Application of Sensitivity Analysis in Forest Road Networks Planning and Assessment

Abstract

In the last few years, public awareness has been on the increase about short- and long- term effects of forest roads construction on the en vironment. Therefore, forest road managers have to be concerned about the negative im pacts and mitigate them as much as possible. This research conducted multi-criteria an alysis techniques in a useful way to define the effective criteria and propose a model f or forest road network planning and assessment so that both economic and environmental costs are minimized. The model was used for evaluating the alternatives and a sensitiv ity analysis was then performed to verify the model. Results of sensitivity analysis showed t hat, there were two alternatives out of nine, with the lowest negative impacts. As a result , analytic hierarchy process and sensitivity analysis (AHP-SA) revealed that the cri teria slope, soil texture and landslide susceptibility had the highest weight values, respe ctively, and the criteria soil texture and distance from stream networks and distance from fau lts were especially sensitive to the changes. In addition, the sensitivity analysis prov ed that the model proposed in our analysis was almost reliable and stable, and only t he first and second priorities were replaced in priority levels when the weight values of criteria were changed. Results showed that the methodology was useful for identify ing road networks that met environmental and cost considerations. Based on thi s work, the authors suggest future work in forest road planning using multi-criteria e valuation and decision making be considered in other regions and that the road plann ing criteria identified by the experts in this study can be useful. Keywords : Effective criteria, Environmental assessment, For est road network, Sensitivity analysis.