Harvesting

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Harvesting

• Introduction, Components, Work Elements, Planning
• January 10, 2002
• James B. Hart

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Why Harvest?

• To satisfy public craving for wood products
  (demand side)--yearly harvest of roundwood in
  the U.S.
• So land owners (sellers), loggers, milling and
  equipment manufacturing enterprises and their
  employees can make a buck (supply side)
• To accomplish silvicultural other
  objectives(ecological, hydrological,
  recreational, fish game habitat)
• To salvage timber killed or damaged by natural
  agents (fire, wind, disease, old age, ice
  damage, etc)
• Clear land for development (agricultural,
  industrial, or residential-urban)

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The Foresters Perspective Objectives
of Harvesting

• Foresters perspective
• The territory of the logging contractor or the
  logging engineer, but a forester must have
  significant knowledge of it to do his
• Objectives of timber harvesting
• production, from standing or naturally downed
  timber, of round logs or other useable elements
• their transportation to the mill site
• in such a way that
• value of logged material is maximized
• costs are minimized,
• with due consideration given to environmental,
  legal and other constraints.

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HARVESTING --All work elements leading to the
total
preparation of a primary product
Secondary Products
Primary Products
Wood Elements
Harvesting
Wood Products Processing
Trees, stump,
logs, branches,
tops, foliage, etc
e.g. furniture
e.g.lumber
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Volumes of roundwood products harvested by region
in US, 1991
(total of 17.9 billion cubic feet)
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Annual Growth and Removals by region in US, 1991
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Distribution of hardwood and softwood product
volume harvested in US, 1991 (percent of 17.9
billion cubic feet)
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Distribution of roundwood product volume
harvested in Michigan by species group, 1992
(percent of 391.1 million cubic feet)
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A HARVEST SETTING in Arkansas
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CLASSIC LOGGING SYSTEM WORK ELEMENTS

• FELLING
• LIMBING
• MEASURING BUCKING
• SKIDDING, YARDING
• LOADING
• TRANSPORTING
• UNLOADING

LIMBING
LOADING
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EXPANDED ELEMENTS (approximately chronological)

• Planning--"Failing to plan is planning to fail,
  or 6Ps - Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor
  Performance
• Road design construction--always a part of
  system, earlier or current
• Felling, bunching?, bucking, limbing, --hand or
  completely mechanical (some may be done _at_ the
  landing)
• Primary Transport -- (skidding or yarding or
  Forwarding)--move material to a landing
• Transport--from the woods to the mill site (or
  may be an intermediate wood yard) road, rail or
  water
• Unloading--in the wood and/or mill yard highly
  mechanized
• Storage--awaiting processing most of the time

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Choice of a Logging System and Equipment
determined by many things

• Management and capital considerations
• Volume per stem and per acre
• Forwarding distance
• Limbiness defect
• Underbrush
• Terrain
• Soils
• Weather
• Silvicultural considerations
• Systems can be as simple as a single person with
  a chain saw, a tractor, and an old truck... to a
  highly mechanized (computerized) system

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TYPES OF LOGGING SYSTEMS

• Based on the piece length forwarded equipment
  used
• ? Short-wood (pulpwood) --trees delimbed bucked
  into 4 ft. or 100 in logs
• ? Long-log (veneer saw logs) --trees delimbed
  and bucked into 8, 16, or 32 ft lengths (or any
  length in between)
• ? Tree-length--trees limbed and topped at min.
  diameter limit
• ? Whole-tree--limbing and bucking (?) done at
  landing
• Total system components do not vary but the
  expression of them has many variations...
• e.g. tree-length logs can be bucked into length
  at the landing or transported directly to the
  mill for merchandizing into the highest-value log
  package

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Four Logging System Variations
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Operation Planning and Scheduling

• System components, whatever they may be, must be
  properly matched for effective performance in
  reaching objectives -- e.g. if the feller gets
  way ahead of the skidder, or if the loader cannot
  keep up with the skidder, etc., then the whole
  system is not optimized.
• Planning is the first and most critical function
  performed in a logging business--it provides the
  discipline that weld together all parts of the
  harvesting system.
• What is a plan? "A projected course of action
  which defines a necessary sequence of activities,
  identifies the techniques to be applied, and
  determines the timing requirements."
• Planning must be done in the context of
  interfacing components and other system
  externalities.

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HARVEST HARVEST PLANNING
ADMINISTRATION

• AREA LAYOUT
• HAUL ROAD CROSSING ANALYSIS
• SKIDROAD DESIGN LAYOUT
• TURN-OUTS
• TURN-AROUNDS
• TRUCK SCHEDULING

• BOUNDARY MARKING
• HAUL ROAD PERMITTING
• CROSS ROAD PERMITING
• WETLAND, STREAM CROSSING PERMITS
• ROAD CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTING
• SAFETY TRAINING

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TRANSPORT - ROADS
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Skid Trail and Roads Overview

• Road location, layout, and construction concerns
  significantly influence the logging system
  equipment used.
• Most Michigan commercial forest areas already
  have a good network of secondary transport roads.
  ? building permanent truck haul roads is
  usually not a forester or logger responsibility
  ? weight and season restrictions may require
  permits
• Woods road systems (primary transport) are often
  inadequate? Forester frequently locate and may
  lay out skid roads and skid trails? operation in
  wetlands and riparian areas may require permits?
  steep slopes require special consideration
• ? Culverts and bridges may require engineer
  design, lay out and construction.
• Many roads on public lands are being
  closedcurrent rule-of-thumb the fewer roads the
  better (not always popular).

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A Foresters Harvesting Plan should include

• Management objectivesindependent contractor
  (large or small) vs. company crew
• Silvicultural factorsimpose constraints and
  limitations
• What treatment (e.g. a thinning vs. small
  clearcut vs. large clearcut)?
• Are there seed bed requirements? Will site
  preparation treatments be used?
• How about insects and diseases?
• Physical site characteristics - including
  topography, soils, hydrology
• mostly affects equipment limitations, erosion,
  timing, and safety
• also pertains to road issues
• Environmental, wildlife aesthetic limitations
• eg. Threatened Endangered species, wetlands,
  old growth
• more and more stringent, whether set by law or
  landowner / publics
• There is less and less place for careless
  harvesting.

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FELLING
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MEASURING, BUCKING
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LIMBING
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PRIMARY TRANSPORT
SKIDDING
YARDING
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PRIMARY TRANSPORT (CONTINUED)
FORWARDING
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STORAGE ?, LOADING
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SECONDARY TRANSPORT
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UNLOADING