Effect of Road Closures on Timber Programs

Road closures can strongly affect Forest Service timber programs. On Federal timberlands, the timber program and an extensive road network evolved simultaneously. Many roads were built by purchasers or with purchaser credits from timber sales. These roads often served a variety of users. By the late 1980s, about 25,000 National Forest timber sales of more than $300 were recorded per year.  They supplied 14 percent of the U.S. timber harvest. This harvest supported some 125,000 direct jobs in many communities, mostly in the western United States. By 1997, the proportion of total U.S. harvest supplied from Federal land had dropped by half because of efforts to protect various habitats for species at risk of extinction.

Road closures on Federal timberlands have stimulated the development of logging systems that reduce the need for roads. In steep terrain, reducing road densities may require longer cable yarding distances, and because yarding distance is a significant cost factor, especially in thinnings (Hochrein and Kellogg 1988, Kellogg and others 1996, Kellogg and others 1996) timber harvesting costs likely will increase. In addition, greater reliance could be placed on helicopter logging, which can increase logging costs by as much as 2.5 times. Another result could be more wood left behind in the forest because logs must be bucked to their optimum length to maximize the payload of the helicopter.

In gentler terrain, a reduction in road densities could lead to increased use of cut-to-length (harvester-forwarder) systems or more reliance on cable yarding. Movement of logs from stump to landing significantly affects the logging costs. Lanford and Stokes (1996) note that at least with similar primary transportation distances in the Southeast, harvester-forwarder systems have comparable costs per unit harvested to traditional ground-based skidder systems, yet with lower environmental effects. If cable yarding replaced some ground-based systems, costs could increase by 1.4 times or more (Kellogg and others 1996).

More difficult to determine are the long-term effects of focusing future management activities in only the roaded sections of National Forests, where one of the primary management tools is stand manipulation through timber-sale contracts. Some management activities, such as prescribed fire, do not depend heavily on roads, but most of the techniques for stand improvement require some type of vehicle access.

Another issue is how changes in one region relate to changes elsewhere in North America.  Reductions in Federal timber harvesting largely in the West are offset by increases in harvesting elsewhere (mostly Canada and on private timberlands in the South). These offsetting changes moderate effects on consumers.  The largest effects are borne by producers (and their employees) in affected regions.