Use of pine needles (Pinus cubensis) for soil conservation.

Abstract

The plant formation of pine forests (Pinus cubensis), is practically distributed all over Nipe-Sagua-Baracoa mountain range. These spaces were fragmented by an excess of secondary roads and extraction vias. The objective of this work is to establish effective and economic measures for the protection of soils and contribute to assisted natural regeneration in places affected by hydrometeorological and socioeconomic phenomena. It was applied a method consisting in the collection of needles to form 5 cm thickness covers; there were selected affected areas with presence of laminar erosion and in gullies, covering such surfaces with the needles. It was demonstrated that the material used acts as an ecological filter, thus avoiding the dragging of uncovered soil. In different studies it was observed that in a period of 5-10 years a layer of pine needles with 5-8 cm of thickness was naturally cushioned on the soil avoiding the landslide.