Effect of partial harvesting on exports of dissolved organic carbon and nutrients from drained boreal pine mires

Continuous cover forestry, where forests are managed only by partial harvestings, has been proposed to mitigate forestry-induced carbon and nutrient exports to receiving water courses. We studied the effects of two partial harvest treatments, strip-cutting at five sites and single-tree harvesting at the other site, on nutrient and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exports from drained peatland forests. We found that, as well as clear-cutting, partial harvesting may also increase exports from peatland forests. The comparison of our results with earlier studies suggested that other factors than the harvest method, such as harvested stem volume per catchment area, are more important in controlling nutrient and DOC exports. Future research is still needed to produce exact export estimates for partially harvested drained peatland forests.