Date Available

7-27-2012

Year of Publication

2012

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Document Type

Master's Thesis

College

Agriculture

Department/School/Program

Forestry

First Advisor

Dr. Jeffrey Stringer

Abstract

One of the primary concerns associated with timber harvesting is the production of sediments from stream crossings. While research has shown that using improved haul road crossings can mitigate sediment production in perennial streams compared to the use of unimproved crossings little research has been undertaken on temporary skidder crossings of headwater streams, a situation common to a significant percentage of ground skidding operations. This experiment consisted of a controlled replicated testing of the effectiveness of four types of temporary skidder stream crossings (unimproved ford, corrugated culvert, wood panel skidder bridge, and PVC pipe bundle) relative to bedload and suspended sediment production. Automated samplers were used to monitor sediment and bedload production during the construction, use, removal, and post-removal phases associated with the use of these temporary crossings. Results showed that elevated crossings mitigated total sediment production compared to unimproved fords. Further, wood panel bridges yielded lower amounts of sediment than culverts but PVC pipe bundles show no difference between bridges or culverts. Sediment production varied by crossing type and use phase. While no differences were found among crossings types during construction, there was a difference between improved crossings and fords during use. Further, bridges and PVC pipe bundle crossings produced significantly less sediments than culverts during both their removal and during post-removal sampling and fords produced the largest amount of sediments during these phases.

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