The basis for this is high-quality field data. This research tested available and potentially suitable methods for field surveys in the process of designing a forest road, including the classical survey method, GNSS and total station survey, as well as structure from motion and airbone lidar scanning survey. A total of 23 forest road designs were created through 3 design methods. Four important forest road parameters were tested: cut and fill volume, carriageway value and roadway width. No statistically significant difference was found for any of the tested parameters between the methods. Total station and ALS-based designs showed the lowest values of cut and fill volumes, 2.41 m3 and 2.54 m3 for the total station design, and 3.20 m3 and 2.47 m3 for the ALS design. Although some deviations were found between SfM designs based on different flight parameters, they were not significant. The results indicate the possibility of using all tested methods in forest areas with steep terrain, after a salvage logging has been performed. Also, by using three design methods and testing their results provides guidance how to test different measurement systems in the future when designing forest roads.