What are logging roads and who benefits from them? How many logging roads do we need? What are the benefits and costs of logging roads?
Logging roads are roads built to access harvest areas. There are four main types of logging roads:
Class 1 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 life span of primary roads is 20 years or more.
Class 2 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 life span of secondary roads is less than 20 years and they are maintained only when needed.
Class 3 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 life span of tertiary roads is 1-10 years and there is no scheduled maintenance.
Class 4 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.
Logging roads in the FML01:
To give an idea of which types of logging roads are most often constructed, consider the road development proposed by Tembec in 2004:
Class 1- all weather, multi-use 0 km
Class 2- all weather, single-use 27.2 km
Class 3- summer roads 61.9 km
Class 4- winter roads 181. 88 km
Thus, the majority of proposed roads were winter roads, followed by summer roads, and then by all-weather single use roads. The proportion of winter roads is due to the terrain of the FML which makes winter the predominant harvest period.
The cost of all weather roads can be significant. In a scoping study for an all weather road in Pikwitonei, the cost of building an all weather road was estimated at $21 Million, and the annual maintenance was estimated at $2.0 Million. However the road was estimated to save the community $275 000 per year because the road would replace the use of boats, rail and air.
According Tembec, all weather resource roads cost $30,000 to $50,000 per kilometer.
As shown in the above definitions, many people and industries benefit from logging roads, such as remote communities, cottage subdivisions, tourism, hunting, fishing, lodges, exploration, mining, forestry, fire fighting, new reserve settlements and new business.
All weather roads can provide a number of perceived benefits over winter roads, such as those brought out during the East Side of Lake Winnipeg All Weather Road Scoping and Justification Study.
Perceived benefits of all weather roads included:
- reduced cost of living;
- improved inter-community interactions and reduced isolation;
- economic development;
- reduced cost of transportation;
- opportunities to visit family at school or in hospitals;
- reduced travel times;
- employment.
However there were some perceived drawbacks to all weather roads cited in the study such as:
- reduced air service;
- higher cost of air service;
- declining value of air strips;
- reduced or loss of barge service;
- unauthorized roads;
- off reserve settlements;
- loss of wilderness values;
- loss of traditional lifestyles and values.
Multiple logging roads create a network. The following map is of the road network in FML01. The map also shows major roads that have been decommissioned and access restriction points.
The following image provides an aerial view of a harvest block road network in the FML. Click on image to enlarge.
Road networks provide access to harvest areas and to communities and other resources. They can also have unintended impacts on wilderness and society.
So the question remains…how many roads are enough…or how many are too many?
This question was addressed in a Tembec report entitled “2002 Local Level Indicators for Sustainable Management of FML01”.
- Tembec measured the road density of the FML01, measured as km of roads/square km of area.
- In other studies, road density has been correlated with wildlife- and showed that as road density increased, wildlife populations decreased (Forman et al, 1997).
- Tembec's report sites a road density target of 0.58 km road per square km. This target was also adopted by the Fundy Model Forest and is considered a mid-low range of road density. To give a comparison, the national average for public roads in the US is 1.2 km/square km (Forman, 2000).
- An analysis of road density in watersheds showed:
The following map summarizes the above road density data for the year 2003 in FML01:
Logging roads may have positive and negative impacts on the environment, however it is difficult to quantify positive impacts. There is generally a perception that changes to the environment caused by roads are negative, and the scientific literature often focuses on detrimental impacts. This section will highlight some important impacts of roads, mostly from a critical perspective.
The impact of a road can change along the course of the road, depending on the surrounding environment and thus will not produce the same impact everywhere. Roads can produce an impact on the environment at different stages, during construction, use, maintenance, abandonment and decommissioning; road density and the long term legacy of a road also produce impacts (4).
Consider the following photograph of how roads might impact water quality, through dust and dirt entering the waterway. Click on the image to enlarge.
The following table summarizes some of the effects of roads on the environment, based on scientific studies, as well as techniques that could be used to mitigate those effects in some cases.
Number in brackets refer to the REFERENCE. View references for above table here.
Other Resources:
To further understand specific impacts, the Canada Parks and Wilderness Society provides a list of 10 impacts of logging roads on their website; the Wildlands League has posted a similar list on their website .
Reflection-
What has been your experience with forest roads?
