Logging

For articles about other types of logging, see data logging or well logging.

Loggers on break, c. 1910

Logging is the process in which lumberjacks fell (cut down) trees, and remove them from the forest or tree farm. It can supply sawlogs for lumber production or pulpwood for paper, and can also remove fuels that can contribute to fire risk. Clear-cut logging is a controversial aspect of forest management, due to its environmental and aesthetic impacts.

Operations

Timber rafting to Vancouver, B.C.

A timber harvest consists of the following operations, although not necessarily in the order given.

Planning and permitting

May or may not be formal, including environmental assessment; may or may not be conducted. Practices vary by land ownership, whether public or private, by country, and by enforcement of any requirements.

Providing infrastructure

Logging roads, logging camps, weighing stations as needed are built or repaired.

Marking

The area or individiual trees are clearly identified; this may or may not be formally practiced, per planning and permitting, above.

Felling

The standing tree is cut down or felled by chainsaw, harvester, or feller buncher.

Processing

The tree is turned into logs by removing the limbs (delimbing) and cutting it into logs of optimal length (bucking).

Primary transport

The felled tree or logs are moved from the stump to the landing. Ground vehicles can pull, carry, or shovel the logs. Cable systems can pull logs to the landing. Logs can also be flown to the landing by helicopter.

Secondary transport

The logs are transported to the mill or port, commonly by truck but in the past this has included train (see Lumberjack Steam Train), driving logs downstream, or pulled as a floating log raft.

Restoration

Stabilization or restoration of roads, terrain, and species may or may not be formal or practiced.

Harvest methods

The above operations can be carried out by three different methods:

Tree-length

Trees are felled then delimbed and topped at the stump. The log is then transported to the landing, where it is bucked and loaded on a truck. This leaves the slash in the cut area.

Full tree

Trees are felled and transported roadside with top and limbs intact. The trees are then delimbed and bucked at the landing. This method can leave large piles of slash near the road. Full tree harvesting also refers to utilization of the entire tree including branches and tops.

Cut-to-length

Trees are felled, delimbed, bucked, and sorted (pulpwood, sawlog, etc.) at the stump area, leaving limbs and tops in the forest. Harvesters fell the tree, delimb and buck it, and place the resulting logs in bunks to be brought to the landing by the forwarder.

Logging and forestry

Horse Logging in Poland

Managing a forest is the subject of Forestry. A well-managed forest will be harvested according to a forest management plan. This management plan would include the silvicultural system to be used, even-aged or uneven-aged management, layout of roads, and, in the case of a selection cut, marking of trees intended to be cut. Harvesting timber can also be done without regard to damage done to the forest or future productivity. This is sometimes called "cut and run logging".

File:Prettyclearcut.jpg

Clearcuts in the Canadian Rockies, from "Green Spirit: Trees are the Answer".

Clear-cutting is a practice in which all, or nearly all, trees in a selected area are harvested in a logging operation. There is no agreed-upon minimum area of a clear cut, but areas smaller than 5 acres in size would typically be considered patch cuts.

A selection harvest removes specific trees while leaving others. A selection cut can remove mature timber or thinning to improve the timber stand.

Logging and the environment

File:Logskidder7981.JPG

Grapple Skidder on a clearcut plot, Johnsonville, South Carolina.

Logging can impact the environment both by cutting down trees and by the disturbance caused by moving them to the landing. Removal of trees alters species composition, the structure of a forest, terrain, and can cause nutrient depletion. Harvesting can lead to habitat loss, prominently in high-value, ecologically sensitive lands. Machines used in logging often disturb the soil. The use of heavy machinery in a forest can cause soil compaction. Roadbuilding and consequent facilitated development have further effects. Harvesting on steep slopes can lead to erosion, landslides, and water turbidity. Logging on saturated soils can cause ruts and change drainage patterns. Harvest activity near wetlands or vernal pools can degrade habitat. Loss of trees adjacent to streams can increase water temperatures. Harvesting adjacent to streams can increase sedimentation and turbidity in streams, lowering water quality and degrading riparian habitat.

If a logged forest is restored after harvest, it is often or conventionally replaced with a monoculture tree farm or plantation. This allows future harvest at less cost and with less associated damage, in exchange for biodiversity.

Colonization of forest areas by invasive exotics is a problem with poorly-operated forestry practices, especially in the eastern North American hardwood and western evergreen forests (see also Gypsy moth #US pest). Some of the most marked effects of large-scale clear-cutting, including upon stream corridors, has been seen in the American Pacific Northwest, where endangered salmon spawning and rearing habitat has been damaged.

Regeneration on a 15 year old clearcut

These problems can be mitigated by using best management practices, which set standards for reducing erosion from roads. Damage to streams and lakes can be reduced by not harvesting riparian strips. Ecologically important lands are sometimes set aside as reserves.

The logging industry is often portrayed[1] in the media and popular culture as one of the most ecologically destructive corporate practices on earth. However, logging companies contend that despite some notable cases of severe environmental degradation, agriculture, livestock grazing, mineral mining, the petroleum industry and urban sprawl are even greater contributors to deforestation and ecological degradation. As an example, they cite that a house built out of steel, plastic and concrete has higher life cycle assessment or life-cycle cost and requires more energy and non-renewable resources to produce than a house built with wood products.

Logging can also have positive effects on the environment by removing damaged or diseased trees or both, and opening up the canopy to promote growth of smaller, healthier trees. Branches, snags, and other non-marketable parts of the tree provide shelter for wildlife. Underbrush that would not otherwise grow due to lack of sunlight thrives, and is an important food source for deer and moose. Select cutting can improve the forest and bring to market trees that would otherwise decompose. New advances in logging equipment are reducing ruts and soil disturbance. Processors and Forwarders with walking "legs" supported by wide pads distribute the weight of the machine and reduce soil compaction.

Logging roads

Truck load of ponderosa pine, Malheur National Forest, Oregon, 1942

Logging roads are constructed to provide access to the forest for logging and other forest management operations. These are commonly narrow, unpaved, and subsidized on public lands. Logging trucks, which, when loaded, can carry up to 4,500 kg (22.5 tons), are generally given right of way.

Construction of these roads, especially on steep slopes, can increase the risk of erosion and landslides which can increase downstream sedimentation. Logging roads are often the major source of sediment from logging operations, which can continues long after operations are completed in the area. The decommissioning of these roads involves the restoring of natural habitat, which can be quite expensive, usually as much as it originally cost to construct the road.

See also

• Forestry

• Cable Logging
• Clear-cutting
• Cut-to-length logging
• Deforestation
• Illegal logging
• List of heritage railways, #Alaska
• Log driving
• Old growth
• Logging roads
• Stream
• Timber
• Water resources

Further reading

• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Darius Kinsey Photographs Images from the period 1890-1939, documenting the logging industry in Washington State. Includes images of loggers and logging camps, skid roads, donkey engines, loading operations, logging trucks and railroads.
• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Clark Kinsey Photographs Over 1000 images by commercial photographer Clark Kinsey documenting the logging and milling camps and other forest related activities in Washington State, ca. 1910-1945.
• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Industry and Occupations Photographs An ongoing and expanding collection devoted to the workers in the Pacific Northwest from 1880s-1940s. Many occupations and industries are represented including the logging and lumber industry.
• Hubbard Brook Experimental ForestStudy of logging effects on watersheds
• Landside research Summary of landside studies in clear-cuts
• America's Only National Logging & Forestry Magazine
• Logging Practices: Principles of Timber Harvesting Systems
• Movie of logging in Maine, 1906
• CTL Logging (Enviro-friendly)