In cooperation with the B.C. Ministry of Forests, a wood stake decomposition study was established in June 2001 at the Mud Creek LTSP and rehabilitation trial in eastern British Columbia. Five treatment plots were used: 1) no OM removal, no compaction (OM₀C₀), 2) no OM removal, heavy compaction (OM₀C₂), 3) heavy OM removal, no compaction (OM₂C₀), 4) heavy OM removal, heavy compaction (OM₂C₂), 5) an ameliorative treatment (ripping to reduce soil compaction). One plot was also set up in an uncut 100 year-old Douglas-fir stand adjacent to the treatment area. Two microplots were established around soil moisture and temperature data collectors in each treatment plot.

Mineral soil - twenty-five stakes (2.5 x 2.5 x 20 cm) of loblolly pine, aspen, and Douglas-fir were installed in the mineral soil at each microplot - for a total of 900 stakes (25 stakes x 3 species x 6 treatment plots x 2 microplots x 1 replicate). Five stakes of each species will be removed from each microplot every year starting in June 2002. Soil moisture, temperature, and CO₂/O₂ levels are being measured at 10 and 20 cm soil depths in each treatment.

Litter layer (forest floor) - fifty wood stakes (2.5 x 2.5 x 15 cm) of each tree species were placed in plots which had no litter layer treatment: 1) no OM removal, no compaction (OM₀C₀), 2) no OM removal, heavy compaction (OM₀C₂), and 3) uncut control stand. Twenty-five stakes were installed at the forest floor/mineral soil interface, and 25 stakes placed on the litter layer surface - a total of 900 stakes (25 stakes x 3 species x 3 treatment plots x 2 microplots x 2 litter layer locations x 1 replicate). In addition, 450 stakes were placed on the soil surface of plots which had litter layer treatments: 1) heavy OM removal, no compaction (OM₂C₀), 2) heavy OM removal, heavy compaction (OM₂C₂), and 3) the ameliorative treatment - 25 stakes x 3 species x 3 treatment plots x 2 microplots x 1 litter layer location x 1 replicate. Temperatures are being measured at the mineral soil/litter interface in all treatments, and at the soil surface in the control plots.

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