Abstract
The frost heave process from repeated freezing and thawing actions in winter on forest road cut-slopes is important for forest road maintenance and management. This study investigated the damages of the forest heave process on forest road cut-slopes by measuring the changes in the road-cut surface elevation and sediment production and by conducting vegetation surveys which were aimed at providing information for forest road maintenance plans. The temperature and humidity differences were determined between the north and south cut-slopes. T-test showed that the north slope had a lower temperature and humidity than that of the south slope. Field observations also confirmed frozen soils on the north slopes, indicating that the north slopes are susceptible to frost heave. Sediment was converted to dry weight per unit area ($g/m^2$). T-test showed that the north slope produced more sediment than that of the south slope. The study confirmed that more frost heave occurred on the north cut-slopes than on the south cut-slopes. Vegetation surveys were conducted on five cut-slope plots. Considering the dominant species found above the cut-slopes, vegetations in all the plots are expected to succeed to pine and oak in the future. The dominant species appearing on the cut-slopes of the study area were exotic species because the elapsed time of the site was only 2 - 4 years.
