Optimal Forest Road Density as Decision-Making Factor in Wood Extraction

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In general, what is going on about wildfires suppression or fighting? There are many works about it. See some of them below:

1) Forest roads and operational wildfire response planning,

2) Spatial planning of fire-agency stations as a function of wildfire likelihood in Thasos, Greece,

3) Territorial Resilience Through Visibility Analysis for Immediate Detection of Wildfires, Integrating Fire Susceptibility, Geographical Features, and Optimization Methods

4) Development of a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) for the active forest-urban fires management through location planning of mobile fire units.

Bad use of English language and terminology. There are many sentences where the syntax is not correct and the meaning of plenty of sentences is confusing the reader.

 

The manuscript presents an evaluation of optimal forest road density based on the wood extraction costs, without any consideration of the contribution of forest roads to wildfires fighting and the development of tourism. There are many papers that take into consideration new approaches to this theme from different points of view. The researchers did not take into account these approaches. Most of the recommendations in this manuscript have been published already in many works previously. Therefore, I suggest major revisions. In this form, the manuscript repeats the same things and it does not present anything new and innovative.

Author Response

Ponto 1: Em geral, o que está acontecendo sobre a supressão ou combate aos incêndios florestais? Existem muitos trabalhos a respeito. Veja alguns deles abaixo:

1) Estradas florestais e planejamento operacional de resposta a incêndios florestais,

2) Planejamento espacial de postos de bombeiros em função da probabilidade de incêndios florestais em Thasos, Grécia,

3) Resiliência Territorial Através da Análise de Visibilidade para Detecção Imediata de Incêndios, Integrando Suscetibilidade ao Fogo, Características Geográficas e Métodos de Otimização

4) Desenvolvimento de um Sistema Espacial de Apoio à Decisão (SDSS) para a gestão ativa de incêndios florestais urbanos através do planeamento da localização de unidades móveis de bombeiros.

Response 1: We are grateful for the points raised by the reviewer. However, we reinforce that the focus of our research is the optimization of roads to increase the productivity of wood extraction. We are aware of the importance of roads for fire prevention, so we have added a paragraph on this topic.

“Forest roads can also work as firebreaks for fire prevention and control, in addition to helping to fight them for better access for firefighters to the place in question [32,33]”

(Lines 64 to 66).

 

Point 2: Bad use of English language and terminology. There are many sentences where the syntax is not correct and the meaning of plenty of sentences is confusing the reader.

Response 2: We appreciate and agree with this point. Thus, we performed a review of the entire language of the manuscript text.

 

Point 3: The manuscript presents an evaluation of optimal forest road density based on the wood extraction costs, without any consideration of the contribution of forest roads to wildfires fighting and the development of tourism. There are many papers that take into consideration new approaches to this theme from different points of view. The researchers did not take into account these approaches. Most of the recommendations in this manuscript have been published already in many works previously. Therefore, I suggest major revisions. In this form, the manuscript repeats the same things and it does not present anything new and innovative.

Resposta 3: Obrigado por seus comentários em nossa pesquisa. Assim, agregamos a abordagem de utilização de medidas para prevenção de incêndios, porém, que nosso objetivo é otimizar uma abordagem de madeira. Apesar de utilizar uma metodologia previamente publicada, as condições operacionais desta pesquisa apresentam singularidades publicadas. No que diz respeito ao desenvolvimento do turismo, essa característica não se aplica às condições do Brasil, pois as estradas florestais são usadas apenas com acesso a plantações comerciais.

Reviewer 2 Report

The availability of forest area significantly affects the ability to perform timber harvesting and wood transport works. An important element of access to forest stands is the quality and spatial arrangement of forest roads.

Determining the optimal road network is not an easy task. There are  three ways of calculating  it:

• based on the experimental data of the communication access, in which forest management functions without communication disruptions and the implementation of the skidding process is economically justified,

• adopting the density resulting from specific assumptions, e.g. the route of roads along each second division line.

• the use of optimal density corresponding to the minimum sum of the costs of skidding and the construction and maintenance of forest roads.

The article refers to the determination of the optimal road density using the third method.

The Introduction is relatively short and needs further development. Certain parts from the Discussion may be transferred to it. In this part, there is no reference to the developed computer programs that allow the calculation of the optimal distance between roads, based on GIS.

I have no major comments on the methodological approach and the presented results.

The Discussion requires correction. Authors should refer to how their results compare to similar studies conducted by other authors.

Detailed comments:

1. Line 25. Please correct -1 to ^-1.

2. Please replace table 3 with text, as the results are presented in one line only.

Author Response

Point 1: The availability of forest area significantly affects the ability to perform timber harvesting and wood transport works. An important element of access to forest stands is the quality and spatial arrangement of forest roads.

Determining the optimal road network is not an easy task. There are three ways of calculating it:

• based on the experimental data of the communication access, in which forest management functions without communication disruptions and the implementation of the skidding process is economically justified,
• adopting the density resulting from specific assumptions, e.g. the route of roads along each second division line.
• the use of optimal density corresponding to the minimum sum of the costs of skidding and the construction and maintenance of forest roads.

The article refers to the determination of the optimal road density using the third method.

Response 1: Thanks for the observation and we agree with it.

 

Point 2: The Introduction is relatively short and needs further development. Certain parts from the Discussion may be transferred to it. In this part, there is no reference to the developed computer programs that allow the calculation of the optimal distance between roads, based on GIS.

Response 2: Thank you for your invaluable observation. In this way, we increased the introduction and added the option of using GIS to obtain the ORD.

“This variable can be obtained through mathematical modeling or by geographic information systems, which the latter uses satellite images [35,39].”

(Lines 75 to 77).

 

Point 3: I have no major comments on the methodological approach and the presented results.

Response 3: Thanks for this point.

 

Point 4: The Discussion requires correction. Authors should refer to how their results compare to similar studies conducted by other authors.

Response 4: Thanks for that, and we've made some adjustments to the discussion.

 

Point 5: Detailed comments:

1. Line 25. Please correct -1 to ^-1.
2. Please replace table 3 with text, as the results are presented in one line only.

Response 5: We thank you for the point made, so we corrected the requested unit of measurement and chose to eliminate table 3.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Minor revisions.

From the suggested revisions the authors did not follow the recommendations. In their method, they stay only on extraction cost. This a hypothesis that has been changed a the last 3 decades. 

I feel that they do not make further changes according to the new methodologies and approaches

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The article can be published in its present form.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf