In recent years, inflation and a growing concern for soil compaction and environmental damage have affected both the forest manager and the logger. Balloons, helicopters, and skylines have been used to harvest timber and the results have been promising
(Dykstra, 1975, 1976). However, the high cost of using these aerial...
Globally the forest harvesting industry is becoming increasingly mechanized. Driving this trend is the desire to increase productivity and reduce cost, as well as to improve labor-related issues. With mechanization comes an in-forest platform for the introduction of state-of-the-art communication and measurement technologies, and powerful on-board computers. These systems have...
Yarding delays add significantly to the time and cost required to obtain a given quantity
of timber. In this study, they increased total yarding time by as much as 28 percent. As yarding system complexity increases, the frequency of delays can also be expected to increase. For one balloon yarding...
The authors describe a new,theoretical methodology for evaluating the replacement of a single piece of logging equipment with a predetermined new model. The example is for a specific piece of equipment and gives results unique to the data-base analyzed, but the application typifies procedures, required data, and results of the...
The production rates and costs of harvesting smallwood were determined for a small yarder (Koller K-300) operating under variable conditions: the size of the crew, the addition of a skidder to swing logs from the landing, and the type of harvest method-employed, either conventional or hot thinning (simultaneous felling and...
Research on skyline machines and techniques currently available for yarding smallwood is reviewed. Three categories of machines are discussed: used yarders (with a low initial cost) adaptable to smallwood, new and versatile yarders (with a high Initial cost) manufactured in the United States, and new, foreign-built yarders (with a low...