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Careful logging regulations in Quebec restrict circulation of harvesting and forwarding or skidding machinery to evenly spaced, parallel trails, which creates a particular pattern of disturbed and relatively undisturbed zones in cutovers. A 7-year monitoring study was established to evaluate the effects of careful logging on vegetation development in the southern boreal forest of Quebec. A total of 255 sample plots (2 m²) were located in seven cutovers in predominantly black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) forests that were whole-tree "careful logged": 120 on fresh to moist silty clays or silty clay loams and 135 on dry to fresh loamy sands. Three microsites were sampled: skid trails and the edge and the centre of protection strips. A gradient of disturbance from the skid trail to centre of the protection strip was evident for finer textured sites. Careful logging resulted in high densities of black spruce and balsam fir (Abies …