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Effects of drainage and forest management practices on hydraulic conductivity of wetland soils

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Continuous records of water table elevations and flow rates from drained forested lands were analysed to determine field effective hydraulic conductivity (K) of a mineral (Deloss s.l.) and an organic (Belhaven muck) soil. K of the top 90 cm of Deloss under mature pine was 60 m/day, which is 20 to 30 times that published for this series. Harvest had a minor effect on K, but site preparation for regeneration, including bedding, reduced the effective K to values typically assumed for this series, 3.6 m/d for the top 45 cm and 1.6 m/d for deeper layers. After regeneration, K values had nearly returned to original values within 8 years after planting. Similar observations on organic soils indicated that field effective K in drained pine plantations is substantially higher than the same soil under agricultural production.

Keywords

drainage, organic soils, hydraulic conductivity, water table, wetland forest

Citation

Skaggs, R.W.; Chescheir, Amatya, D.M.; Diggs, J.D. 2008. Effects of drainage and forest management practices on hydraulic conductivity of wetland soils. Proceedings of the 13th International Peat Congress. After Wise Use – The Future of Peatlands Volume 1 Oral Presentations. Tullamore, Ireland. 8 – 13 June 2008. 452-456.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/30589