%0 Research note
%T Damage to residual stand caused by mechanized selection harvest in uneven-aged Picea abies dominated stands
%A Modig, Emil
%A Magnusson, Bo
%A Valinger, Erik
%A Cedergren, Jonas
%A Lundqvist, Lars
%D 2012
%J Silva Fennica
%V 46
%N 2
%R doi:10.14214/sf.442
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/442
%X Permanent field plots were established in two uneven-aged Norway spruce  (Picea abies (L.) Karst) dominated stands in west-central Sweden. The  objective was to quantify level and type of damage caused by harvesting  and to quantify the difference between two treatments: T20) only skid  road harvest (20 m distance between ca. 4 m wide roads), and T40) skid  road harvest (40 m distance between ca. 4 m wide roads) combined with  thinning between the roads. In T40, the goal was to harvest  approximately the same standing volume as in T20. After harvest, two  circular sample plots (radius 18 m, i.e. 1018 m<sub>2</sub>) were  established at random locations within each treated area. All mechanical  damage on the stem caused by harvest was measured and registered,  including bark stripping larger than 15 cm<sub>2</sub>, stem broken or  split, and tearing of branches causing damage on the stem. About 70–90  per cent of the damaged trees were smaller than 15 cm dbh. Very few  trees larger than 25 cm dbh were damaged. In T20, more than 50 per cent  of the damaged trees were located less than 5 m from the skid road,  compared to less than 25 per cent for T40, in which more than 50 per  cent of the damaged trees were located 5–10 m from the skid road.  Creating only half the number of skid roads caused no more damage, and  was probably more profitable because mean stem volume was about 1.5  times larger than in T20.