Timber harvesting roads, skid roads, and truck roads have been identified as major sources of stream sedimentation during logging operations. Researchers have stated that the planning for timber harvesting road networks is key to reducing these erosion and stream sedimentation sources. One impediment to reducing stream sedimentation is that planners do not have a way to quantify road network sufficiency and efficiency, particularly for those networks used by rubber-tired skidders during cable skidding operations. Reach capacity and excess reach capacity are proposed as ways to measure road network sufficiency and efficiency. Reach capacity is defined as the percent of a tract covered by a zone of specified distance around each road segment. Reach capacity is a measure of that portion of the tract that can be reached with a winch cable from the road system to move trees to the road for skidding. Excess reach capacity is the total area of all possible road zone overlaps expressed as a percentage of the reach capacity. Excess reach capacity is a measure of road duplication or the portion of the tract that can be serviced by more than one road. Use of these metrics will provide logging road planners with a tool to compare two or more proposed road network alternatives on a particular logging job, or to assess a completed road network. The Global Positioning System and the geographic information system were used to gather data and perform the spatial analysis necessary to acquire the metrics. A case study illustrates the proposed assessment method.


    Access

    Download

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Proposed Method to Assess Timber Harvesting Roads


    Additional title:

    Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2003-01-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





    Timber bridges for county roads

    Keeney, W.D. | Engineering Index Backfile | 1930


    Narrow gauge steam timber roads in Galicia

    Fleischl, A.R. | Engineering Index Backfile | 1897


    Evaluation of Aggregate-Surfaced Roads for Timber Haul

    Bolander, Peter | Transportation Research Record | 2015