A Firsthand Account of Road Mapping

By Erik Horngren (SI Intern)

(July 28, 2011) – Transportation is one of the main barriers constraining woody renewables utilization. I got to experience this firsthand while on a road mapping ride-along with Bill Wickman and Dennis Woods of TSS Consultants. We spent the morning driving through the Mt. Ingalls area, just outside of Genesee Valley.

While the roads seemed relatively rough for our vehicles (I got a flat tire), Bill said that the presence of gravel and big rocks was not a major concern for the large logging trucks and chip vans that would be navigating the roads for woody renewables removal.

The primary obstacles for woody renewables removal equipment are slope steepness, road width, and the sharpness of turns they will have to maneuver around. Slope steepness in the Mt. Ingalls area was probably above 45% in a number of locations, a figure that, cannot only make harvesting difficult, but can also lead some groups to abandon a potential harvest altogether.

Since the vehicles being used for removal of woody renewables are much, much larger than your average truck, they need substantial space to be able to operate. The roads we traveled on were fairly narrow in some spots and had some sharp turns that could cause problems for the equipment involved in woody renewables harvesting.

Removal vehicles also need enough room to be able to turn around. The tightness of the roads in the Mt. Ingalls area might make this difficult, but a number of adjacent spur roads could help to alleviate this problem; Bill used a GPS to map the presence of spur roads as potential areas for equipment turnarounds.

Bill also performed mapping in order to site potential landings for harvested material. Landings are where piling and chipping of woody renewables occurs before it is loaded for transport to its final destination.

It was great to see an example of the types of areas that are being considered for woody renewables harvesting. There is no doubt that many forest stands in the Sierra Nevada have become extremely dense and also have a large amount of excess debris built up on the forest floor. It is not hard to imagine the potential fire danger this could present.

Transportation of woody renewables is not an easy process. However, overcoming some of its barriers can help to reduce the presence of hazardous fuels in our forests and improve their long-term health.