MONITORING SOIL DEFORMATION DURING A SKIDDING OPERATION USING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE DERIVED DATA Rut Depth Measurement with UAV

Abstract

Background: In recent years, mechanized logging equipment have become more frequently used in topographically suitable and intensively managed forest areas. However, the rut depths caused by these logging equipment can cause serious deformation problems in the forest soil. In this study, the physical impacts of a skidder on forest soil were evaluated using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based digital imagery. The research was conducted in the Saros Forest Enterprise Chief located in the city of Çanakkale in Türkiye, where rut depth formations were comparatively analyzed using manual ruler method and UAV data. Rut depths were determined for two slope classes (0-20% and 20-50%) and during the fifth, tenth, and fifteenth turns of the skidder.

Results: The results indicated that the rut depths calculated from UAV imagery were highly consistent with those obtained from manual measurements. It was observed that rut depths were greater on steeper slopes (20-50%) and increased with the number of turns. In addition, bulk density and hygroscopic moisture tended to increase in low-slope areas while decreasing in steep slopes.  

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that UAV-based method provides a quick and reliable approach for monitoring soil deformation caused by a skidder during the logging operations. This UAV-based method will enable to predict environmental impacts of logging equipment and allow for more sustainable timber extraction planning. Moreover, the methodology presented in this study can be applied to evaluate the physical effects of other mechanized logging equipment on forest soil.