A comprehensive analysis was made on the five-year monitoring data of 11 fixed soil erosion monitoring sites of newly established cash crop tree plantations and rehabilitated bamboo forests in eight provinces or autonomous regions of China, which were constructed under the Forestry Development in Poor Area Project (FDPA) financed by the World Bank. The results show that the afforestation and cultivation operations for the cash crop tree plantations and rehabilitated bamboo forests have resulted in soil erosion, but to different degrees. Within the 11 soil erosion monitoring sites, extremely slight or slight soil erosion occurred in six sites and severe soil erosion in three sites during years of frequent and intensive rainfall or on loess hills. The occurrence of soil erosion was lighter on planting sites with broad terrace preparation than on sites with strip or hole preparation. Soil erosion occurred annually on planting sites with continuous intercropping, which showed similar soil erosion modulus. But soil erosion decreased to an extremely low level when, after four years of continuous intercropping, the intercropping stopped. Intercropping also caused relatively strong soil erosion on slope planting sites with strip or hole preparation. For the rehabilitated bamboo forests, soil erosion occurred but in small soil erosion modulus and usually occurred during the first year after rehabilitation and decreased annually with the gradual recovery of undergrowth vegetation. The bamboo shoot harvest in winter increased the occurrence of soil erosion. It is recommended that in the newly established cash crop tree plantations, the best preparation method is by broad terrace type, while avoiding strip or hole preparation. Intercropping can be used under suitable conditions in newly established cash crop tree plantations with broad terrace preparation. For the rehabilitation of low productive bamboo forests, several measures can be adopted to prevent soil erosion, i. e. digging the soil along contours, covering the ground with weeds.
