Road Management

When a forestry road is built in Manitoba, a forest company must follow provincial guidelines. For example, when submitting their 10 forest management year plan, forest companies are asked to provide information about the following aspects of road management:

Further the harvesting guidelines (1996) provide some explicit instruction as to the construction of harvesting roads. Highlights from those guidelines include:

Minimize environmental impacts by:

Timing construction so that fish and wildlife concerns will not be compromised
Avoiding unstable areas, water source areas, springs, seepage, and sensitive wildlife areas.
Rehabilitating where possible
Using well located skid trails instead of roads where possible

When building a waterway crossing, ensure proper drainage and prevent sedimentation into the watercourse in all phases of road construction.

To view more specific guidelines, view the following PDF file: pages 5 and 6/11.

Types of logging roads:

Road network in Manitoba.There are four main types of logging roads, ranging from all weather roads to winter roads.

Primary roads are year round all weather roads that may be paved or gravel. They are multiple use roads for accessing long term wood supply, communities, cottage subdivisions, recreational and industrial development. The expected lifespan of primary roads is 20 years or more.

Secondary roads are year round gravel roads that may be difficult to travel during very wet conditions. They are single use roads for accessing timber operating areas, cottages, minor recreational facilities, and small resource industries (such as wild rice, outfitters and lodgers). The expected lifespan of secondary roads is less than 20 years and they are maintained only when needed.

Tertiary roads provide summer high ground access during dry periods. They are usually built with slight gravel and grade. They are used to access cut blocks and smaller operating areas as well as for hunting, fishing and berry picking to name a few. The expected lifespan of tertiary roads is 1-10 years and there is no scheduled maintenance.

Quaternary roads are winter roads that provide access during frozen periods. No grade or gravel is used in their construction. They are used primarily to access cutblocks, though are often used for hunting and fishing as well. There is no scheduled maintenance for these roads.

Link: Winter roads in Manitoba, Government website http://www.gov.mb.ca/tgs/hwyinfo/winterroads/index.html

Tembec Road Management

Tembec’s Annual Operational Plans include Road Development and Access Management Plans, developed in conjunction with Manitoba Conservation. Each plan includes topics that cover resource and traditional use, road description, access management, road maintenance, long tern access control and decommissioning, and proposed consultation with stakeholders. Four road development plans have been developed for the FML01 to date:

Rainy Lake – Summary

The Rainy Lake Road was built in XX to provide increased access to roundwood, as the area was previously accessible for a 6 week period in the winter. The lifespan of the road is estimated to be 10-12 years and the area is expected to generate 30,000m3/year of wood. The total management network encompasses 18,178 ha, 11,785ha of which is productive forest. The road is 84.5 kilometers. There are 10 stream crossings.

The area is home to 5 registered traplines, an outfitting operation, wild rice harvesting and gold exploration. Access is managed via a gate at the beginning of Rainy Lake Road as well as debris, slash and woody material at strategic points. A decommissioning strategy involves removal of stream crossings, tearing up 500m of grade and planting Jack Pines or other herbaceous species on Class 3 roads.

Beaver Creek – Summary

The Beaver Creek Road was built in to access wood supply for Pine Falls Paper Company, Hollow Water First Nation and other resource users. The lifespan of the road is estimated to be 6-10 years for the first pass (the second pass occurring 20 years later) and the area is expected to generate 60,000 to 100,000m3 per year. The total management network encompasses 45, 854 ha, of which 27,862 ha is productive forest. The road is 172.6 kilometers. There are 17 stream crossings.

The area is home to 8 registered traplines as well as an outfitter. Access is managed via a gate on Beaver Creek road and a “no hunting” game refuge developed with the Moose Management Committee of the Manitoba Model Forest. The refuge will last for the duration of harvesting in the area (6-10 years) then removed once rehabilitation has occurred. A decommissioning strategy involves removal of stream crossings, tearing up 500m of grade and planting Jack Pines or other herbaceous species on Class 3.

Okimaw Lake – Summary

The Okimaw Lake road was built in XX to provide access to wood supply. The lifespan of the road is estimated at 9 years and the area is expected to generate 19,000 m3/year. The total management network encompasses 7,271 ha, 3,830 ha of which is productive. The total road is 72.6 km long, with the new segment being 29.1 km long and there are two stream crossings.

