A METHOD FOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ACCOUNTABILITY AND ASSESSMENT IN

FOREST ROAD NETWORK DEVELOPMENT

Author: Iulian Nenu, Transilvania University of Braov, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest
Engineering, Department of Forest Engineering, Forest Management Planning and
Terrestrial Measurements, irul Beethoven No. 1, 500123, Braov, Romania, e-mail:
xxxxxxx@xxxxx.ro, tel: 000000000000

Abstract.The assessment of environmental impact represents one of the central

research preoccupations in many industrial sectors as it was triggered by the need to
evaluate to what extent a given product system may affect the environment. Depending
on many factors, the development of forest road network may result in many activities
out of which the earthmoving, bridging and surfacing are predominant. Of course, these
suppose the use of heavy machinery, transport of raw materials and significant in-situ
operations aiming to construct or to rehabilitate/maintain forest roads. Starting from
the principle of sustainability - "think globally, act locally" - the impact of construction,
maintenance, operation and rehabilitation of forest roads must be addressed
holistically, probably by using analysis-to-severe degrees. The goal of this study was to
develop a method able to analyze and evaluate technical solutions for the construction,
maintenance and rehabilitation of forest roads, framed around the system engineering
concepts and incorporating the principles of Life Cycle Assessment. The developed
method is presented as a case study for a representative forested area of Romania as
well as for the commonly used engineering solutions in the region.

Keywords: Forest Roads, Environmental Impact Assessment, Life Cycle Analysis, System
Engineering