USDA Forest Service
 

 Long-Term Soil Productivity

 
 

North Central
Research Station

202 Natural Resources
Columbia, MO 65211

(573) 875-5341

United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

Missouri LTSP Project

[Photograph]: The Missouri LTSP Site

The Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) program is a national network of consistently designed large scale experiments intended to evaluate effects of soil porosity and organic matter on plant production and identify useful measures or surrogates for monitoring soil productivity and the status of soil quality.  The Missouri site is located on the Carr Creek State Forest in Shannon County Missouri More.

LTSP Key Points
  • Evaluate timber management impacts on LTSP
  • Evaluate the sustainability of managed stands
  • Set calibration and soil monitoring standards
  • Evaluate forest practices to enhance productivity

For more information on the Long Term Soil Productivity Program, visit the Wildlife Fish, Watershed & Atmospheric Sciences Research web site, or the publication Long-Term Soil Productivity Research: A Program in Sustaining Forest Ecosystems (PDF), Forest Service Publication FS-714.

Study Objectives

> Quantify the effects of soil disturbance from management activities on long-term soil productivity.

> Validate soil monitoring standards developed in compliance with the National Forest Management Act of 1976, which requires research and monitoring for federal lands to safeguard the productivity of forest soils.

> Learn more about the fundamental relationships between soil properties, long-term productivity, and forest management practices.

> Evaluate the potential for mitigating the adverse effects of disturbance.

USDA Forest Service - North Central Research Station
Last Modified: October 01, 2003


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