The area is home to two registered traplines and is used by remote cottagers. The road is an extension of the Pointer Lake Road which is an area of high mining exploration and recreational use. Concerns regarding access to off-shoot roads from the Pointer Road have led to an access decommissioning that involves creating trenches in 200m segments.

A winter access trail for cottagers at Kakaki Lake will remain after rehabilitation of the area has occurred.

Happy Lake - Summary

The Happy Lake Road was built to further access major wood supply. The lifespan of the road is estimate at 5 years and the area is expected to generate 70,000m3/year. The proposed management plan was only for the north extension of the road, called the Papineau Road (29km) based on consultation with the Eastern Manitoba Woodland Advisory Committee. Future access plans to the areas depend on evolving management strategies for caribou (for an additional 67km). There are two stream crossings.

The area is home to ten Registered Trapline users, a semi-remote fishing lodge, canoeing, camping, remote cottaging, and a strong interest in moose hunting. Two wildlife management strategies are incorporated into the plan- for moose and for caribou. The moose management plan involved the removal of a wildlife refuge erected in the 1990s which opened the area to moose hunting. However motorized vehicles are restricted from entering the Happy Lake Road.

The caribou management is developed through consultation with Woodland Caribou Adivsory Committee. In order to maintain 2/3 of high suitability habitat for caribou, designs that involve natural disturbance (fire) and historical harvest design (to mimic harvest areas that were cut in the 1980s and currently are inhabited by caribou). Also, the following principles will be considered prior to harvesting in the region:

Consideration of future habitat requirements
Connectivity requirements
Minimize development of moose/deer habitat
Prompt regeneration of softwood trees that maintain high Jack Pine composition.

Access in the Happy Lake Area is controlled on a short and long term basis. In the short term, a gate and three barricades will be erected at strategic points. In the long term, bridge removal, V plowing strategic sections of the road, and removal of stream crossings.

Based on community consultations a number of actions will be taken to address community concerns, such as not harvesting during fishing season and close to lake shores. First Nation road contracts are continued.

What are you main concerns about road management?
What are your thoughts about the way road management is handled by Industry and Government?
In what ways could road management be improved?

What are the four main types of logging roads?
How many registered traplines are there on the Beaver Creek road?
What are two strategies for improving caribou habitat?
How many stream crossings were there for Okimaw Lake?
How is access managed at the gate of Rainy Lake road, according to the management plan?

Strategies for controlling access:

Access control: closure of a road or restricted access for certain used for a given period of time.

Natural abandonment : natural regeneration of a road when it is not maintained. No steps are made to prevent a vehicle from traveling on the road.

Physical abandonment: render the road unusable by traffic such as gating, ditching, bridge or culvert removal, digging up the road bed, panning seedlings along road bed and using obstacles such as boulders.

Types of access controls:

Cable: a flexible steel cable stretched across the road, suspended from either side. It can be locked or lowered to allow passage of permitted vehicles.

Gate: a steel gate locked with a chain across the road and can be unlocked as needed.

Bridge removal: a bridge is removed to prevent crossing over a stream or a river

Culvert removal: a metal pipe and accompanying dirt, gravel and rocks are removed to prevent crossing during winter months.

Case Study: the Temagami Forest Management Unit- 21 access controls were placed in the special management area and monitored over 10 years. A variety of access controls were used such as signs, cables, gates, bridge removal, ditches and berms. Several access violations were observed throughout the study; for example 94% of 17 sites were violated over a 14 year period. A study of how the violations were made led to the following insights about access control:

Location of access control is important. Water crossings that present a natural barrier are more effective than areas where it is easy to circumvent the crossing.
Permanent barriers are more effective than moveable barriers. Movable barriers such as cables and gates were often broken and required maintenance. Permanent barriers are more effective, especially natural permanent barriers such as stream crossings.
Access controls that combine several strategies are more effective than when just one strategy is used.
Signs are not effective access controls.
Enforcement is difficult. Better compliance could occur with higher fines, more frequent enforcement and public education regarding the rationale of access restrictions.
Multiple routes of entry such as detours defeat the intent of access controls.
Incidence of violation appears to be correlated with travel distance and attractiveness of designation.
Ditches and berms disintegrate quickly due to erosion.

Tembec’s Current Access Management Strategy:

Location	Access management
Rainy Lake	Removal of stream crossings
Beaver Creek	Gate at Beaver Creek Road; no hunting game refuge
Okimaw Lake	Trenches 200m deep
Happy Lake	Gate, 3 barricades, removal of stream crossings at decommissioning

Government Policy