Developing a GIS database for forest road management in Arasbaran forest, Iran

Forest roads are an essential infrastructure and prerequisite in the management of forested areas. Sustainable management of roads depends on regular and timely forest road maintenance. A road inventory is the first step of forest road management, control of construction standards, and maintenance operation; and GIS can be a powerful tool for acquirement, analysis, and management of data in road management. The purpose of this study was to obtain the required information to assess existing road standards by way of a road inventory and use the results to schedule maintenance operations. To achieve this goal, a part of the road network from Kaleibarchay watershed in Arasbaran forest was inventoried, and cross sectional components were measured and compared to standard ones. Culverts along the road were also investigated. Road components, problems of surfacing, and slope stability were analyzed in ArcGIS9.3 software. The results showed significant differences between existing parameters and standard ones, and the exceptions were side ditch depth and roadbed. The results of culvert assessment showed that the road segment only had one culvert. According to the results, cross-slope has the highest consistency with standard values. Around a quarter (25.19%) of the road length had no signs of surfacing problems. Among surfacing problems, rutting had the highest abundance and cut slope had more stability problems than fill slope. In order to have better management of drainage systems, we suggested some places for installing new cross drains including culverts and fords. The results of this research can be used in developing effective maintenance operations for the road in this study, and also as a model to study and collect required inventory data and in applying GIS to forest roads management.