1) Problem:
a) Roads being built to access timber are causing even
more problems than logging alone.
b) The places being chosen to log and build roads are
also not the best possible areas.
2) Plan:
a) Inform about, if not mandate, certain road building
techniques and locations.
3) Background:
There are many road-building techniques that are useful
in preventing problems such as erosion, run-off pollution, and fragmentation.
They are useful for logging in areas in the United States, but they will
also work for the Amazon rainforest because they are very general.
As described in the Guide to Forestry Management Practice of the Tennessee
Department of Griculture Division of Forstry which can be found at http://www.state.tn.us/agriculture/forestry/BMPs.pdf,
they are not difficult to implement, yet they will be beneficial.
(Similar techniques can be found at nearly all of the states forestry pages,
for example at http://www.environment.ky.gov/nrepc/dnr/forestry/pdf/kfcalandowners.pdf,
a very simple brochure has been laid out)
Currently, sediment is one of the most problematic side
effects of logging. Other problems include fragmentation of the forest.
Things to consider:
If we are to build more roads, especially for the logging
industry, we need to plan them out in advance. There are also some
techniques for road building that we should follow, so as to avoid extreme
erosion and water pollution:
or the other
links listed earlier.