On the Need of Forest Soil Surveys

The paper stresses the need and importance of conducting Forest Soil Survey for proper planning in forest management. Forest soil survey will delineate planting sites for afforestation and suggest potential possibilities of forest management apart from site classification. The selection of areas for afforestation should be based on land capability which assigns the best use of any land so as to make it permanently productive. The best land use is one in which land produces the maximum and deteriorates the least. The paper gives detailed procedure for conducting forest soil surveys. The procedure of Erosion Survey has been described, which has its application in erosion control of forested areas to save the forests from deterioration, and for locating the sore spots or critically eroded areas where restoration work in the form of afforestation or reforestation is urgently needed. The author points out that such Forest Soil Surveys should include an ecological (floristic) survey since the latter may be helpful in carrying planting operations and will afford an indication as to the type of forest growth that will be sustained by the site. The paper concludes with a plea for conducting elaborate Forest Soil Surveys including land capability classification before putting any area under afforestation.