Tree Felling Research Articles

OFFENSE VERSUS CONTRAVENTION IN NATIONAL FORESTRY LAW

According to a recent legislative amendment, unauthorized felling of trees, including when wood damage is up to five times the average price of one cubic meter of wood, per foot, constitutes a criminal offense. At the same time, a contraventional law is in force and is applying to a similar act. Thus, the question is whether the new rule is sufficiently clear to achieve the purpose of criminal proceedings.

Endemic Cyprus Scops Owl Otus cyprius Readily Breeds in Artificial Nest Boxes.

Simple SummaryNest boxes are considered a valid conservation tool in order to sustain wild populations of birds. The Cyprus Scops Owl was recently defined as a new species. However, the extant information on the species is sporadic and the population level is not confirmed. In order to evaluate the ability of the species to use nest boxes, and to understand its habitat preferences, we placed boxes in rural areas, at the forest edge, and in the Paphos Forest. We found that the Cyprus Scops Owl displayed a preference for the forest edge and rural areas; although we also had, several pairs occupy nest boxes in the forest. We show that the nest box strategy can be implemented if in the future the species is threatened.As is well-known, endemic island bird species are especially vulnerable to extinction from anthropogenic environmental change and reduced fitness compared with mainland taxa. The Cyprus Scops Owl, Otus cyprius, is a recently recognized island endemic species whose ecology and breeding biology have not been studied. It nests mainly in holes in trees and buildings, so the felling of old trees, modern architectural practices, and the renovation of old houses in villages may reduce nest site availability. Its population trend is also unknown. Therefore, to better determine its ecological requirements and habitat preferences we placed nest boxes in rural areas adjacent to the forest, in the forest, and in the ecotone between them, and used breeding success as our indicator of habitat suitability. We found that breeding parameters like laying date, clutch size, length of the incubation period, hatching day, hatching success, and number of nestlings did not differ between the three habitats. Despite the low level of nest box occupancy rate (5–11%) the endemic Cyprus Scops Owl readily breeds in artificial nests. Therefore, although we are unaware of any current threats to the Cyprus Scops Owl, we recommend that its conservation be prioritized, including studies, monitoring, habitat conservation, and the provision of nest boxes.

Теоретические исследования производительности форвардеров при ограничениях воздействия на почвогрунты

Wheeled forest machines currently dominate the logging industry in Russia and in the world. Every year in Russia, the share of machine-made wood harvesting using Scandinavian technology increases, which involves felling trees, delimbing, and bucking them at a swath. Moreover, this technology is used not only for conventional two-machine systems with harvester and forwarder. In some regions of Siberia three-machine systems are gaining popularity. They consist of a feller-buncher, a swath processor, and a forwarder for skidding obtained logs. The issue of increasing the efficiency of forwarders is relevant for the timber industry. Its solving is possible on the basis of a comprehensive assessment of design solutions with the use of modern modeling and process optimization tools at the stage of development design. This approach requires deep theoretical and experimental research and is of great scientific and practical interest. When determining the maximum volume of skidded wood, the following machine limitations are considered: by bearing capacity; by tangential traction force; by the traction of the mover with the soil (tangential traction force should not exceed the traction force of the mover with the driving surface – the soil of the logging site). Besides this, there are recommendations to limit the weight of the skidder with the load, based on the permissible track depth after the first pass of the machine; it is believed that this figure should not exceed 20 cm. This statement is supported by the results of studies of the track development under the cyclic influence of the wheel mover (that is when the forwarder repeatedly passes the same section of the portage). This raises the question of forwarder productivity in the skidding operation with the regard to the track depth limitation. For citation: Burmistrova O.N., Prosuzhih A.A., Khitrov E.G., Kunitskaya O.A., Luneva E.N. Theoretical Studies of Forwarder Productivity with Limited Impact on Soils. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 3, pp. 101–116. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-3-101-116

