Summary: Forest ecosystems are exposed to longterm degradation due to forest machinery used in various operations in forest management. Meritory subjects agree on the fact that performing forest operations without inflicting damage to environment is not conductible, being so even when all imaginabile safety precautions are applied. On account of constant pressure on soil structure and principally because of machinery movement in forest stands, predominant damage is done by vehicles. This impact is mainly restricted to soil, and only randomly related to vegetation. In paper are discussed adverse environmental impacts of damaged forest stands on vegetation and water balance, the consequence of that damage being the decrease of forest biomass production as well as quality of that biomass (i.e. wood). Paper particularly deals with methods of establishing the extent of various deteriorating impacts and (also with) ways of damage degree expression. In that light, some results of research on most important forest operations (felling, bucking, skidding, forest roads construction) are quoted. Precaution measures and measures for reducing the degree of damage to forest stands encompass technical-technological, work-organizational and economic factors. Respectable attention is given over to / dedicated to measures for avoiding or decreasing damage recommended by ECE/FAO/ILO group that deals with impact of forest mechanization on soil structure. Paper confers on topics that should be subjected to further examination. However, solutions that relate to measures for retrieving devastated soil, criteria of adequate machinery choice and technique as well as development of skidding technology that are environmentally acceptable are eagerly expected. Particularly accentuated are these tasks dealing with / concerning consent of all interested parties (state, forest owners, forest workers, equipment manufacturers and others) in order to reduce damaging and harmful ecological impacts to environmentally acceptable level and thus provide for / ensure long-term economic and ecologically favourable results of forest ecosystem management.Keywords: forestry, forest operations, machines, ecology, forest damage, soil damage.
|
