GIS analysis Methodology for Road Removal in the San Juan National Forest

The San Juan National Forest has approximately 2,000 miles of Classified Routes and 6,000 miles of unclassified routes.  Plus an unknown amount of motorized trails. The goal is to prioritize routes for decommissioning in the San Juan National Forest in order to decrease habitat fragmentation.  Firstly we need to identify key wildlife habitat that would best benefit from a decrease in routes. 

Step 1: Identify Species habitat and determine critical wildlife habitat.  

Step 2: Apply the critical wildlife habitat information to the routes of the San Juan National Forest.

Step 3: Determine the Potential Available Routes for decommissioning.

Step 4: Spatial Strategies/Goals of Decommissioning Roads:

-  Decrease route density

-  Increase core areas by removing cherry-stemmed roads

-  Increase core areas by removing routes between core areas

-  Network analysis of the road network to determine necessary/unnecessary roads