Acta Scientiarum Polonorum
Silvarum Colendarum Ratio et Industria Lignaria

Introduction. Roads are one of the key elements of the infrastructure necessary for forest management, and their role is related to, inter alia, with the transport of wood, fire protection and the provision of forests for tourists. The assessment of the technical condition of roads is a necessary factor for taking appropriate remedial actions to ensure the safety of road use. The GPR technique is one of the most effective tools for
quick and non-invasive detection of damage to forest road surfaces. The aim of the research was to analyze the usefulness of the GPR technique in recognizing the scale of damage to the surface of forest roads caused by tree roots on the example of the Noteć River Forest Area.
Material and methods. The research was carried out in the Noteć River Forest Area. As part of the field work, four plots were established where roads that could be damaged by tree root systems were examined. For this purpose, a Ground Explorer (GX) HDR MALÅ georadar (GPR) with an antenna with a central frequency of 750 MHz and 3D Vision software were used. The research was carried out assuming research plots
with the same density of the profiling network, every 0,20 m. As part of the research, colorful spatial models of root distribution were obtained, which were then analyzed on the images created by making horizontal time cuts for different depths.Results. On the basis of the conducted research, models of the spreading of the root systems of roadside trees were obtained with the occurrence of anomalies identified with the course of tree root systems which may indicate areas where destructive processes of the examined roads take place.
Conclusions. The results of the research show the possibility of using the GPR method to study the condition of forest roads in the context of the occurrence of damage caused by tree roots and make a new contribution to the methodology of the so far poorly known problem of forest engineering, thanks to which they can contribute to improving the safety of forest roads, as well as minimizing the costs associated with planning
road works.