Optimizing Forest Road Cross Drainage Using CULSED

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Forestry, University of Tehran. Karaj, I.R. Iran

2 M.S of Forest Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, I.R. Iran

3 Professor, Department of Forestry, University of Tehran. Karaj, I.R. Iran

Abstract

Forest roads are known as the most important factor of sediment production in forest
ecosystems. Because of the importance of this issue, several models developed based on
empirical relationships to estimate sediment yield. In this study, the amount of annual sediment
yield derived from a forest road network was estimated as tons per year using CULSED model
in ArcGIS. Base spatial layers such as: topography, stream, roads, and culverts were used in
this model. Additional data such as the bed rock, vegetation, average precipitation, road age,
the amount of traffic, road surface and road gradient were used in the model. First, digital
databases were developed and the model was run. Then places with high rates of sediment
yield were specified and some culverts were designed in appropriate places to decrease the
amount of sediment production. The results showed that the amount of sediment with regards to
existing 38 culverts was 13.2 tons per year. Adding 16 proposed culverts in the areas with high
sediment production resulted in 36% decrease in sediment yield. So, given the importance of
reducing sedimentation from roads in the forest, this tool can be used before road construction
to find optimal number and location of culverts by engineers. However, due to lack of available
data and a native model, some uncertainty will be encountered that should be considered.

Keywords

References

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