Assessment and Sustainability of Logging Operations in Calabrian Pine High Forests

Anna Irene De Luca,Souraya Benalia,Teodora Stillitano,Bruno Bernardi,Giacomo Falcone,Giorgio Macrì

doi:10.3390/f13030403

Abstract

Forest mechanisation plays an important role in increasing labour productivity and reducing production costs. This work aims at evaluating various logging scenarios in Calabrian pine high forests, considering technical, economic and environmental aspects. The cut-to-length system was adopted and structured as follows: felling and processing operations were carried out using a medium-sized chainsaw while extraction of the processed material was carried out using three different vehicles for timber extraction: (i) by cable skidder, (ii) by grapple skidder and (iii) by a forwarder. The methodology was based on productivity analysis and production cost analysis, while for environmental performance, the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was adopted. The selected functional unit (FU) was referred to as 1 h of logging operations. However, to assess the resulting usefulness, further analyses were performed using an alternative FU consisting of 1 m3 of round wood. The study’s outcomes show the complexity in achieving an optimal balance between productivity, economic aspects and sustainable management in forest operations.

Highlights

In the last fifty years, in Mediterranean forests, a rapid expansion of pioneer conifers is occurring due to mountain depopulation and afforestation [1,2]
Very few studies in literature can be quite compared with our research, due to different conditions in forest management, impacts categories highlighted, or functional unit considered
They obtained an impact of 5.820 CO2 eq kgm−3 during logging operations performed with a forwarder and a cable crane, which is fully comparable to our findings in scenario (iii) forwarder

Summary

Introduction

In the last fifty years, in Mediterranean forests, a rapid expansion of pioneer conifers is occurring due to mountain depopulation and afforestation [1,2]. The history of forests in Italy is marked by an intense work of reconstitution and expansion carried out after the Second World War, when a reforesting programme was implemented by the State. In this context, an indigenous conifer tree species widely used in reforesting programs carried out in Calabria (southern Italy) was the Laricio pine Due to the high costs involved in reforestation [3], useful management interventions (e.g., intermediate cuts) have never been carried out Such interventions enable increasing socioeconomic stability in rural areas [4,5] and permit enhancing forest biodiversity [6]. The low level of mechanisation [7] did not favour active forest management, which opens the way to implement more innovative mechanised systems [8] and to increase the quantity and quality of merchantable timber [9]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion