Cover management (C-factor) of the Petrohan Training and Experimental Forest Range

Kamelia Petrova, Dilyana Ilieva

Abstract: The results for the cover management coefficients (C-factor), obtained on the territory of the Petrohan Training and Experimental Forest Range, are presented in this study. Their values were mapped and spatially represented using GIS tools with software ArcMap, version 10.2. The highest vegetation effect was determined for the stands with high productivity mark and density, where the C-factor values vary from 0.001 to 0.004. They cover 92.6% of the total forestry range area. The territories, occupied by agricultural vegetation (game fields), low-yield and low-density stands, as well as the forest areas not suitable for tree species, are characterized by the lowest soil protection efficiency and coefficients of 0.340, 0.090 and 0.041, respectively. The obtained results for the soil protection role of the vegetation cover allow to determine the estimated quantities of eroded soil and assess the actual risk of sheet water erosion on the respective territory.

Keywords: C-factor; forest territory; mapping; soil erosion

Date published: 2019-07-31