Timber Harvest Methods & Equipment

[barbender]

I think I'd really enjoy operating that way, Ron. A small forwarder and a cable skidder, and hand falling. The problem up here is I don't think we have enough of the type of timber that would make it viable. 

[Ron Scott]

This one is operating on National Forest land along a major snowmobile trail which is a designated National Recreation Trail in an area of blow down timber. It is a "light on the land" CTL operation on and along the trail under USFS management.

The cable skidder is primarily being used to pull the tree lengths off of the slopes and out of wetland areas where they are then cut into wood product lengths for removal to the landing/decking area with the forwarder for product sorting.

There is still a need for these small independent operators here, but they are becoming fewer and fewer.

[newoodguy78]

Hate to see this one forgotten. 

[SwampDonkey]

As to those machines on side hill like that. You never worked on the back side of the South Ridge Road. Up on top of the ridge is flat like your pasture for miles north-south-west. Down over toward the Miramachi river is a big drop, road at the bottom. They worked for their pay in there. Irving contractors. :D :D

[ppine]

The coastal areas of OR, WA and northern CA and BC have typically been clear cut in the past, often with cable logging shows due to steep slopes.  Typically called the "West Side", the country west of the Cascade Crest, it is also the area known as Ecopopia.  There are more liberal minded people living there.  There has been resistance to clear cut logging on the West Side in the last 30 years or so.  They have little fire danger and do not seem to recognize the need for logging and thinning like more fire prone areas. 

I met with some professors at the U of Washington this summer in the field.  We talked about some "new harvest methods".  They are mostly derivatives of shelterwood methods.  Some seed trees are left after logging.  They can be harvested in a step wise fashion to promote more uneven aged stands.  I believe this is how we are going to sell the public on logging on the West Side in the future.  We also need to make them understand growth rates and carbon sequestration in managed forests compared to the mess that we have now.