Forest Soils Management Project

1. Forest Soils Management Project Timber Management Plan and Summary of Soil Impacts Tuscarora State Forest – Licking Creek Tract Prepared by Eric O’Neal and Rob Lusk

2. Outline • Tract Description • Timber Management Plan • Timber Management Plan Implementation Impacts • Timber Management Plan Sustainability

3. Tract Description

4. Tract Location • Mifflin County, PA • Tuscarora State Forest • Accessed by Licking Creek Rd • 1,754.7 acres McVeytown 40°28’09.12” N 77°39’ 37.92” W Reeds Gap

5. Topographic Features

6. Predominant Soil Associations

7. Significant Landform and Soil Characteristics • Shoulder and Back Slopes • Hazelton Dekalb Association (25-80% slopes, very rocky, well drained) • Limitations: too steep, boulders, low pH, and largely inaccessible • Foot Slopes • Laidig and Buchanan Soil Series (8-25% slopes, rocky, well drained) • Limitations: steep, rocky, and low pH • Toes Slopes • Laidig and Buchanan Soil Series (5-15% slopes, rocky, moderately well drained) • Limitations: rocky and low pH • Valley Floor • Andover and Buchanan Soil Series (0-8%, 8-15% slopes, fragipan) • Limitations: Sensitive trout stream and poorly drained soils

8. Timber Management Plan

9. Timber Management Goals • Timber production • Oak and tulip poplar • Recreation • Trails, aesthetics • Wildlife habitat • Future sustainability • Timber • Soil • Water

10. Timber Management Units • Unit Delineation Factors • Accessibility • Slope • Site Indexes • Drainage 1 2 3 4 5

11. Timber Management Plan • Units 1, 3, 5 • Not managed for timber, but for recreation • Hiking trails, foot bridges, overlooks, parking areas • Haul road and bridge will be constructed in unit 3, in order to access units 4 and 5 • Very large riparian buffer to protect trout stream and water resource

13. Timber Management Plan • Timber Management Units 2 and 4 • Managed for oak (unit 2 and 4) and tulip poplar (unit 4) • Two-stage shelterwood prescription • w/ long-term residuals • Chainsaw felling and grapple skidding • Slash scattered and left on site • Liming to adjust pH from 4.6 to 6.0

15. Infrastructure Construction and Water Control • Haul roads • Broad-based dips, water bars, French mattress, culverts, “day-lighting” • Creek crossing (permanent bridge) for tri-axle trucks • Skid trails • Non-bladed, concentrated operations, water bars • Reusable • Log landings • Offset from Licking Creek Rd • Reusable

16. Site Retirement • Haul roads to offset landings • Straw + wildlife grass seed mix • Vehicle access restricted • Log landings • Ruts filled • Slightly graded • Straw + wildlife grass seed mix • Skid trails • Ruts filled • Permanent water bars • Grass seed mix + native vegetation

17. Timber Management Plan Implementation Impacts

18. Soil Impacts Units 1, 3, 5 Impact Control Isolate compaction to trails, overlooks, and haul roads Vegetation on the sides of the trail will help control erosion Confined to trails and roads Confined to trails and roads Intact forest canopy will redeposit organic matter back to the trails • Compaction • Runoff/Erosion • Loss of fertility due to movement of nutrients to inaccessible micropores • Less aerated conditions leads to loss of microbial activity • Mixing/loss of organic matter

19. Soil Impacts Units 2 and 4 Impact Control Use of the same roads, skid trails, and logging decks for both harvests Preservation of long term residual trees will help hold the soil in certain areas Leaving of slash on site will help redeposit lost organic matter • Compaction • Runoff/Erosion • Loss of organic matter inputs • Loss of fertility due to movement of nutrients to inaccessible micropores • Less aerated conditions lead to loss of microbial activity

20. Impacts on Water Quality On and Off-Site • Units 1, 3, 5 will have no significant affect on the water quality on or off site • However harvesting units 2 and 4 could have an impact both on and off-site • By leaving unit 3 unharvested and positioned downhill of the harvesting units we leave a very large riparian buffer to protect the trout stream and reduce if not eliminate the water quality impacts on/off-site. • Additionally the construction of high quality foot bridges and haul road bridges ensure that any stream crossing has minimal impact.

21. Timber Management Plan Sustainability

22. Long-Term Timber Sustainability • Completely preserves the timber in units 1, 3, 5 • Two stage harvest with a heavy emphasis on desirable species regeneration • Preservation of long term residual seed trees • Site preparation can be completed if necessary for regeneration to establish • Establishing regeneration is one of the most important goals of our harvest in order to obtain long term ecological and economical sustainability of the stand.

23. Long-Term Soil and Water Quality • The greatest threat to long term soil sustainability is compaction • We combat this by concentrating our compaction to the same haul roads and skid trails as much as possible • Use the same roads and trails for future harvest • The use of residuals will help to slow the kinetic energy of rainfall and hold soil in place • Leaving slash will help increase the organic matter on the site • Water quality on the tract and downstream will be controlled by a large riparian buffer that will prevent any long term water quality issues

24. Conclusion • Overall our timber harvesting plan focuses on sustainability on a variety of different levels which should allow for long term timber production on the stand.