Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests are one of the main vegetation types in the Asian
forest-steppe zone. However, over-harvesting currently threatens the natural regeneration and
sustainability of these forests. In this study, we examine the long-term effects of different logging
intensities on soil properties and natural regeneration in a natural Scots pine forest in the West
Khentii Mountains (Mongolia), 19 years after selective logging. Our experimental design included
five treatments: clear cut (CC), treatments with high (HI), medium (MI), low (LI) intensities, and
a reference parcel with no logging impact at all (RE). We described and quantified the harvest
events and applied ANOVA and LMM modeling to analyze and explain the long-term impacts of
the logging intensities on soil properties and natural regeneration. We found that logging has a
significant negative influence on the physical and chemical properties of the soil because it increases
soil compaction and reduces soil nutrients. The most critical impacts of logging were on soil bulk
density, total porosity, organic matter, and total nitrogen and phosphorus. The LMM modeling
showed that organic matter (OgM), total nitrogen (TN), available K (AK) and pH values are especially
impacted by logging. Our study revealed that the values for all of these variables show a linear
decrease with increasing selective logging intensity and have a level of significance of p < 0.05.
Another finding of this study is that selective logging with low and medium intensities can promote
natural regeneration of Scots pine to numbers above those of the reference site (RE). High intensity
logging and clear-cuts, however, limit the regeneration of Scots pine, reduce overall seedling numbers
(p < 0.05), and create conditions that are suitable only for the regeneration of deciduous tree species.
This underlines the risk of Scots pine forest degradation, either by replacement by broad-leaf trees or
by conversion into non-forest ecosystems.
