Method of designing forest road construction scenario with GIS-based calibration using sustainable forestry model

In Japan, where planted forest resources have matured, the growing demand for harvesting work has necessitated road network expansion. To address this challenge, a model grounded in graph theory was developed to design a road network aligned with Japan's environmental and social conditions. This model integrates the road network with a forest management plan to ensure that timber collection aligns with each year's business scenarios. The slope parameters in the model were fine-tuned using road network data from sustainable forestry locations and simulations were conducted in forests near Tokyo. The designed working road boasts an average slope of 13–14%, and the final road network density, including primary roads, surpassed the city's development target of 85.08 m ha -1 . An evaluation using the Hausdorff distance indicated that the road network layout was generally appropriate for actual data. These findings are expected to contribute significantly to the effective forest resource utilization. • A road network design is required to cope with the increase in harvesting in Japan • We developed a road network layout decision model • The model can be linked to GIS and can generate roads • The model incorporates the knowledge of engineers via parameter optimization • The number of road networks aligned with policy goals and the layout was appropriate