Spatial and Temporal Patterns in Erosion from Forest Roads

Erosion from forest roads is an important contribution to the sediment budget of many forested basins, particularly over short time scales. Sediment production from 74 road segments was measured over three years to examine how road slope, segment length, cutslope height, and soil texture affect sediment production and how these relationships change with time. In the first year, differences in sediment production between plots could be explained by differences in sediment transport capacity of the plots. With time, differences between plots of different slope, length, cutslope height, and soil were reduced as all plots produced less and less sediment. Recovery was rapid with around 70% recovery between by the second year and 90% recovery by the third year.