A Study on the Actual Condition of Topsoil Management at River Restoration Projects

This study aimed to research and analyze the real condition of topsoil management of river development field as a significant case among domestic development fields for topsoil preservation. Through survey with experts, we understood the real condition and problems of topsoil management during river development. In order to verify this, we analyzed the characteristics of soil before and after development focusing on the rivers recently completed as an ecological river restoration project, supervised by Ministry of Environment among domestic river improvement projects. The study results are like below. First, experts preferred collecting and reusing topsoil as the best method to maintain and improve soil for plant growth. Second, realistically collecting and reusing topsoil is not fully conducted due to economical issues and inconvenience in construction. In the soil condition, third, the contents of elements necessary for plant growth like organic matter and total nitrogen declined overall after development.