A Landowner's Guide to Building Forest Access Roads

Roads provide needed access to small woodlots; however, high costs, land disturbance, degradation of water quality, and destruction of fish habitat can all result from poor development, construction, and maintenance of forest roads. This guide was developed to give private owners of small woodlots the basic information needed to avoid these problems and protect valued natural resources.

This guide is designed for landowners in the northeastern United States who will use a tractor and ordinary earth moving equipment to build the simplest access roads on their property, or who will contract for these services. Logging roads on small woodland properties are usually constructed by the logging contractor, sawmill operator, or by a road contractor.

This guide applies to low-speed forest roads with a 12-foot-wide running surface that are needed only temporarily or only during certain times of the year. Recommendations in this guide cover basic planning, construction, drainage, maintenance, and closure of such forest roads. The recommendations incorporate best management practices, which are designed to reduce nonpoint-source pollution, as can occur during road building.

This guide also covers special situations involving water that require individual consideration: streams with or without migratory fish, beaver ponds, and wetlands. Each of these situations is covered in a separate section. Landowners should read each section that applies to their land.

Geotextiles are also described in a separate section. These synthetic permeable materials can be used during road building in a variety of ways, from providing standard drainage to performing specialized functions in wetlands. Using the information in this guide, landowners can complete road building projects to their satisfaction. They can also save on the cost of construction and future maintenance by understanding what is involved and by being able to provide information to a contractor.

Sections of this guide were adapted from other sources:

Road Planning and Location, from Darrach et al. (1981) and Haussman and Pruett (1978);

Protecting Fish Habitat, from Furniss et al. (1991);

Recommendations for Wetland Forest Roads, from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (1995);

Dealing With Beaver, from Buech (1985), D’Eon et al. (1995), Wood and Woodward (1992), and Wood et al. (1994); and

Geotextiles, from Amoco Fabrics and Fibers Company (1994a,b).