This course reviews the definition of rutting, associated problems, and how to avoid rutting damage.
Excessive rutting during a harvest operation can cause many problems.
- Rutting can limit access to the tract.
- Rutting can cause losses of productivity during operations.
- Damage can be very expensive to repair.
- The soil compaction from rutting can limit the sites growing potential for future trees.
- Rutting can change the hydrology of the tract and channel water flowing on the tract, causing erosion problems.
- Rutting can ultimately have serious impacts to water quality, especially if the ruts are channeling water directly into nearby streams or other water bodies.
The BMP Handbook suggests reworking a road when the average rut depth exceeds six inches over a distance of more than 50 feet.