The model
of soil damage of Technodiversity acts on the assumption of tree soil states:
A) Untouched
forest soil: biologically healthy and productive
B) Trafficable
trail: compacted by former traffic and strong enough for future traffic
C) Destroyed
trail: impacted by former traffic in a way that is no longer usable.
By traffic,
a soil moves from untouched soil (A) to trafficable trail (B). After traffic, maybe
it has a chance to find back to state (A) by biological (worms, roots…) and
physical (frost) influences. As long as this happens in a reasonable time, we
call it elastic deformation. But very often the traffic with our heavy
machines causes a plastic deformation, which means that no natural regeneration
will happen in a reasonable time period.
This must
not be regarded as damage as long as the technical function of the trail has
priority for the owner. Because the compacted trail can be used for future
harvesting operations, too, as long as it keeps its technical functionality.
This has the advantage that next time the rate of compacted soil will not
increase. To reach this, we demand for permanent trails as a central
idea of eco-efficiency.
For the question,
how much of the soil is allowed to be fixed for technical purposes, no absolute
answer can be found. This depends on the decision of the owner.
Consequently,
any further degradation of the soil towards destroyed trail (state C) must be
avoided. There are two tactics: To stop the operation immediately when critical
signs occur or to shape the harvesting system in a way that the likelihood of
any damage is minimized. But sometimes the trail will be destroyed in a way
that no more traffic can happen on it. Then it should be repaired by technical
means (road construction) to recover the technical functionality.
