Pacific Southwest

Title: Simulation of Surface Erosion on a Logging Road in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest

Author: Ish, Teresa; Tomberlin, David

Date: 2007

Source: In: Standiford, Richard B.; Giusti, Gregory A.; Valachovic, Yana; Zielinski, William J.; Furniss, Michael J., technical editors. 2007. Proceedings of the redwood region forest science symposium: What does the future hold? Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-194. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 457-464

Station ID: GTR-PSW-194

Description: In constructing management models for the control of sediment delivery to streams, we have used a simulation model of road surface erosion known as the Watershed Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model, developed by the USDA Forest Service. This model predicts discharge, erosion, and sediment delivery at the road segment level, based on a stochastic climate simulator and road segment characteristics. To apply the WEPP model, we collected data on road segment dimensions, design and slope for 57 contiguous road segments totaling 3.5 miles of Road 630 on the Jackson Demonstration State Forest.

Results of the simulation exercise suggest a long-term average annual erosion rate on Road 630 of 20.8 metric tons per kilometer per year, with a standard deviation of seven metric tons per kilometer per year. Overall, we found the WEPP software well designed and flexible enough to meet our needs, as it allows specification of many different road and environmental parameters. One shortcoming for our purposes was that WEPPÂ’s stochastic climate generator does not simulate serial correlation. We have begun a field study of road surface erosion rates that will enable evaluation of the predictive ability of the WEPP model in the redwood region.

Keywords: erosion simulation, road surface erosion, and WEPP

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Citation

Ish, Teresa; Tomberlin, David  2007.  Simulation of Surface Erosion on a Logging Road in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest.   In: Standiford, Richard B.; Giusti, Gregory A.; Valachovic, Yana; Zielinski, William J.; Furniss, Michael J., technical editors. 2007. Proceedings of the redwood region forest science symposium: What does the future hold? Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-194. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 457-464.