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Forests
Special Issues
New Research Developments on Forest Road Planning and Design
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New Research Developments on Forest Road Planning and Design

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Operations and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2025) | Viewed by 950

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Petr Hrůza

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Landscape Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: forest access; forest roads; landscape management
Dr. Luca Marchi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Land, Environment and Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Viale dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
Interests: forest roads; road engineering; steep terrain trafficability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, forest access is about more than just roads; it involves integrating technological solutions with society’s needs whilst respecting nature. Integrating new technologies, e.g., machine learning, artificial intelligence, advanced technical devices, or new software tools, can offer solutions that will advance forest road planning, design, and construction in the future. We invite you to share your ideas, knowledge, and professional experience. All of the questions you have asked in your research and your findings in answer to them are valuable. Starting with the basics of forest road network planning and routing, forest road density, spacing, and their technical influence on skidding and timber transport technologies are crucial. Appropriate forest road routing affects surface and subsurface water runoff conditions. The shape and parameters of changing cross-profiles can also affect these conditions. On the other hand, such parameters are influenced by the role of timber transport. Different soil conditions and better local soil management at the construction site are important. The use of local aggregate resources in connection with land disturbance and economic factors is beneficial. There is also the question of forest road deactivation. Once a forest road is constructed, is it permanent? The use of new emerging devices, software tools, and shared data is on the rise. The approach to forest access is changing. We encourage you to submit your research results and professional communications for publication in this Special Issue of Forests

Potential topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Forest road network planning;
  • Forest road network optimization;
  • Forest road routing;
  • Devices, software tools, and shared data in forest road design;
  • Forest road parameters;
  • Forest road water management, and the influence on surface and subsurface water runoff;
  • Local soil management and local aggregate resources in forest road construction;
  • Forest road deactivation.

We encourage you to submit your research results and professional communications for publication in this Special Issue of Forests.

Dr. Petr Hrůza
Dr. Luca Marchi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • forest access
  • forest road network
  • routing
  • forest road design
  • forest road parameters
  • water runoff management
  • technology integration

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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14 pages, 2477 KiB  
Article
Comparative Assessment of Woody Species for Runoff and Soil Erosion Control on Forest Road Slopes in Harvested Sites of the Hyrcanian Forests, Northern Iran
by Pejman Dalir, Ramin Naghdi, Sanaz Jafari and Petros A. Tsioras
Forests 2025, 16(6), 1013; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16061013 - 17 Jun 2025
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Abstract
Soil erosion and surface runoff on forest road slopes are major environmental concerns, especially in harvested areas, making effective mitigation strategies essential for sustainable forest management. The study compared the effectiveness of three selected woody species on forest road slopes as a possible [...] Read more.
Soil erosion and surface runoff on forest road slopes are major environmental concerns, especially in harvested areas, making effective mitigation strategies essential for sustainable forest management. The study compared the effectiveness of three selected woody species on forest road slopes as a possible mitigating action for runoff and soil erosion in harvested sites. Plots measuring 2 m × 3 m were set up with three species—alder (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.), medlar (Mespilus germanica L.) and hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna Jacq.)—on the slopes of forest roads. Within each plot, root abundance, root density, canopy percentage, canopy height, herbaceous cover percentage, and selected soil characteristics were measured and analyzed. Root frequency and Root Area Ratio (the ratio between the area occupied by roots in a unit area of soil) measurements were conducted by excavating 50 × 50 cm soil profiles at a 10-cm distance from the base of each plant in the four cardinal directions. The highest root abundance and RAR values were found in hawthorn, followed by alder and medlar in both cases. The same order of magnitude was evidenced in runoff (255.42 mL m−2 in hawthorn followed by 176.81 mL m−2 in alder and 67.36 mL m−2 in medlar) and the reverse order in terms of soil erosion (8.23 g m−2 in hawthorn compared to 22.5 g m−2 in alder and 50.24 g m−2 in medlar). The results of the study confirm that using plant species with dense and deep roots, especially hawthorn, significantly reduces runoff and erosion, offering a nature-based solution for sustainable forest road management. These results highlight the need for further research under diverse ecological and soil conditions to optimize species selection and improve erosion mitigation strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Research Developments on Forest Road Planning and Design)
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17 pages, 4249 KiB  
Article
Water and Vegetation as a Source of UAV Forest Road Cross-Section Survey Error
by Ivica Papa, Maja Popović, Luka Hodak, Andreja Đuka, Tibor Pentek, Marko Hikl and Mihael Lovrinčević
Forests 2025, 16(3), 507; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16030507 - 13 Mar 2025
Viewed by 590
Abstract
Planning in forestry should be based on accurate and reliable data. UAVs equipped with RGB cameras can enable fast and relatively cheap surveys, but their accuracy depends on many factors. Therefore, it is necessary to determine when UAVs can be used and when [...] Read more.
Planning in forestry should be based on accurate and reliable data. UAVs equipped with RGB cameras can enable fast and relatively cheap surveys, but their accuracy depends on many factors. Therefore, it is necessary to determine when UAVs can be used and when this type of survey gives data that does not reflect the true ground situation. This research analyzed the usability of a UAV, equipped with a RGB camera, for recording normal cross-sections and side ditch depths of the forest road in a lowland forest. The research was conducted in two time periods: during winter and spring, i.e., outside and during the vegetation season. DTMs of the area researched were created based on aerial photographs taken with the UAV, Z values of terrain points were read, and the depths of side ditches were calculated based on read Z values. The water depth in the side ditches and the vegetation height on the entire road body width were recorded to determine the influence of these two variables on the UAV survey error. Terrain points were recorded with the total station, which was the reference measurement method. An analysis of the obtained (read) DTM Z values revealed RMSE values of 10.09 cm for winter (outside vegetation) and 36.41 cm for spring (vegetation) UAV survey. The side ditch, calculated based on the DTM of the winter and spring periods of UAV recording, were statistically significantly different from the side ditch depths measured using the total station. Correcting the obtained data with water depth and vegetation height lowered the differences in Z values, as well as the ditch depths visible from RMSEZ (7.70 cm) for the winter UAV survey, with no statistically significant difference in side ditch depths. In the case of the correction of spring recording data, RMSEZ was smaller (23.41 cm) than before correction (36.41 cm), and the depth of the side ditches was still statistically significantly different. The authors conclude that water and ground vegetation can significantly affect UAV survey accuracy. In the winter period, side ditch depth measurement is possible in areas where water is not present. If water is present, manual measurement of water height and correction of obtained UAV data can improve data accuracy. On the other hand, spring or vegetation period UAV surveys are highly affected by ground vegetation height and the authors do not recommend surveys in that period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Research Developments on Forest Road Planning and Design)
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