Acta Scientiarum Polonorum
Silvarum Colendarum Ratio et Industria Lignaria

Introduction. Cutting a strip road results in an increased influx of sunlight to tree crowns at the strip road border, which may affect the biometrical characteristics of trees growing along strip roads. The purpose of the study was to assess the influence of strip roads on the diameters at breast height, tree heights, the crown base heights and crown lengths on trees at the strip roads.

Methods. The measurements comprised trees growing on the strip road border, at a distance of 3 m from the strip roads and half way between two neighbouring strip roads (the control). The measurements were conducted in a 47 year old pine stand, 15 years after cutting the strip roads. The strip roads we originally 2.5 m wide (long stems were skidded with an agricultural tractor) and 3.5 m (extraction of short wood with a forwarder). In each strip road width variant, the measurements were replicated on five strip roads.

Results. In the majority of cases, the trees growing at the edge of the strip roads were thicker, their crowns were set lower and they were longer than the crowns on trees growing deeper in the stand. The differences were statistically significant. In the case of the diameters at breast height, in the variant with the wider strip roads, also trees growing at a distance of 3 m from the strip road edge were significantly thicker than trees growing deeper in the stand. Differences in tree heights were small, statistically insignificant.

Conclusions. The research proved the influence of strip roads on diameters at breast height, the height of the tree crown base and crown length on the edge trees. The proven effect of the wider strip roads on diameters at breast height at a distance of 3 m from the strip roads and a lack of such effect for the narrower strip roads allows to assume that the width of strip roads affects the distance up to which the tree biometrical traits are affected.