Optimization of forest roads network in hilly and mountainous natural forests in Northern Bosnia and Herzegovina : doctoral dissertation
Optimizacija omrežja gozdnih cest v sredogorskih in gorskih naravnih gozdovih severne Bosne in Hercegovine : doktorska disertacija

english

doktorska dela

2019

Univerza v Ljubljani, Biotehniška fakulteta
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

Sustainable forest management requires optimization of forest roads network. Optimization from the point of utilization of timber implies determination of optimal density and spatial layout of forest roads, and at the same time, it is necessary to justify social, cultural and protective forest functions and spatial management. The public natural forests of Northern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) were object of observation and research, and they are naturally renewed from the seeds. It is the most important forest category from the point of quantity and quality of timber and biodiversity. The overall forest accessibility of forests in BIH is 10 m/ha, and density of forest roads in natural forests is 11 m/ha. These forest accessibilities are insufficient for sustainable forest management from the aspect of Forest % (1995) recommendations. Such state of overall and natural forests accessibility requires planning of new forest roads. Planning of new forest roads consists of planning of forest accessibility and designing of forest roads. This task requires analysis of actual forest roads network, determination of optimal density of forest roads, determination of suitability of forest area for the construction of forest roads and designing of forest roads in the end. Actual forest roads network analysis includes determination of forest road density, average skidding distance, relative forest accessibility and coefficient of efficiency of actual forest roads network. These indicators of forest accessibility are used for assessment of quantity and quality of actual forest roads network. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) allows selection and evaluation of influential factors in relation to planning of forest roads. The tools of Geographic Information System (GIS) allow a complete spatial and statistical analysis and management of data collected from the forest management plans or being surveyed in the field, and obtained by analysis of Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and AHP method. Planning of forest roads was done in hilly Management Unit (the MU) Prosara and mountainous MU Bobija-Ribnik. Optimal density of forest roads was determined by minimization of total transportation cost, it ranges from 16 to 26.5 m/ha. These results showed that natural forests have potential for normal forest management.

23.05.2023