Deactivating and Rehabilitating Roads

The following section summarizes the recommended best management practices for deactivating and rehabilitating roads. As these are only brief summaries, you should also check out more detailed information in the Karst Management Handbook for British Columbia.

Best management practices for all vulnerability categories

The following best management practices are recommended:

Consult the local Forest Service district office to discuss access management with regard to deactivating roads.
Remove or frequently breach windrows on the outer edge of temporarily deactivated roads.
Use strategies to prevent impacting karst features during temporary deactivation (e.g., water bars, cross-ditches, inslopes or outslopes).
Use strategies to prevent sedimentation when permanently deactivating roads (e.g., armouring drainage ditches).
Do not use quarries as storage sites for logging debris/wood waste, refuse, petroleum products, etc.
Deactivate quarries upon completion of operations.
Take measures to make deactivated quarries inaccessible to the public (e.g., berms, waterbars).
Restore natural surface drainage patterns as much as possible to maintain the quantity and quality of subsurface flows.
Avoid road rehabilitation during sustained or heavy rainfall.
Avoid road deactivation or rehabilitation when disturbances to roadbeds may be detrimental to karst values in the area.
Keep the wheels or tracks of equipment at least 5 metres from the edge of roadside karst features. If not possible, keep wheels or tracks parallel to the edge of features.
Avoid introducing soil or bedding materials into karst features.
Complete rehabilitation operations with sufficient time to allow for adequate revegetation before the wetter months of the year.