site, where 64% and 74% (yearsone
and two, respectively)of the vartatlon
in basal diameter was explained by
this variable,and lesspronouncedfor
Hebo (56% and 48%) and Waldport
(43% and 48%). The relationshipbe-
tween the percentageof sky visiblein
year one and basal diameter in year
two increased for Florence and Wald-
port, and decreased
slightlyfor Hebo.
DISCUSSION
Positive correlations indicated
tree development during the two
yearsof the studywas associated with
the initial overtoppingconditionsof
the first year. Trees growing in the
open tended to be larger in basaldi-
ameter than those that were
topped(Figure1).
The degree to which variation in
basaldiametercouldbe explainedby
percentage of sky visible differed
amongthe studysites.Initial sitecon-
ditions and managementpractices
may accountfor someof thesediffer-
ences observed in basal diameter
sponse. The trees at Florence were
overtakenby fast-growingred alder
and salmonberry.Many of the trees
growing at Hebo were not severely
overtopped initially, becausethey
were planted in micrositeswhere re-
sidual brush levels were low, al-
though salmonberryand vine maple
were rapidly encroaching. A majority
of the treesgrowingat Waldportwere
either equal in height to, or slightly
Road Location and
Construction Practices:
Effects on Landslide
Frequencyand Size in the
Oregon CoastRange
John Sessions,John C. Balcom, and Kevin Boston,
Department
ofForestEngineering,
OregonStateUniversity,
Corvallis, 97331.
ABSTRACT.Theeffects of roadlocation Range. Roadswere dividedinto two roadson slopestabilityin the Pacific
andconstruction practices
onlandslidefre- groups.Roadsin GroupI hadbeenbuilt Northwest.Carelessor improperex-
quency and size were studied in a
300,000-ac area of the OregonCoast and full-bench,endhaulconstruction
• Paper2159of the ForestResearchLabora- ticestypicalof thelate1960sandearly for increasedfrequencyof road-re-
tory, Oregon State University, Corvallis 1970s.Usingsteeproadgradesto main- lated landslides (Swanston and
97331.
above,the brushcanopy The vigor of
thesetreeswaspartiallyrelatedto the
intensivesite preparation(herbicide
treatment followed by burning) the
area receivedprior to planting, pro-
viding relatively free-to-growcondi-
tionsduringthe initialstageof planta-
tion establishment.
Although 43-74% of the variation
in tree basaldiameterwas explained
by percentageof sky visible, other
factors obviously must have in-
that fluencedtree growth. Treesthat were
slightly overtoppedmay have been
adverselyaffectedby competitionfor
soilmoisturefrom encroaching brush.
This is certainlythe casefor regions
outside the moist coastalzone (Wal-
over- stad et al. 1987), and data from
Newton and Cole (1986, 1987)and the
CRAFTS vegetationmanagementre-
searchprogramat OregonStateUni-
versity (S. R. Radosevich,personal
communication) indicate that weed
competitionfor soil moisturemay af-
fect coniferperformancein the Coast
re- Rangeas well.
Fisheye photographs taken at
heights lower than the base of the
leader shoot could have measured
more of the encroachingvegetation.
Futurestudiescorrelatingpercentages
of sky visibleat severalheightswith
measurementsof plant water status,
soilwaterdepletionpatterns,andveg-
etative cover and growth will con-
tribute to explainingan even higher
proportionof variationin treegrowth.
has been focusedon the impact of
usinga combination of steeproadgrades cavationof marginally stableslopes,
to poor constructionand fill placement
minimizesliderisk. GroupH roadswere on steep slopes, and improper
builtusinglocation
andconstructionprac- drainagedesignare possiblereasons
tainridgetoplocations
andfull-benchend- Swanson1976).Severalstudiesduring
LITERATURE CITED
B^DUR•, G. J., H. A. LEG^RD,• L. C. MEYER.
1974.Soil resourceatlasof mapsand interpre-
tative tables. USDA For. Serv., Siuslaw Natl.
For., Pac.NorthwestReg.,Portland,OR.
CHAN,S.S. 1984.Competitiveeffectsof overtop-
ping vegetation
on Douglas-firmorphology
in
the OregonCoastRange.M.S. thesis,Coil.
For., OregonSt. Univ., Corvallis.49 p.
CHAN,S.S., ETAL. 1986.Evaluatingforestvege-
tative cover with computerizedanalysisof
fisheyephotographs. For. Sci.32:1085-1091.
COLE, E. C., • M. NEW'tON. 1986. Nutrient,
moisture and light relations in 5 year old
Douglas-firplantationsundervariablecompe-
tition. Can. J. For. Res. 16:727-732.
COLE,E. C., tdqDM. NEW'tON.1987. Fifth-year
responsesof Douglas-fir
to crowdingandnon-
coniferous competition. Can. J. For. Res.
17:181-186.
HOWARD, K. M., • M. NEWTON. 1984. Over-
toppingby successionalCoastRangevegeta-
tion slows Douglas-fir seedlings. J. For.
82(3):178-180.
K•t•, W. H., T. C. TORPtN,AND J. H. BEUTER.
1984.Vegetationcontrolfor Douglas-firregen-
eration on the Siuslaw National Forest: A deci-
sionanalysis.J. For. 82(3):168-173.
Rtym, R. H. 1956.Plantationsurvivaland growth
in two brush-threatareas in coastalOregon.
USDA For. Serv., Pac.Northwest For. & Range
Exp. Stn., Portland,OR. Res.Pap. 17. 14 p.
RErrH,R. H. 1957.Ten-yearhistoryof an Oregon
coastal plantation. USDA For. Serv. Pac.
NorthwestFor. & RangeExp. Stn., Portland,
OR. Res.Pap. 21. 15 p.
WALSTAD,J. D., J. D. BRODIE,g. C. McGINLE¾,
AIqD C. A. ROBERTS.1986. Silvicultural value of
chemicalbrushcontrolin the managementof
Douglas-fir.WesternJ. Appl. For. 1:69-73.
WALSTAD,J. D., M. NEWTON,AND R. J. Boyo, JR.
1987.Forestvegetationmanagement
problems
in the Northwest. P. 15-53 in Forestvegetation
managementfor coniferproduction,Walstad,
J. D., and P. J. Kuch (eds.). John Wiley &
Sons, New York.
haulconstruction
didreducelandslide
fre-
quencyandsizeon GroupI, ascompared
to GroupII, roads.Themarginal costof
reducing
volumes
slidevolumes/road-mile
fromthe
foundon GroupII roadsto the
volumes foundon GroupI roadswassix
timesgreaterin moreplasticthanin less
plasticsoilswhenroadscrossed slopesof
equalsteepness.Whenroads crossedslopes
witha sideslopesteeper
than50%, thees-
timatedcostof reducingthevolume/road-
mileof slidefrom GroupII to GroupI
levelsrangedfrom $81/yd
over$12,000/yd
• ($154/ac)to
• ($3675/ac),depending
on landtype, sideslope,
andendhaul dis-
tance.
West.J.Appl.For.2(4):119-124,
October
1987.
In recent
years
considerable
attention
WJAF2(4)1987 119
the last25 yearshavequantifiedrela-
tive rates of road- and nonroad-related
landslide erosion rates in forested
areas. Studies of several sites in the
Northwest have found ratios of road-
related erosion to natural forested-
area erosion of 25:1 to 344:1
(O'Loughlin 1972,Fiksdal1974,Mor-
rison 1975, Swanson and Dyrness
1975, Amaranthus et al. 1985). Esti-
matesof the percentageof the eroded
soilreachingcreeksrangefromessen-
tially zero to 70% (Swanson and
Swanson1977,Barnett1980).
The time between road construction
and road-related landslides varies and
appearsto be a functionof precipita-
tion and otherfactors.In an Oregon
study, Frederiksen(1970) observed
that sediment content in streams had
diminishedto onlyslightlyabovepre-
construction levels within 2 months
after the first storms. Sedimentation
increasedagain when landslides oc-
curredduringsubsequent stormswith
recurrence periods greater than 2
years. Riceand Wallis (1962)observed
that sediment loads from a California
watershed declined to twice
normallevelwithin 2 yearsafterroad
constructionand logging.McCashion
and Rice (1983),in a studyin north-
western California, found that roads
11to 15yearsold had the greatestero-
sionrate; they were unsureif this was
dueto changingconstruction practices
over time, the decayof organicmate-
rial in thefills,or theprecipitation
his-
tory. In a studyof slidesoccurringin
the Klamath Mountains of southwest
Oregon over a 20-yearperiod, Amar-
anthus (1985) concluded that most
debris landslides occurred within 1 to
7 years after road-buildingand log-
ging.
Improved constructionand mainte-
nancepracticesmay be decreasing the
frequencyof road-relatedlandslides
(Gresswellet al. 1979, Barnett 1980),
but no previous study has stratified
slidefrequencyand sizeas a function
of road location and construction
method.In this paper,we reportthe
resultsof a studyof the relationship
between road-related landslides
road locationand constructionprac-
tices in the Coast Range of Oregon
and suggestsomeapplicationsof the
results.
METHODS
The Site
We selectedan area of approxi-
mately300,000ac near Mapleton,Or-
egon (Figure 1). This is an important
timber-producing area,with a poten-
tial rate of tree growth in someloca-
tions exceeding 1000 bd ft/ac/yr.
Slopesare steepand highly dissected
by streams.The slopesare covered
with thin surfacesoilsof sandyand
thin gravelly loams and shallow sub-
120 WJAF2(4)1987
PORTLAND
OREGON
STUDY AREA
OSEB•RG
the
Fig. 1. Locationof study area.
soilsrangingfrom minor amountsof
clayloamsto thin gravellyand cobbly
loams.Depth to bedrockis generally
less than 3 ft; the bedrock is moder-
ately hard to hard gray sandstone
with thin interbeds of siltstone. More
stable, plastic, silty, sandstonesoil
types (SoilResourceInventoryLand-
types 41, 42, and 44) (Badura et al.
1974)predominatein the areanorthof
the Siuslaw River, while unstable,
nonplastic, sandy, and gravelly soil
(SoilResource
InventoryLandtype47)
predominatessouth of the river.
Rainfall averages90 to 100 in./yr.
The 10-yr, 24-hr precipitationis 6 to 7
in. and the 50-yr,24-hrprecipitation is
estimated to be 8 to 9 in. [National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration (NOAA) 1972]. Slightlylarger
amounts are estimated to occur in the
area north of the Siuslaw River than in
and
the area south of the river.
The LandslideInventory
To avoidsamplingproblems,we in-
ventoriedeverylandslideon all roads
constructedin the study area from
1972to 1982.This periodwas selected
to permit comparisonof the resultsof
improved road constructionand loca-
tion practicesbeing implementedby
variousownershipgroups,beginning
in the early 1970s,with the resultsof
practices common earlier and still
being used by someownersduring
the sameperiod.The end of the study
period was selected to permit the
newly constructedroadsto weatherat
least three wet seasons.
KLICKITAT
i MTN
A.EA:
3007000 AC
• MAPLETON
SIUSLAW
RIVEE
I
•5M.•.•
NOSE MT
•S
Roads were divided into two
groups. Group I roads were those
constructedusingfull-benchconstruc-
tion and material endhaul on slopes
greaterthan50%. On suchslopes,soil
was carefullyexcavated,loaded into
dumptrucks,and movedto a disposal
site. Steepgradeswere usedto reach
the ridgetops and avoid the side-
slopes;positionon the ridgetopswas
maintained by use of steep rolling
grades.Constructionpracticestypical
of the 1960swere used for Group II
roads: sidecastroad construction, little
endhaul,and moderateroadgradesto
reachandmaintainridgetoplocations
The roads in both groupswere pri-
marily secondaryroadsprovidingac-
cess to timber stands off the mainline
road system.Differencesin slashdis-
posal practiceswithin fills were not
considered, because the effects of
suchpracticesare of a longer term
than was coveredin this study.
Field inventory of landslideswas
conductedduring the summerof 1985
and was supplemented by aerialpho-
tographs taken in 1972, 1979, and
1985. Slide volumes were measured in
the field with clinometer and tape
The volumes of a few landslides were
checkedby theodolite,using either
stadia or steel chain. A limited com-
parison of slide volumes estimated
from measurements on 1:12000 aerial
photographswith 8-1/4focal length
yielded unreliableresults.Road seg-
ments were classifiedby construction
method, landtype, sideslope, gra-
dient, roadgrade,drainage,and loca-
tlon on the slope All headwall Table1. Landslide
frequencyandsize,by roadgroupandlandtype.
crossings were noted, along with Mean slide
headwall slope and headwall sharp- Sideslope Miles volume
ness.Only fill-slopefailureswere in- (%) Slides of road Slides/mi (yd•)
ventoried. Soilswere classifiedusing
USDA Forest Service Soil Resource In- ...................................... GroupI, Landtypes41, 42, and 44 ......................................
<50 0 29.74 -- --
ventory maps (Badura et al. 1974). 50-59 1 7.39 0.14 6
Supplementarysoil informationwas 60-69 0 12.59 -- --
obtainedfrom mapspreparedby the 70 - 79 0 13.47 -- --
Bureauof Land Management. 80-89 0 6.49 -- --
>89 0 2.70 -- --
RESULTS Overall 1 72.38 0.01 6
GroupI roadswere locatedon ridge- ...................................... GroupII, Landtypes41, 42, and 44 ......................................
<50 0 2.86 -- --
tops, constructed using more end- 50-59 0 1.09 -- --
haul, and located on more stable soils 60-69 0 0.90 -- --
more frequentlythan thosein Group 70- 79 2 0.53 0.27 110
II. Group I comprised 85.5 miles of 80-89 2 3.20 0.62 166
road, while Group II had 64.5 miles. >89 2 5.80 0.34 76
Seventy-three percent of Group I Overall 6 14.38 0.42 117
roads,but only58%of GroupII roads, ............................................... GroupI, Landtype47 ...............................................
<50 0 2.17 -- --
were locatedon ridgetops.Full-bench,
endhaul construction was used on 50-59 1 2.41 0.41 7
60-69 0 1.91 -- --
37% of the Group I road mileage, 70-79 1 3.10 0.32 66
comparedto 11% of Group II. Over 80-89 4 2.06 1.94 98
21% of the Group I miles were con- >89 5 1.41 3.55 151
structedat grades16% or higher, but Overall 11 13.06 0.84 111
only 3% of the Group II roads were .............................................. GroupII, Landtype47 ..............................................
that steep. Becausethe limited avail- <50 0 6.64 -- --
ability of roadswith Group I charac- 50-59 0 1.39 -- --
teristics determined the choice of 60-69 1 2.00 0.50 12
70-79 9 9.70 0.92 272
study site, the proportionsof roads 80- 89 26 17.49 1.49 238
constructedin the two landtypesdif- >89 39 12.90 3.02 287
fered. Approximately 85% of the Overall 75 50.12 1.50 265
Group I road miles were located in
Landtypes 41, 42, and 44; the re-
maining15%werein Landtype47. For
Group II, approximately22% of the sideof the apex).Headwallswere also imatelythe samefor bothgroups.For
road miles were in Landtypes41, 42, required to have a backslope ex- volumesof 400 yd3 and above,only
and 44, and the remaining 78% were tendingabovethe road cut, to avoid Group II had slides. We did not
in Landtype 47. including extreme ridgetop sections. stratify cumulativevolumesby side-
Group I roadshad fewer slidesper The frequencyof road sectionssatis- slope class because of the limited
mile and smalleraverageslidevolume fying this definition was 0.3/mi for number of slides in the data base.
than Group II roads(Table1). Twelve Group I and 0.9/mi for Group II. In DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
landslides,ranging in size from 6 to both groups, all headwall slidesoc-
290 yd3, were identified in Group I curredin Landtype47. Four of the 12 On Group I roads,steepsideslopes
roads. Eighty-one slides, with slides (33.3%) in Group I occurredin were generallyavoidedby the use of
volumesrangingfrom 6 to 3100yd3, headwall in Group I was 231 yd3, steepergradesto maintain ridgetop
were locatedon Group II roads.Most slides(6.2%)in GroupII (Table2). The positions.The lower numberof head-
of the slides occurred in the steep average slide volume occurring in a walls encounteredper mile of road is
sandy and gravelly sandstonetype headwall in Group I was 231 yd3, one resultof this practice.It is not ap-
(Landtype 47). None of the slides comparedto 322yd3in GroupII. parent why the failure rate in head-
reachedflowing streams. The percentageand cumulativeper- walls along Group II roads was
Slidefrequencyand sizein the com- centageof slidesby slide volume in- smaller.
bined Landtypes41, 42, and 44 were terval for Group I and Group II for Most slides on both Group I and
much lower for both Group I and Landtype47 are shownin Table3. In- GroupII roadsoccurredon roadscon-
Group II roadsthan for Landtype47 sufficient data were available for structed during the period 1976 to
(Table1). ForLandtypes41, 42, and 44 Landtypes 41, 42, and 44 to permit 1980,coincidingwith the major flows
the difference in landslide volume be- analysis.The percentageof slidesand on the Siuslaw River. The risk of land-
tween road groupswas approximately the averageslide volumesin the in- slides is greatestwhen precipitation
49 yd3/mi.For Landtype47 the differ- tervalsbelow200yd3/slideare approx- runoff is great and soil saturation is
encewas304yd3/mi.Whenit wasnec-
essary to crossslopesabove 80% in Table 2. Distributionof landslidesin headwalls(HW) by sideslope.
Landtype47, the landslidefrequency
Group I Group II
for Group I was slightlyhigher than
Sideslope Slides Total Mean slide Slides Total Mean slide
for Group II. The slidevolumes,how-
(%) in HW HW vol. (yd3) in HW HW vol. (yd3)
ever, were lessthan half as large as in
Group II. 50-59 -- 7 -- -- 0 --
Landslides occurred both inside and 60-69 -- 3 -- -- 2 --
outside headwall sections(headwalls 70-79 -- 11 -- 3 16 392
80-89 2 3 177 1 22 16
were definedas sectionshavinga cen- >89 2 4 284 1 19 419
tral angle less than 120ø when mea- Overall 4 28 231 5 59 322
sured100ft alongthe contouron each

WJAF2(4)1987 121
Table 3. Percentageand cumulativepercentageof shdesby slide volume interval (Land- bedded w•th•n the Group I shdesta-
type 47). tistics, the shde reduction costs m
Percentage Cumulative Mean slide Table 6 are conservative.Presumably,
Slidevol. ofslides percentage vol.(yd3) without greater maintenance efforts
interval(yd3) It II• I II I II on Group I roads, the difference in
0-99 55 53 55 53 33 35
slide frequenciesand sizes between
100-199 18 14 73 67 103 135 Group II and Group I would be less
200-399 27 11 100 78 271 249 and the differencein the cost/yd
3 of
400-999 0 16 100 94 0 610 slidereductionhigher.
1000-1999 0 5 100 99 0 1249 Steep road gradesmay be a more
>2000 0 1 100 100 0 3134 cost-effective alternative than full-
bench end-haul construction in re-
Roadgroups.
ducing slide volumes. Steeper road
gradeshave three advantages:
most likely (Burroughset al. 1976).A ence in road construction and haul 1. They reduce the amount of road
time-series analysis of rain gauge costs. constructedacrosssteepslopes.
recordsfrom the Mapletonstationwas The landslidevolume expectedper 2. They reduceroad milagerequired
attempted,but the data were unreli- mile of road canbe estimatedby mul- to reach control points, such as
able. Therefore, the flow of the tiplying the expected landslide fre- saddlesor ridges.
Siuslaw River was used as a broad in- quency per mile by the expected 3. They permit a greaterpercentageof
dicator of both the level of soil satura- volume per landslide, ignoring any the road systemto be on the less
tion and the intensityof rainfall.Only covariance between slide size and costly, lower maintenance,ridge-
one flow exceededa 20-yearreturn pe- slidefrequency(Table1). Differences top locations.
riod within the studyperiod(Table4). in road construction and user costs be- Steeperroad gradeshave two disad-
Furthermore, this runoff occurred tween the road designs for Group I vantages:theyincreasebothtranspor-
earlyin the 10-yrperiod.If fiver flow and Group II can be estimatedfrom tation cost and maintenance cost per
is used as an indicator, virtually all the differencesin the subgradeexca- mile of steeproad. The disadvantages,
roads constructed from 1972 to 1982 vation costsand the truck transport however, are often moderated by in-
experiencedstormsthat createdflows costs. creased mileage of the lower-cost
with at leasta 3- to 5-yr return period. In the appendiceswe giveexamples ridgetoproads, as shownin Appen-
The actual precipitationpattern over of how to use the results of the slide dix 2.
the study areais not well known. Lo- inventory data to estimatethe costof Our study did not evaluatethe eco-
callyheavy rainfallcan go undetected reducingslidevolumes(1) using full- nomic damage resulting from land-
by the widely scatteredrecordingsta- bench, endhaul construction prac- slidesbut canyield datato assistin es-
tions. Although this study used the tices, and (2) using steepergradesto timating the economic damage of
same time period to comparethe re- minimize the road required to cross landslides when combined with other,
suits of Group I and Group II prac- steep slopes.Using road construction exogenous models. Damage from
tices, absolute values of slide fre- data (Table 5) from Balcom(unpub- landslides depends on slide size,
quency and size might change for lished), we calculated the marginal proximity of the road to stream
otherprecipitationhistories.If the ab- cost of reducing slide volumes from courses, and a number of biological
solute values change, the relative Group II levels to Group I levels factors.Damagemay be eithera linear
comparisons couldalsochange. through full-benchendhaulpractices; or a nonliner function of slide volume

EconomicImplications
Although avoiding careless con-
structionpracticesmay reduceland-
slide frequency and landslide
volumes, further reductionsmay re-
quire investmentsin more expensive
road construction methods.
mateof the costsof reducinglandslide
volumes can be derived
mates of (1) landslide volume ex-
these costsranged from $81/yd3 to
over $12,000/yd
3 of slide prevented,
depending on sideslope, landtype,
and endhaul distance (Table 6). Be-
causeof the low frequencyof slides
and low slide volumes in combined
Landtypes41, 42, and 44, the costof
An esti- slidereductionis sixtimeshigherthan
for the samepracticein Landtype47.
from esti- We did not consider differences
road maintenancestrategiesbetween
In either case, data from this study
could be used to weight exogenously
determined damage estimates for
slides of various sizesby the proba-
bility of slide occurrence. The ex-
pected damage from a landslide
would be the sum of the weighted
damages.Table 3 couldbe used to es-
timatethe probabilityof a slidebeinga
in specificsize, given that a slidewas to
Occur.

pectedfor eachsetof designand con- Group I and Group II in this study. Appendix 3 gives an example of
structionpracticesand (2) the differ- Some owners have improved mainte- how to calculatethe expecteddamage
nanceover previouslevels,usuallyon of a slide,usingthe slideinventoryre-
Group I roads. To the extent that the suits of this study and exogenously
Table 4. Ten highestflows on the Siuslaw results of these practices are em- obtained damage estimates. For the
River, October 1972 to October 1982.
Return
Flow period Table5. Excavation
quantitiesand costsasa functionof sideslope
and construction
method.
Date (fO/sec) (yr) Excavationcost ($/mi)
01-16-74 49,400 20+
12-25-80 41,400 5.3 Sideslope Excavation With
endhauP
12-13-77 36,400 4.0 (%) (yd3/mi) Short Long Sidecast
12-06-81 35,800 3.2 50 32,000 35,200 188,000 10,500
01-08-76 35,300 2.7 60 40,000 44,000 240,000 13,200
12-16-82 33,300 2.3 70 56,500 62,150 339,000 18,645
11-15-73 30,700 1.5 80 69,000 75,900 414,000 22,770
10-25-77 30,500 1.3 90 85,000 93,500 510,000 28,050
12-20-73 29,700 1.2 1O0 106,500 117,150 639,000 35,145
12-04-75 29,300 1.1
Short-hauldistanceis 0.33mi round-trip;long-hauldistanceis4 mi round-trip.

122 WJAF2(4)1987
Table6. Estimatedcostfor reducinglandshdes
as a functionof endhauldistance
Sideslope
(%) ($/yd3)
.....................................................
50 81
60 101
70 143
80 175
90 215
100 270
............................................
50 503
60 629
70 888
80 1084
90 1336
100 1674
• We assumed an averagedifferencein slidevolumeof 304ydS/mifor Landtype47 and49 ydS/mifor
Landtypes(41,42, 44). Short-hauldistancewasdefinedas 0.33mi and long-hauldistanceas4.00 mi,
round-trip.Differencesin road constructioncostsbetweensidecastand endhaulmethods($/ac)are
basedon 4.00 mi of roadper section.
nonlineardamagefunctionassumed
In Appendix3, the expected damage
resulting from a slide in combined
Landtype41, 42, and 44 was only •A0
thatof a slidein Landtype47.
Conclusions
Our data indicate that modern road
locationand construction
techniques,
as exemplifiedby GroupI roads,can
markedlyreduceslidefrequencyand
size. Two major techniqueshave been
usedto achievethisreduction: steeper
roadgradesto minimizeroadmilage
on steep sideslopes,and endhaulof
excavated material on sideslopes
greaterthan 50% slope.The lower fre-
quency and smaller slides on Land-
types41, 42, and 44 for bothGroupI
and Group II roads,as comparedto
Landtype47, suggestthat, unlessre-
sourcevaluesare substantially higher
in Landtypes41, 42, and44 thanland-
type 47, the road design practices
shouldnot be the same.The marginal
costof preventinga cubicyardof slide
in Landtypes 41, 42, and 44 by
changingfrom GroupII to GroupI
practiceswas sixtimeshigherthanfor
Landtype47.
Using steep road gradesto mini-
mize road construction on steep
slopescanbe effectiveand economical
in reducing slide frequency,by re-
ducing excavation volumes and
avoidingsteeperslopeswhere slides
are morelikely. The high costof end-
hauling suggeststhat sideslope,gra-
dient,endhauldistance,steeproadal-
ternatives, slide risk, and expected
slide damagemust be consideredsi-
multaneouslyin choosingthe most
economical alternative.
LITERATURE CITED
AMARANTh•S, M. 1985. Michael P. Amaranthus
replies.J. For.83:536.
AMARANTHUS,M., ET AL. 1985. Logging and
forest roads related to increased debris slides in
southwestern
Oregon.J. For. 83:229-233.
Northwest P 199-219 tn Geomorphology and
Cost of slide reduction engineering, D. R. Coates (ed.). Dowden,
Hutchinsonand Ross,Stroudsburg, PA.
Short
endhaul Long
endhaul APPENDIX 1
($/ac) ($/yd3) ($/ac)
Landtype47 ..................................................... Calculating cost/yd3 of slideprevented
154 584 1110
192 746 1418
by endhaulroadconstruction, usingre-
272 1054 2003 sultsof thisstudy.
332 1287 2446 If the cost/yd3 of slidepreventedis
408 1585 3013
defined as the difference between ex-
513 1986 3775 cavation with endhaul and sidecast
Landtypes41, 42, and 44 ............................................ excavation,dividedby the difference
154 3621 1110 in landslide volumes, we can use
192 4629 1418 Table 1 to estimate the differences in
272 6538 2003 landslide volumes and Table 5 to esti-
332 7984 2446 mate the differences in construction
408 9836 3013
513 12324 3775 costs.Table 5 providesestimatesof
excavation volumes and subgrade
construction costs for full-bench end-
haul construction and for sidecast con-
struction for a road with a 20-ft sub-
grade,constructed
on sideslopes
of 50
to 100%. The full-bench endhaul costs
BADURA,G. H., H. A. LEGARD,AND L. C. MEYER. depend on the round-triphaul dis-
1974. Siuslaw National Forest Soil Resource In- tance. The short-haul distance in this
ventory. USDA For. Serv., SiuslawNational
Forest, Corvallis, OR. paper is for a round-triphaul of 0.33
BARNETT,
D. 1980. Landslide inventory of the mi; the long-haul distance, for a
Waldport Ranger District, SiuslawNational round-trip haul of 4 mi. Excavation,
Forest, 1952-1979. USDA For. Serv., Siuslaw endhaul costs, and endhaul distances
National Forest, Corvallis, OR. In service re-
port. 30 p.
are from unpublished data of J. C.
Balcom.
BURROUGHS,
E. R., JR., G. CHALFANT,AND M.
TOWNSEND. 1976.Slopestabilityin road con- For example,in Landtype47, if we
strucfion.A guideto the constructionof stable usethe expectednumberof landslides
roads in western Oregon and northern Cali-
fornia.Bur.LandManage.,OregonStateOff.,
from Group II on all slopeclassesas
Portland. 102 p. the base (Table 1), we would expect
FIKSDAL, A. J. 1974.A landslideinventoryof the 1.5landslides per mileandan average
StequalehoCreek Watershed:Supplementto landslidevolume of 265 yd3/slide,or
final report FRI-UW-704.FisheriesRes. Inst.,
Univ. of Washington,Seattle.8 p.
397 yd3/mi.For Group I, the equiva-
FREDERIKSEN,
R. L. 1970. Erosion and sedimenta- lent expectednumberof slidesis 0.84/
tion following road constructionand timber mi anda slidevolumeof 111yd3,or 93
harvest on unstable soils in three small western
yd3/mi.The differenceis 304yd3/mi.
Oregon watersheds. USDA For. Serv. Res.
Pap.PNW-104.15 p. Dividing the differencein construc-
GRESSWELL,
S., D. HELLER,AND D. SwANSTON. tion costby 304yd3/migivesthe cost/
1979.Massmovementresponseto forestman- yd3 of slidepreventedin Landtype47
agement in the central Oregon coastranges. (Table6).
USDAFor. Serv.Resour.Bull.PNW-84.26 p.
McCASH•ON,J. D., ANDR. M. PACE.1983. Erosion Expected slide volume reduction
on loggingroadsin northwesternCalifornia: can be calculatedby sideslope-class
How much is avoidable?J. For. 81:23-36. values.On Landtype47, slidevolume
MORRISON, P. H. 1975. Ecologicaland geomor- is positivelyrelated to sideslopegra-
phologicalconsequences of massmovements
in AlderCreekWatershed andimplicationsfor dient (Table1). For example,for the
forestland management.B.A. thesis,Univ. of three steepestslope classes,the ex-
Oregon,Eugene.102p. pecteddifferencesin slidevolume are
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINIS-
approximately229, 165, and 331 yd3/
TRATION
(NOAA). 1972.Atlas 2, Volume X. Of-
fice of Hydrology,U.S. Departmentof Com- mi respectively.Actual unit costsin
merce, Washington,D.C. the 80% and 90% sideslopeclasses
O'LOuGHLIN, C. L. 1972.An investigationof the wouldhavebeenlargerthanshownin
stability of the steeplandforest soilsin the
coast mountains of southwest British Co-
Table 6, becauseof smaller differences
lumbia. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of British Co-
in slide volumes; unit costs in the
lumbia.147p. steepestslope categorywould have
PACE,
R. M., ANDJ. R. WALLIS.1962.How a log- been about 10% higher than those
gingoperationcanaffectstreamflow.For. Ind. shown in Table 6.
89:38-40.
SWANSON, F. J., ANDC. T. DRYNESS.
1975.Impact
A similar calculation can be made
of clearcuttingand road constructionon soil for combinedLandtypes41, 42, and
erosionby landslidesin the westernCascade 44, althoughthe very smallnumberof
range,Oregon.Geology3:393-396. slidesin both road groupsmakethe
[] SwANsoN,F. J., .•aqDM. M. SWANSON.1977. In-
ventory of mass erosion in the Mapleton results quite tentative (Table 6). The
RangerDistrictSiuslawNationalForest.Final expected difference in slide volume
Rep., Coop.Studyof SiuslawNationalForest per mile of roadis 49 yd3. For the as-
and Pac. NorthwestFor. & RangeExp. Stn., sumed reduction in slide volumes, the
Corvallis,OR. 41 p.
SW^NSTON, D. N., AND F. J. SWANSON. 1976. costs/yd3 of slide reduction are six
Timber harvesting,masserosion,and steep- timeslargerfor Landtypes41, 42, and
land forest geomorphology in the Pacific 44 than for Landtype47.
WJAF2(4)1987 123
APPENDIX 2 Table7. Datafor hypothetical
calculationof slidereductioncostsfor two roadgradients.
Calculating
cost/yd
a of slideprevented Expected
byusingsteeperroadgrades. Const. Haul slide Expected
The costper yd3 of slideprevented Grade cost cost Dist. frequency vol.
Route (%) ($) ($/mbf) (mi) (slides/mi) (yd3/slide)
by usingsteeperroad gradescan be
calculated
by comparing the construc- la 18 70,000 6 0.7 1.50 265
lb 0 50,000 1 0.7 -- --
tioncostsandtrucktransportcostsfor
2 9 140,000 2 1.4 1.50 265
steep-and low-gradientalignments.
The cost of landslide reduction can be
expressedasthe difference of the sum
of constructioncostplushaul costbe- Table 8. Hypotheticalcalculationof the costof a landslide,where the damagecausedis a
tweenthe two alignments,dividedby nonlinearfunctionof slidevolumefor GroupII practicesin Landtype47.
the difference in expected slide Expected
volume (i.e., slide frequencymulti- Slidevolume Probability Damage damage
plied by slide volume). In the fol- interval(yd3) of occurrence (S/slide) ($)
lowing exampleof the calculations, 0-99 .53 0 0
the assumed conditions are for a 1.4- 100-199 .14 0 0
mi road that can take one of two 200-399 .11 10,000 1,100
routes(Table7). Route 1 is a combina- 400- 999 .16 100,000 16,000
tion of 0.7 mi of adverse18% grade 1000-1999 .05 500,000 25,000
acrossa sideslope(Routela) and 0.7 >2000 .01 1,000,000 10,000
mi of a rolling grade of negligible Total 1.00 52,100
steepnesson a ridgetop (Route lb).
The 18% gradehas surfacecharacter-
isticsrequiringan auxiliaryvehicleto 1 is $5000 more than for Route 2. The construction
methodsand hypothet-
assist the loaded truck. Route 2 is 1.4 cost/yd3 for slide reductionthrough ical valuesfor damagethat would re-
mi long at 9% adversegradeacrossa use of steeperroad gradesis $5,000/ sult from slides of different sizes
sideslope. Slide frequency and 278yd3, or $18/yd3. If the roadsurface (Table8). The expecteddamageof the
volume data are the overallaverages conditionsdid not requirean auxiliary landslideis calculatedby multiplying
for Group II roadsfor Landtype47 vehicle,or if the gradein the direction the probability of occurrenceof a
(Table 1). of the loaded truck were favorable, given size slideby the damagethat a
The difference in landslide volume Route1 would be the lesscostlyand slide of that size would cause. For the
is (1.4 x 1.5 x 265) - (0.7 x 1.50 x alsohavethe expectedadditionalben- exogenouslydetermineddamagesin
265), or 278yd3. The differencein con- efit of reduced landslides. Table 8, the weighted average is
struction cost is $140,000 - $120,000, $52,100. If the same hypothetical
or $20,000.The differencein transport values for damage resulting from
and maintenance cost is $5/mbf. If the slides of different sizes were used
APPENDIX 3.
volumeto be transportedis 5000mbf, with the landslidevolumeprobabili-
then the total differencein transport Calculating
theexpected
damage
froma ties for GroupI roadsin Landtype47
and maintenance cost is $25,000, and landslide. (Table 3), the expectedcost of the
thesumof theconstruction
plustrans- Considertheexpected damagefrom damage would be (.27)($10,000)or
port and maintenancecostsfor Route a slidein Landtype47, usingGroupII $2,700,or 1/20
of that of GroupII.

Biomass and Leaf-Area
Estimates for Varnishleaf
Ceanothus, Deerbrush, and
Whiteleaf Manzanita
Thomas F. Hughes, ChristopherR. Latt, John C.
TappeinerII, andMichael Newton, Department ofForest
Science,
College ofForestry,OregonStateUniversity,
Corvallis, 97331
1 Paper 2181, ForestResearchLaboratory,
Oregon State University, Corvallis.Men-
tion of trade names does not constitute en-
dorsementby Oregon State University to
the exclusionof otherproductsthat maybe
suitable.
equationsforestimating
theiraboveground
biomass andleafarea.From9 to 14 pure
standsfrom2 to20yearsoldwereselected
for eachspecies
in southwest Oregonand
northernCalifornia.Individualstemsof
Ceanothusspecies andwholebushes of
manzanitaweredestructively
Regression equations
sampled
forleafandtotalbio-
mass ofmanzanita plantsandforstems
Ceanothussp. showedthat thesevari-
of
ableswerehighlycorrelated
withtrunkor
stem diameter (r2 = 0.85 - 0.99). Total
biomass,leafbiomass,
andleafareaindex
(LAI)ofstandscanbeestimatedaccurately
frommeasurements ofstemor trunkbasal
area(r2 = 0.87 - 0.99). Standage(yr)
andaverage stemlength(cm)arealsoreli-
ableestimators
(r2 = 0.74 - 0.82). It ap-
pearsthatstandsof varnishleaf
attaina
maximumLAI of 5.5 m2/m 2 by 7 years,
whereasthe maximumvaluesfor deer-
brush and manzanita were 2.8 and 3.5, re-
ABSTPdiCT.To helpforesters assess
site
occupancy of seed-established
standsof spectively,
at about15years.Standsofall
threespecies
apparently
continueto pro-
varnishleaf
(Ceanothusvelutinus var.
laevigatus)deerbrush(Ceanothusinte- ducenetbiomasswellbeyond 16 yearsof
gerrimus), and whiteleafmanzanita age.
(Arctostaphylos viscida),we developed West.J.Appl.For.2(4):124-128,
October
1987.

124 WJAF2(4)1987