Forest Roads

Road building and maintenance are major activities in National Forests. In the southern Appalachians, the national forest road network includes 31,000 miles (56,300 km) of existing roads and about 125 miles (200 km) of roads that are constructed or reconstructed each year. About 70 percent of this annual construction is classed as local roads, which are the low-standard, limited-use roads.

Most of the research on forest roads in the southern Appalachians has been conducted at Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in North Carolina. This research indicates that of all forest activities, road management poses the greatest risk to water quality, and that roads and skid trails are the primary sources of sediment from forestry-related activities. Decades of research results at Coweeta have been used to develop Best Management Practices (BMPs) for woods road construction in the Appalachians. BMPs deal with chemical pollution and increased water temperature, as well as control of erosion caused by roading, logging, and site preparation. Research at Coweeta has also provided options for treating problem roads.  Problem roads include those not built in the best locations, and those whose design and maintenance do not meet todays standards. Options for treating problem roads include relocation, reconstruction, and closure.

This section focuses primarily on the physical, ecological and socioeconomic effects of roads.  It does not address designing and installing new roads.  Forest road design textbooks are widely available (Walbridge 1997) and have so far not been synthesized as part of this Forest Encyclopedia.

Physical, Ecological and Socioeconomic Effects of Roads

Forest roads have many kinds of direct and indirect effects. The following sections, modified from "Forest Roads: A Synthesis of Scientific Information" by Gucinski and others (2001) review these various effects across the United States.

Direct Physical and Ecological Effects of Roads Geomorphic Effects Hydrologic Effects Site Productivity Habitat Fragmentation Habitat Biological Invasions	Indirect and Landscape-Scale Effects of Roads Aquatic Habitat Terrestrial Vertebrates Road Kill Forest Diseases Predation Biodiversity and Conservation Water Quality Air Quality
Direct Socioeconomic Effects of Roads Timber Programs Nontimber Forest Products Grazing and Rangeland Management Energy and Mineral Resources Resource-Based Outdoor Recreation	Indirect Socioeconomic Effects of Roads Fire Forest Research, Inventory, and Monitoring Private Inholdings Nonmarket and Passive-Use Value Heritage and Cultural Value of Roads Economic Effects