Canfor - Logging Roads

INTRODUCTION

Logging roads are both an asset and a potential liability to the companies that build them, the wildlife whose habitat is altered by them and the people who use them for recreational purposes. Roads are built as a solution to getting people and equipment into the forest, but their very existence creates a whole new set of issues.

To explore this positive-negative view of logging roads, this article will examine why logging roads are built, the social and environmental issues surrounding them and how these problems are being solved.

WHY BUILD LOGGING ROADS?

Logging roads are a significant feature in the forest landscape of British Columbia and Alberta. There are over 80,000 kilometers of these roads in B.C. alone. Logging roads are built because they provide access to the forest for timber harvesting. In addition, these roads have become an important transportation network for many other users.

Access is essential in the development of the managed forest. There are a number people involved in forestry activities such as harvesting, tree planting, stand tending, habitat studies, data collecting and fire protection who need to get into the forest on a regular basis.

Access is important for many other people as well. Some are at play, such as campers, hikers and anglers. Others are at work, such as ranchers, mushroom pickers, guides and trappers. All are regular users of logging roads.

Logging roads are the preferred means to provide access because other options have critical restrictions. Walking and horseback have obvious time and load restrictions. Helicopters are very fast but are very expensive for a one-time visit, use a lot of fossil fuel and have a greater accident risk. In spite of this, helicopters are sometimes used in forestry and even in logging. However, as logging helicopters cost about $30,000 per hour, their use is quite limited. Float planes and helicopters are also used in back-country recreation, but again, this is limited to those that can afford this large expense.

Although roads are also very costly (more than $100,000 a km to build a main road) their longevity and versatility makes them more economical than helicopters or other alternatives. In spite of being "more economical", road costs are still very significant. Costs include:

building, maintaining and deactivating the roads
the potential environmental cost (liability) of a road
the valuable land for growing trees taken up by roads

In a managed forest, these three costs lead to an overall objective of minimizing the total amount of road. This reduction is carried out through efficient location of roads and the deactivation of some old roads.

Logging roads will continue to be the main form of access in British Columbia's managed forests. Although daily access to many different users is important, alternatives are limited.

In addition to access, there are a number of social and environmental issues as well which impact road design and costs.

SOCIAL ISSUES

The main social issues surrounding logging road relate to conflicting values around access. Access issues between different user groups are common. For example:

Hunters want more access, while wildlife protection groups want decreased access.
Campers like to use the roads but sometimes don't like to share the road with big logging trucks.
Building more roads creates concern for the changes increased access will bring to the back-country (more logging, hunting and camping), but this also increases economic and recreational opportunities.
Deactivating roads reduces access for hunters and hikers but increases the amount of land for growing trees.

There is no easy answer. These issues must be addressed through the public involvement procedures that are part of the forest management planning process. In addition to access issues, other social issues may arise in connection with the environmental concerns over roads.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

There have been a range of environmental problems associated with logging roads over the past 50 years. Why have these environmental problems occurred and how have they impacted the fish, wildlife and soil resources?

Road construction is set within the soil and rock of the forest floor. This is a dynamic place, where water flows and gravity pulls. Natural soil and slope processes interact with roads and vice versa. This interaction has the potential to change the surface and subsurface drainage patterns, which can lead to erosion. Erosion can range from a mild movement of soil to a full landslide. Productive soil for tree growing is lost and sediments may wash into creeks where fish habitat may be damaged. Sediments have the potential cover the gravel required for spawning or cause a reduction in oxygenation of the stream leading to the suffocation of fish eggs. Sediments can also affect water quality in community watersheds.

The issue of access also has an environmental impact. Increased access by hunters or disturbance by recreationists can impact wildlife populations. Predators and competing species can also use roads to move into new habitat and disrupt the resident species. Access by either people or predators can put significant pressures on sensitive populations.

Historically, the impacts of logging roads has at times been devastating on soil, water, fish and wildlife values. What methods are being taken today to ensure the protection of these valuable resources?

SOLVING ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

Protecting forest resources and managing sustainably are essential elements of any managed forest. Can roads be built in a way that will support that vision? The evolution of forestry, including forest engineering, has led to three pivotal pieces that will provide the way. 1) a comprehensive planning process, 2) teamwork and communication, and 3) the new tools that technology makes possible.

1. Solutions through Planning

Planning is fundamental to sustainable forestry, and roads are a central part of forestry plans. An examination of the goals and processes of forest planning will illustrate how the environmental impacts of roads can be controlled.

The forest planning process and the related programs of data collection and analysis have been evolving rapidly in British Columbia and Alberta. All engineering projects are tied to these processes, and thus to the goals of multiple use and resource protection.

The goal in planning is to recognize and value a full range of forest resources and to manage those resources based on ecosystem concepts. Planning puts the focus on identifying and protecting these resources before any work takes place, rather than rehabilitating the resources after damage has occurred. Forest planning involves exploring alternatives and making decisions that will minimize the impact of roads on all the forest resources.

All forestry projects, including road building, are described in ever increasing detail as the forest planning team progresses through the planning process. All of the potential impacts are studied. The process is lengthy, often taking 3 or 4 years before any roads are built or any trees are harvested. In B.C. all of the planning levels must receive approval from the Ministry of Forests, and at times from the Ministry of Environment, and Department of Fisheries & Oceans.

