Predicting sedimentation from forest roads

Abstract

The water erosion prediction project (WEPP) model was run to predict sedimentation from forest roads for more than 50,000 combinations of distance between cross drains, road gradient, soil texture, distance from stream, steepness of the buffer between the road and the stream, and climate. The results of these WEPP runs can be viewed through computer interfaces developed for both Windows and the Internet. They offer natural resource managers a way to estimate road sediment yields quickly for a wide range of conditions. The programs are fast, simple to use, and a significant improvement over most current methods that estimate road sediment yields to streams.