Determining soil erosion from roads in coastal plain of Alabama

Grace, McFero, J. III; Elliot, W.J. 2008. Determining soil erosion from roads in coastal plain of Alabama. In Proc.; Environmental Connection 08, Proceedings of Conference 39, Orlando, FL, International Erosion Control Association, Steamboat Springs, CO.

Keywords: soil erosion, modeling, forest, roads, sediment deposition, WEPP, road

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Abstract: This paper reports soil losses and observed sediment deposition for 16 randomly selected forest road sections in the National Forests of Alabama. Visible sediment deposition zones were tracked along the stormwater flow path to the most remote location as a means of quantifying soil loss from road sections. Volumes of sediment in deposition zones were determined by depth and deposition area measurements. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) was used to predict deposition in buffers and sediment leaving buffers from these forest road sections. WEPP estimates for these Coastal Plain sites were compared to measured sediment deposition from the forest road sections on the National Forests of Alabama. The applicability of WEPP to model these forest roads in the Coastal Plain of Alabama is evaluated with a model efficiency statistic using the observed field experiment data. The study found that of the 16 road segments analyzed, the average road segment length was 45 m, and the average quantity of sediment deposited onto the forest floor from road sections was 2300 kg. The WEPP: Road predictions were not significantly different from the observed sediment deposition. This research effort provides information to quantify the magnitude of soil erosion from typical Coastal Plain forest roads in the southern region of the U.S. The information reported is useful in soil erosion prediction models to validate predictions and create forest road management scenarios.

Moscow FSL publication no. 2008c