Assessment of forest road drainage system in Arasbaran region

Forest roads are essential infrastructure in management forested areas. On the other hand improperly planning of forest roads may cause environmental damages to forest ecosystems. One of the most important effects is erosion and sediment production. Therefore management of forest road should be such that in addition to forestry objective realization, environmental damage such as erosion and sediment production from road construction is at least. The purpose of this study was to assess drainage system of the road network in Kaleibarchay watershed of Arasbaran region, to provide practical solutions of maintenance and repair to reduce damage to forests. To do this, first 131 samples were selected and for each sample some data such as ditch, culverts, bridges and road template were collected. The spatial data and corresponding databased were developed in ArcGIS. According to the results 18.32% of the road segment had ditch and 22.9% of the samples have road template failure. But only one culvert was existed in network. In order to function properly of study case road drainage system, necessary places cross drainage creation were proposed. The results of this research can be used in forest road management and reduction of negative environmental effects.