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ABSTRACT
Forest road construction and maintenance can be one of the more expensive components of timber harvesting, and accurately estimating costs can greatly influence the profitability of timber acquisitions. Road costs can be estimated by previous personal experience, machine rate estimates, acquisition of contractor bids, or spreadsheets. The purpose of the Virginia Tech Forest Road Cost Method is to provide practicing foresters with a simple tool for estimating costs associated with the construction, maintenance, and closure of minimum standard forest roads and bladed skid trails. This method consists of five cost categories: stream crossings, road construction, improvement/maintenance of existing roads, bladed skid trail construction, and closure. Cost estimates are based on published information, as well as inquiries of stone quarries, excavation companies, and pers. comm. with professionals who are knowledgeable about forest road construction and maintenance in the southeast. Cost inputs can be easily modified by the user to reflect local conditions. The method requires users to have a basic knowledge of desired road standards, road templates, and local terrain. Additional knowledge of local costs is helpful in identifying the proper monetary values to assign to each category within the spreadsheet. Field testing indicates that the method can provide useful cost estimates for field foresters and others who need to quickly estimate road construction/maintenance costs.
Keywords: forest operations, harvesting costs, best management practices (BMP)
The design, construction, and maintenance of forest roads are costly forest operations, both monetarily and environmentally (Walbridge 1997, Swift and Burns 1999). The environmental impact of forest roads receives considerable public scruriny, and as a result states have included recommendations for the location, construction, maintenance, and closure of forest roads among their best management practices (BMP) for protection of water and site quality (Aust and Blinn 2004). The monetary costs of building and maintaining forest roads are less of a concern to society, but for foresters, landowners, and loggers, road costs can be an important profit consideration. Loggers spend considerable time planning harvests and implementing BMP, of which forest road installation and maintenance are often of primary concern (Bolding et al. 2010). Foresters may struggle to accurately estimate road building costs because of considerable variability (Groves et al. 1 979, Kochenderfer et al. 1 984, Jackson and Loveless 1...