Road Assessment and Restoration Planning in the Mad River Ranger District, Six Rivers National Forest

Project Dates: 
2010
Funding Organizations: 
US Forest Service
Cooperating Agencies: 
Six Rivers National Forest
A site photo representative of the road related sediment sources.

In the summer of 2010, Natural Resource Services Division of Redwood Community Action Agency (RCAA) conducted a sediment source road inventory and analysis of US Forest Service roads within parts of the upper Mad River, Van Duzen River, and North Fork Eel River watersheds in Northern California. The project entailed a field examination of selected US Forest Service roads within the project area and identified road related sources of sediment contribution to the stream network using an inventory protocol developed by the US Forest Service. A total of 590 miles (800 roads) of system and non-system roads were inventoried by field crews. Crews evaluated potential and active sediment contribution from road surface, stream crossings, cross drains, and erosional features to the stream network. Data was collected and the location of each feature was recorded with a GPS unit. Field data, along with a risk assessment model was used to identify high priority sites for treatment. Treatment recommendations for sites requiring decommissioning, upgrades, or maintenance were made in the field. All field data and analysis was added to the Six Rivers National Forest road database.