In the initial planning stage the soil and water processes in an area are examined and studied. The basis for success in road building is understanding the natural processes at work in and under the forest floor. Areas of sensitivity such as fish habitat , unstable soils or special wildlife habitat are identified long before any road building starts. The plan looks at the how to reduce impacts on all resources during whole life of the road right through to deactivation. Alternatives are explored such as the timing of construction, construction methods, layout or even whether a road is the right choice for an area at all!

Planning is the key to sustainable forest management. Planning is done at all levels from the overall landscape down to a specific patch of ground. As the planning process has evolved, the standard way of working has had to change as well.

2. Solutions through Teamwork and Vision

How the vision of forest management goes from the planning table to the actual ground work is critical for success. The ability of forest engineers and their crews to communicate with each other and with the planning team will determine how closely they can achieve the planned goal.

Road construction crews need to understand the philosophy and goals of the project and the desired end result. How they get to the end result cannot always be prescribed. They are working in a unique and changeable environment, where their expertise and intuition are often called upon to make judgments. A clear understanding of how their work can affect the forest ecosystem is imperative. Communication and discussion of planning goals and expected results have now become an essential element in forestry. This makes forest engineering projects of today much more of a team effort than in the past.

Crews need to be able to shut down a project if they feel the environment is at risk or the desired results of the plan may not be met. Safety shut downs have a long history in British Columbia but the empowerment to stop work based on environmental concerns is a fairly new concept. Environmental protection, like safety, has to be a part of the crews daily thought process. Forest workers are trained to understand the plans through map reading, walking the work area prior to starting, interim and post inspections, and standard operating procedures for each of the forest workers' responsibilities. The goal of this training and interaction is to produce a shared responsibility. Foresters, forest engineers, supervisors, contractors and workers must all work together and "buy into" the same vision of the future forest.

Teamwork includes bringing in experts from outside the company to enhance the group's efforts. The forest engineer may call in a specialist such as a geotechnical engineer, geoscientist, hydrologist or fisheries biologist to evaluate any areas of concern regarding the road and the environment.

How well a forest engineering team works is dependent upon not only to the planning process and teamwork, but also to new tools and machinery that expand their abilities to work sustainably.

3. Solutions through New Tools

The tools used by the forest engineer and road crews range from computer systems to the articulated trucks which are 4 or 6 wheel drive, with large flotation tires. Progress in developing the tools to meet the special needs of a complex forest ecosystem is essential to ensure that forest engineering meets its goals of protecting forest resources. Data collection and management, software and construction machinery have all changed dramatically over the years, providing a greater range of choices.

Some examples of high tech tools for data collection and software used are:

Global Positioning Systems (GPS), these instruments use satellites to give extremely accurate measures of position, including elevation
Laser technology survey equipment & hand held survey PC notepads: improved accuracy in distance measurements, and mathematical functions
Road building software improves efficiency in the multitude of calculations required to design a road
Terrain stability models are providing more information about the land itself
Road engineering software combines the survey and road design features, and calculates the volume of materials to be moved
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide very specific maps which can display requested combinations of inventory data

Machinery to do the work has evolved as well. The excavators and articulated rock trucks used today allow a great deal of flexibility and dexterity in building roads. Compared to the bulldozers used in the past, an excavator can sort through soil and rocks using its hydraulic thumb and bucket in order to use the best material and place it properly. The manipulative ability of the excavator produces a higher quality roadbed. Articulated trucks can also flex in the middle which allows them to go in and out of unfinished rough and narrow tracts to access good road surfacing material ahead, or to haul away material unsuitable for the road.

The range of machinery now available means it is possible to match the best machine to the specific terrain and climate conditions. Better data collection and management means engineers can have an improved base of knowledge about the terrain they will be working in. More information and more machines to choose from leads to an enhanced ability to fine tune engineering projects to suit each specific forest area.

In sum, a comprehensive planning process, an emphasis on teamwork and enhanced data and machinery capabilities dramatically increases the potential of preventing or minimizing environmental problems caused by roads.

SUMMARY

Logging roads are the main method of access in the managed forests of British Columbia. Several issues that are generated by the presence of these roads are:

Social issues involving groups sharing access and resolving conflicts between access and wildlife conservation.
Environmental issues regarding methods of construction, maintenance and density of roads.
Economic issues (impacting both social and environmental concerns) such as the question of how to protect the environment, yet still afford to build the road.

In order to solve these social, environmental and economic dilemmas, a goal of sustainable management has been set by the government and is supported by the regulations in the Forest Practices Code. The key to all of the issues is planning.

Forest planning includes public involvement, an intense study of the land and the exploration of alternatives as a prelude to decision making. Data collection and analysis provide essential support for the planning process. Technological innovations are expanding and improving this capability. As well, advances in road construction machinery are enhancing the abilities of the crews and increasing the range of construction alternatives for planners to consider.

For the plan to be carried out successfully, strong links have to be forged between those people developing the plan and those people doing the work on the ground. The road designers, construction crews and forest planners must share a vision of a sustainable forest, have good communication and work as a team. This teamwork is essential in the complex world of today's forestry.

Resources:

Thanks to:

Dr. John Nelson - UBC Faculty of Forestry
Brian Martell - Canfor
Kelvin Hatfull - HATFULL & Associates
Robert Bowden - IFEBC

Logging Roads - The Issues