Forest management today has to meet a number of objectives. Planning of multi-functional forest road networks is one essential for meeting the aims of the sustainable forest concept. Road construction damages the natural environment unless it is carefully thought out. As forest engineers we have to consider the protection of nature when designing forest roads. With this aim in mind, a new network planning approach was developed for wood-harvesting. A geographical information system (GIS) was used to evaluate the data and planning process. The new forest road network plan for Catak Forest District constituted the addition of a new 16-road segment, total length 59.067 km, to the existing road network plan, for the purpose of wood-harvesting operations. Forest road density value was determined as 22.8 m/ha: the opening-up rate of the area was increased to 77.8% and the opening-up rate of the existing stand value was increased to 94.3% after close examination. 90.2% of roads were planned for the forest areas where there is likely to be minimal negative environmental impact.

Farm tractor skidding is one of the common methods of timber extraction in Turkey. However, the absence of an optimal skidding plan covering the entire production area can result in time loss and negative environmental impacts. In this study, the timber extraction by farm tractors was analyzed, and a new skid trail pattern design was developed using Linear Programming (LP) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). First, a sample skidding operation was evaluated with a time study, and an optimum skidding model was generated with LP. Then, the new skidding pattern was developed by an optimum skidding model and GIS analysis. At the end of the study, the developed new skid trail pattern was implemented in the study area and tested by running a time study. Using the newly developed "Direct Skid Trail Pattern (DSTP)" model, a 16.84% increase in working time performance was observed when the products were extracted by farm tractors compared to the existing practices. On the other hand, the average soil compaction value measured in the study area at depths of 0-5 cm and 5-10 cm was found to be greater in the sample area skid trails than in the control points. The average density of the skid trails was 281 m/ha, while it decreased to 187 m/ha by using the developed pattern. It was also found that 44,829 ton/ha of soil losses were prevented by using the DSTP model; therefore, environmental damages were decreased.

This study aimed at pointing out the environmental importance of road construction in a semi-arid high mountainous area on soil erosion and some important soil properties throughout the forest road. In total 60 soil samples in both forest and open area were collected from topsoil (0-20 cm) of a cut slope, fill slope, and control points along with a forest road route. The soil properties were determined in the laboratory and the soil loss amounts were determined by way of an Allgemeine Boden Abtrags Gleichung (ABAG) simulation model.As a result, the road construction phase significantly changed (p<0.001) the soil erosion trend. Annual soil loss amounts (t/ha/yr.) determined cut slope > fill slope > control in both forest and open areas. Consequently, road construction efforts significantly affected topsoil loss and some soil properties such as organic matter, available water-holding capacity, and bulk density. According to the created scenario, under the same slope (68.72%) and slope length (3.26 m) conditions, the highest soil loss trend was in cut slope, which was significantly different (p<0.001) from fill slope and control in forested and open areas.

Many factors, with differing priority ratios, need to be assessed in the evaluation of forest roads. Stakeholder perceptions differ in the road assessment process and this research addresses those differences between academic and practitioner groups. The focus was on four main forest road assessment factor groups (technical, economic, environmental, and social) within 23 sub-factors to determine the priority ratios using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Stakeholder groups expressed different priority ratios, indicating varying perceptions of the importance of these factors: forest engineering academic staff identified technical specifications as the most important issue (with a ratio of 39.77%), while environmental issues were most important for forestry department academic staff, mechanical supply technical staff, and forest enterprise chiefs (with ratios of 41.79%, 39.95%, and 37.03%, respectively). Due to differences in stakeholder group perceptions, a participatory forest road assessment approach should be adopted.

The bare surfaces formed on the slopes in the construction of forest roads become the most important sediment sources due to erosion. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the WEPP model in local conditions by comparing the data obtained from the same forest roads and the annual soil loss calculated with the WEPP:Road Batch model with the data obtained with ABAG, which is the metric system of the USLE model. For this purpose, analyzes were made on newly built, 5-year and 10-year sample forest roads. Web-based WEPP: Road Batch WEPP Forest Road Erosion Predictor model and ABAG model calculations were performed for the analysis. As a result of the calculations made on newly built road slopes and built 5 to 10 years ago, 7.93-15.5, 1.46-1.59 and 1.58-1.75 tons/ha/year estimated values were obtained for WEEP and ABAG models, respectively. As a result, it is thought that it would be more accurate to determine the annual soil loss precisely by taking samples only from newly built roads, where it is possible to use WEPP: Road Batch software on aged roads. Thus, a strategy can be formed about erosion and slope stability studies on forest roads.