Modeling Erosion from Insloping Low-Volume Roads with WEPP Watershed Model

Low-volume roads can be a major source of sediment to streams in forest watersheds. For soil erosion from roads to be economically mitigated, the processes that cause erosion need to be understood. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP), a physically based erosion and sedimentation model, was used for predicting erosion from forest roads that can be described as hillslopes. Watershed applications of WEPP predicted erosion and sedimentation values for insloping roads that can be described as microwatersheds. How well WEPP models insloping roads through a sensitivity analysis and validation process using two studies in the Oregon Coast Range is discussed.