Introduction to Wildland Road Removal

Roads have both direct and indirect ecological effects on wildlands, most notably habitat destruction from road building and road-induced landslides. Other impacts include collisions, noise pollution, chemical pollution, and changes in wildlife behavior. Roads also fragment and isolate plant and animal populations, cause edge effects, and act as corridors for non-native species invasion. Roads directly impact aquatic ecosystems. Large amounts of sediment originating from roads reach streams and rivers, degrading habitat and impairing fish reproduction (Harr and Nichols 1993). Finally, roads fundamentally disrupt natural drainage patterns by diverting water and by preventing water infiltration into soil (Wemple et al. 1996). The extreme result of this is massive road failure and landslides.


Road removal/decommissioning involves taking roads out of service. This can be done by blocking access or by some combination of other road decommissioning techniques, such as removing culverts and unstable road shoulders, or full removal of roads by recontouring, restoring natural slopes, and revegetating. Road removal includes removing stream crossings, constructing cross-road drains, ripping road surfaces, recontouring road prisms, and outsloping.



Removing roads is the best and most long-term solution to addressing the well-documented impacts of roads on wildland ecosystems. Road removal curtails adverse ecological and hydrological impacts, reduces impacts associated with motorized access, and saves money while creating jobs.

 

Additional information:
Read our actions & accomplishments related to restoration
Road Restoration Resources