The forest road density evolution at the island of Skiathos, Greece

Περίληψη

Ecosystems of island regions change at great speed and, in most cases, they are environmentally degraded. Changes in forest landscapes resulting from road construction have increased remarkably in recent years. Roads are essential structures to provide access to the forest from the establishment phase to the harvesting stage. Thus, it is important that roads are properly planned in order to ensure the transportation of forest products as well as the safety, comfort and economy of vehicle operations. The sustainable management of forest resources can only be achieved through a well-organized road network which is crucial for the sustainable management of forest resources regardless of the forest use such as wood production, ecotourism, water supply, or soil conservation. The aim of this paper is to present the progress of the existing forest road network at the island of Skiathos for the last decades. With the contribution of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the orthophotomaps, the spatial planning of the forest road network can be evaluated for all these years and the road density can also be calculated. Thematic maps of the forest roads, for each year separately, will also be presented. The current study explores the application of spatial planning in forest roads in order to achieve sustainable development with respect to nature assets and the landscape, in combination with viable forest exploitation.