5.4 Grubbing & Stripping
Grub and strip the road prism area of all topsoil and unsuitable mineral soils after all standing timber has been felled and removed, unless the following are applicable:
- between the tops of cuts and adjacent standing timber (other than trees and stumps with exposed roots or roots that overhang the top of cut);
- between the toes of fills and adjacent standing timber; and
- where short-term roads – that is, one-season winter use roads or snow roads— are constructed or where overlanding techniques are applied.
“Grubbing” means the removal of stumps, roots, buried logs, and logging slash (downed logs, tree branches and tops, and uprooted stumps, trees, and shrubs) and other debris left on the ground from clearing operations. “Stripping” means the removal of topsoil or other organic material, and mineral soils unsuitable for forming the road subgrade.
Where grubbing operations have removed all organic soil, stripping is not required unless other unsuitable soils are encountered.
