Wisconsin's Forestland Woody Biomass Harvesting Guidelines

Guideline 3.B ➠Do not harvest fi ne woody
material on shallow soils where bedrock is
within 20 inches of the surface.
Areas with shallow soils are identifi ed by using soil
survey maps produced by the Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS). A list of soil map units
appears in Appendix D. See the Web Soil Survey for
soil maps: http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/
Background and Implementation Notes
Guideline 3.B restricts the harvest of fi ne woody
material on shallow soils where bedrock occurs at a
depth of 20 inches or less from the soil surface.
The nutrient content of a soil without bedrock is typically
calculated based on nutrients in the upper 40 inches. A
shallow soil with bedrock at 20 inches has about half the
nutrient supply of a deep soil. Soils that lack a good supply
of nutrients are more likely to show signs of
nutrient depletion with repeated
harvests. Fine woody material
contains a higher
amount of nutrients
on a weight
basis as
Figure 3-6.
Guideline 3.B limits harvest of fi ne woody material where soil depth is less than 20 inches.
Depth to bedrock is measured from the top of the mineral soil down to solid bedrock.
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