Maintaining tree biodiversity in urban communities on the university campus

Abstract. Susilowati A, Rangkuti AB, Rachmat HH, Iswanto AH, Harahap MM, Elfiati D, Slamet B, Ginting IM. 2021. Maintaining tree biodiversity in urban communities on the university campus. Biodiversitas 22: 2839-2847. Many universities worldwide have green spaces (GS) as an integral part of their campuses because of significant benefits for ecological function and urban communities. University of Sumatera Utara (USU) campus is located in urban area of Medan city, Indonesia, with a total area of 120 hectares. The campus offers various outdoor spaces for resting, sports, playgrounds and other psychological benefits. The campus also offers vital benefits for its surrounding environment, such as improving air quality and ensuring pleasant climatic conditions and biodiversity. One of the important functions of USU GS is to become an area for preserving tree diversity in urban communities, which in busy urban communities is sometimes a little overlooked. This research aimed to identify the species diversity, abundance, utilization, and conservation status of trees across 120 hectares of USU Campus using the field inventory method. Results revealed a total of 7333 individual trees of 121 species from 37 families. The most common tree species is Swietenia macrophylla (18.37%), while the dominant families are Fabaceae. Margalef index and the Shannon-Wiener diversity index reaching 13.48 (good) and 3.41 (high). Based on the utilization status, 55.43% of the tree species were wood producers, 45.34% were pollutant absorbers, while the lowest percentage functioned as latex producers (0.12%). About 70 species (57.85%) were native species, while 51 species (42.15%) were exotic. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 50 species (41.33% %) were listed as the least concern status, 8 species (6.61%) with a vulnerable status, 4 species (3.30%) with a near-threatened status and 2 species (1.66%) with and endangered status. The result from this study also showed that GS at USU not only performed its main function as a shade or an oxygen producer (environment services) but also maintained the tree biodiversity and a means of ex-situ conservation for many trees species. Trees threatened by anthropogenic activities, particularly tree felling for infrastructural developments were still found in the campus area. Therefore, sustainable conservation efforts should be geared towards ensuring the continued existence of the trees to maintain their ecological functions

Investigation of rotary dryer performance fueled with wood pellets for biomass processing

The drying process is necessary to reduce the biomass moisture content before it is processed into ready-to-burn fuel. Rotary dryer is one of the tools used for drying biomass, as it can produce a uniform moisture content, high power, and simple to use and maintain. This research aims to investigate the performance of a rotary dryer for drying biomass from tree felling waste. The dryer consists of a hopper, drum dryer chamber with flight, product discharge unit, heat exchanger, pellets burner, axial blower, and drum drive motor which is equipped with an electric variable speed. The variation of experimental is mass flow rate of material with drum rotating speed of 1, 1.25, 1.5 RPM, drying air flow rate of 0.6, 1 and 1.3 m3/s and fuel consumption rate of 48 and 123 g/min. The performance evaluation showed that this dryer is capable to drying chopped tree felling waste at the decreasing moisture content rate of 0.5-2.0 %/min. The system efficiency of the dryer was found to be 8.91-26.84% depending on the drum rotary speed, drying air flow rate, and drying temperature.

DIVERSITY OF PTERIDOPHYTES IN WESTERN GHATS- A REVIEW

Pteridophytes are vascular cryptogams that dominated the earth 250 million years ago. Currently, there are 13,600 species of pteridophytes around the world, and is the second most dominant plant group. In India, there are 1200 pteridophyte species with 70 families and 192 genera. The pteridophyte hotspots in India are the Himalayas, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Central India, and Andaman and the Nicobar Islands. The Western Ghats occupies only 6% of the Indian landmass and still holds a pteridophyte diversity of 383 species. Fern and fern allies are highly sensitive to changes in their natural habitat, thus habitat destruction, anthropogenic influences, climate change, etc., are causing a fast decline in their population. Epiphytic species are easily destroyed due to the felling of trees and because of this at present 41- 43% of epiphytic pteridophytes in India are reported to be threatened. It necessitates the frequent analysis of the pteridophyte flora of a region to ensure the existence of its species diversity. The potential of in-vitro and ex-situ conservation techniques can be explored for the conservation of threatened pteridophyte species

A Low-Cost and Robust Landsat-Based Approach to Study Forest Degradation and Carbon Emissions from Selective Logging in the Venezuelan Amazon

Selective logging in the tropics is a major driver of forest degradation by altering forest structure and function, including significant losses of aboveground carbon. In this study, we used a 30-year Landsat time series (1985–2015) to analyze forest degradation and carbon emissions due to selective logging in a Forest Reserve of the Venezuelan Amazon. Our work was conducted in two phases: the first, by means of a direct method we detected the infrastructure related to logging at the sub-pixel level, and for the second, we used an indirect approach using buffer areas applied to the results of the selective logging mapping. Pre- and post-logging forest inventory data, combined with the mapping analysis were used to quantify the effects of logging on aboveground carbon emissions for three different sources: hauling, skidding and tree felling. With an overall precision of 0.943, we demonstrate the potential of this method to efficiently map selective logging and forest degradation with commission and omission errors of +7.6 ± 4.5 (Mean ± SD %) and −7.5% ± 9.1 respectively. Forest degradation due to logging directly affected close to 24,480 ha, or about ~1% of the total area of the Imataca Forest Reserve. On average, with a relatively low harvest intensity of 2.8 ± 1.2 trees ha−1 or 10.5 ± 4.6 m3 ha−1, selective logging was responsible for the emission of 61 ± 21.9 Mg C ha−1. