A METHOD FOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ACCOUNTABILITY AND ASSESSMENT IN

FOREST ROAD NETWORK DEVELOPMENT

Drd. Ing Iulian NENU,

Transilvania University of Braşov, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Department of Forest Engineering, Forest Management Planning and
Terrestrial Measurements, Şirul Beethoven No. 1, 500123, Braşov, Romania, e-mail: iulian.mihai.nenu@unitbv.ro

Introduction
The assessment of environmental impact represents one of the central research preoccupations in many industrial sectors as it was triggered by the need to evaluate to what extent a given product system may affect the environment. Depending on many factors, the
development of forest road network may result in many activities out of which the earthmoving, bridging and surfacing are predominant. Of course, these suppose the use of heavy machinery, transport of raw materials and significant in-situ operations aiming to construct or
to rehabilitate/maintain forest roads. Starting from the principle of sustainability - "think globally, act locally" - the impact of construction, maintenance, operation and rehabilitation of forest roads must be addressed holistically, probably by using analysis-to-severe degrees.
The goal of this study was to develop a method able to analyze and evaluate technical solutions for the construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of forest roads, framed around the system engineering concepts and incorporating the principles of Life Cycle Assessment.
The developed method is presented as a case study for a representative forested area of Romania as well as for the commonly used engineering solutions in the region.

1.Scope and goal of the study 3.Methodology

1. Develop a concept for an analysis tool for evaluating the environmental burden of forest road construction activity;
2. Develop a framework in order to create necessary data base for Romanian forestry sector.
3.1. Starting point of the methodology
► All activities related with forest road construction, due to the remote area where they are build, use energy from diesel
engines. The impact of these activities can be measured in CO2 emissions related with each type of activity. In this category
are included : earth moving activities, transport, stone crushing, sub-base and base material production and transport;

2.Current State ► For metal parts like culverts, concrete or stone for embankments walls or other materials used the emissions can be
calculated in CO2 equivalent.
Every forest road project it presents it’s on particularities due to location, environmental criteria,
geographical characters and this lead to different approaches in design and choosing the materials for
►The negative carbon emissions due to deforestation were calculated based in IPCC report;
the construction.

3.2. Performance evaluation- simulation, preview of analysis tool

2.1 Current State and European Context

►Until recently, the main criteria for selecting the

CO2 equiv
best technical solution was the price of the entire Nr. Crt Activity U.M. Amount TOTAL
(t CO2)
project.
Infrastructure

1 Earth digging with Excavator 100 m3 0.95 95.000 m3 0.0393

►Environmental Performance Indicators were
2 Compactation 100 m2 0.350 35.000 m2 0.0063
included as a mandatory part of all projects but the
Superstructure
don’t offer a quantitative answer, only an indication
3 Gravel Extraction 100 m3 0.150 15.000 m3 0.0203
about environmental impact : low, medium, high.
4 Gravel transport t/km 16.800 16.800 t/km 0.0236

5 Gravel diposal 100m2 0.350 35.000 m2 0.0070

►The existing methodology does not allow to 6 Compactation 100m2 0.350 35.000 m2 0.0063
compare different technical solution from LULUCF
environmental burden point of view. 7 Area of the road 100 m2 1.200 120.000 m2 0.0180

Total 0.1207
►There is a lack of existing date base for a life
cycle assessment or other information for Romanian
Fig. 1- Forest road construction steps
road construction industry, both public roads and
forest roads.
2.2 Particularities of Forest Roads
Tab.2 – Model simulation for a 10 m road section, with 3.5 m width platform

►Constructed in remote areas, especially in hill and mountains areas with difficult terrain;
► The main function is to transport the collected wood , which is spread on a large area;
► They are used at full capacity in only one way due to the fact that wood is carried from the forest to factories. ►Simulation was performed for a Secondary class road section with length of 10 m;
► They are use periodic due to forest management applied; ► The ideal situation with equal volumes for digging and filling was chosen , in 100 % dirt type of terrain;
► Constructed in areas with high humidity which lead to a rapid deterioration. ► CO2 equivalent was calculated based on fuel consumption with a rate of 1 l of diesel=2.68 kg of CO2..
►Fuel production related emissions were not included in this simulation;
►Gravel density was 1.6 t/m3 and calculated based on WRAP- LCA report 2009 .
2.3 Classification of Forest Roads

According to Romanian Normative, forest roads are divided in three categories:

Category
Forest area Annual Design
Width m
Minimum
Maximum slope for
Vizibility Flood
Recomende
4.Conclusions
served trafic speed radius Loaded Empty range insurance
Road type Platform Roadway Edge Road system
ha t km/h m transport transport m %
 The process does not conclude a full analysis of the environmental impact, but it allows to compare the available technical solutions
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
50 85 7 10 100 Asfalts, between them in order to obtain the optimal design from environmental point of view
40 55 7 10 70 Improved macadam,
Magistral >10 000 > 50 000 7 5.5 0.75 1
25 20 8 11(12) 40
macadam  The proposed framework , although it is still a work in progress, has a major advantage by offering the possibility to analyze both a

1000 5000
40 55 7 10 70
Macadam technical solution, or the entire project;
Main ~ ~ 25 5 4 0.5 20 8 11(12) 40 2 Gravel or crused stone in one
10 000 50 000
20 15 8 11(12) 30
or two layers Including in the analysis exact details like the average distance of transport for raw material (superstructure components and other
20 15 8 11(12) 30
Secondary <1000 <5000 15 3.5 2.75 0.375 15(14) 9 12(13) 25 3
Gravel or crashed stone materials) allows to analyze the efficiency of each design and opens the door for Green Public Procurement directive of European
in one or two layers
10 15(13) 9 12(13) 20
Union(2016);
Tab 1. Forest Road categories, criteria and specification PD -003-11
The methodology can be used both by forest road engineer when designing and by constructors in order to elaborate the offer for auction

2.4 Life cycle assessment of a forest road construction and present their construction strategy;
By creating a tool that allows constructors to evaluate the way they intend to construct the forest road, the beneficiary of the project may

Functional Unit : m2 of constructed road add this evaluation as a mandatory request on the Tender, in order to improve environmental performance , this to become a decisional
factor near the technical-economic one, which for many year was the strongest one.
System boundaries: ► Included in the analysis: - Raw material production;
- Transport of raw material on site;
- Placement of material in road structure.

► Not included in the analysis: -Machinery construction;

-Emissions due to traffic after road construction. Transilvania University of Braşov, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Department of Forest
-Emissions occurred during road design field operations. Engineering, Forest Management Planning and Terrestrial Measurements, Şirul Beethoven No. 1,
500123, Braşov, Romania

Impact category: ► Green House Gases in CO2 Equivalent

► Land-Use , Land Use Change and Forestry(LULUCF)