The planning process for the Toutle transportation analysis can be broken into three different phases: pre-field, field reconnaissance, and design / economic justification. The pre-field phase consisted of the first four weeks of the quarter, the field-reconnaissance phase of the middle three weeks, and the design and economic analysis of the concluding four weeks. The pre-field portion of the project is discussed in this section, the field reconnaissance in chapter 3, and the design and economic justification aspects in chapter 4.

The first step in the planning process was to obtain all the available data for the area. This data consisted mostly of ARC/INFO coverages pertaining to different resources such as topography, hydrology, boundaries, mass wasting potential areas, roads, and timber inventory data. Some data, such as forest inventory data for the Weyco ownership lands and 20 contours for the entire area were unavailable as digital data, and hard copies of these data were obtained. Most of this data were used for map production but this information was used in assigning landing locations to each harvest polygon for SNAP (Scheduling and Network Analysis Program) analysis. An important source of information was the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Damage Survey Report for the Toutle unit. Other sources including aerial and orthographic photos were used to verify known data and supplement the information.

Initial map production was focused on providing maps on which the unit forester and others with firsthand knowledge of the road damage could note their observations, as well as offering suggestions as to repairs and rerouting possibilities. These maps were produced at a scale of 1:12000, and each map contained road, ownership, and hydrological information.

Once this information had been collected, office work focused in two general areas. The first of these was pegging in bypass roads that would allow for either a mid-slope West to East route, or for the relocation of vulnerable or damaged portions of the 4100 road outside of the flood plain. The second of these was preparation of the data, and collection of further data to allow SNAP analysis that would dictate which road options would be most economical to allow for future harvests.

Due to the low level of accuracy associated with pegging roads on USGS 40’ contour maps, initial road grades were designed on 10’ contour maps (1:4800) from Weyco. For the 4100 road, options included roads leaving from the 4100 road to reach the 5600 road and a road just above the flood plain that paralleled the damaged 4100. For the washout on the 1400 creek, a possible new crossing was also designed.

All of these roads were designed not to exceed a five percent grade, in keeping with their role as the main line road. In some instances, however, this was not possible, given the critical points that the roads needed to reach, and the grade was raised to as much as 10 percent. These roads are detailed more fully in the recon reports chapter.

Field maps were made up of proposed roads (pegged), existing roads, 20 foot contours, and the hydrology layers. These maps were then plotted out at a 1:12000 scale and divided into quadrants of the Toutle unit. When the maps were broken down into a reasonable size, they were labeled and laminated for use in the field.

One of the overall goal for this project was to develop general guidelines for harvest schedules based on target harvest volumes, current conditions such as timber age and age distribution, current road system, and setting units. The program requires two basic input file, the so-called sales file and the so-called link file. The sales file contain information about the sale units. Typical information includes, as a minimum, setting ID, current timber volume, annual growth increments, harvesting costs associated with the unit, landing location ( road node identifier where the harvested volume enters the road system) and mill price. The link file contains all the road segment, identified by a "from node" and a "to node" including construction and maintenance cost, where applicable and haul cost. Haul cost can be generated internally by specifying a truck speed ont hat particular segment differentiated by road standards and/or grade.

The program then maximizes returns given various constraints such as adjacency requirements and costs (e.g. harvesting costs, haul costs, construction and maintenance costs)and timber value. It then displays the harvest pattern and resultant road system that result in the highest return over the time frame considered

Extensive preparations of the vegetation coverage were necessary in order to run Snap. Sale units were developed based on the current vegetation units. The vegetation units were the result of recent harvest activities. Since most of it was less then 20 to 30 years old, most of the former setting/sale boundaries were clearly reflected in the current age/vegetation boundaries. Sale units were created by copying the age/vegetation boundaries into a new setting layer. Using the orthophoto coverage proved helpful in delineating sale/setting boundaries and identifying old landing locations. This process proved satisfactory for establishing a sale unit layer quickly but still with a reasonable degree of confidence. One has to remember that the purpose of such a file is the establishment of timber flow over the road system. That information was deemed crucial for this analysis in order to determine the major haul routes and timber flow over time in relation to the replacement of the Herrington Bridge and rebuilding of portions of the 4100 mainline in the back end of the Toulte.

The creation of the link file or road system relied on using the existing road system,. The main task was to identify and separate currently abandoned roads from active or inactive roads. The basis for this assessment was an initial road layer map which was then reviewed with the unit forester. Abandoned roads were then deleted from the data set since they would not be used in current or future management of the area.