Research Progress Report 281 Project 691 March, 1967
Perennial Cover Crops for Logging Roads: Southern Indiana Forage Farm Results
G.H. Weaver, John C. Callahan and Maurice E. Heath
Departments of Forestry & Conservation and Agronomy

Logging roads are an integral part of management activities in most southern Indiana woodlands. They serve as the means for efficiently transporting the periodic harvests of timber products from the woods to public roads. During interim periods, they permit the economic salvaging of small quantities of timber which may have become damaged or killed. Such roads also provide access for protection activities and for recreational pursuits. Commonly, these roads are built with a bulldozer at low cost, with little engineering, and no deliberate surfacing with materials other than those exposed or at the site. As a result, these roads when built or following heavy use are usually subject to erosive forces. If permitted to occur unchecked, erosion could limit the useful life of these roads, endanger site values and pollute stream flows with silt and clay.

Design of the study
To determine whether perennial cover crops might provide permanent vegetative protection to infrequently used logging (access) roads, two series of plots were established on woodland roads at the Southern
Indiana Forage Farm in October, 1961. Grasses, legumes, and grass-legume mixtures were compared on their abilities to survive, prosper, and to protect the soil and road from erosion.

One series of replicated plots was seeded on Montevallo silt loam, a residual upland soil, and another series on Wilbur silt loam, and alluvial creek bottom soil. The kinds of seed used and seeding rates are outlined in Table 1.

In establishing the series of plots, the bare road bed resulting from construction and use in timber harvesting was disked and hand seeded using a cyclone seeder. A companion crop of Balbo winter rye (Secale cereale) was planted using a grain drill, at a rate of 90 pounds per acre. Fertilizer (5-20-20) at a rate of 200 pounds per acre was applied to the disked surface to stimulate growth. Maintenance has since been limited to an annual rotary mowing during the last two weeks of August.

The Montevallo */ plots were located on the upper one-third of a north-east slope

*/ The Montevallo silt loam is a shallow soil derived from loess and weathered sandstone and shale. This soil is low in organic matter and is excessively drained.

PURDUE UNIVERSITY • Agricultural Experiment Station • Lafayette, Indiana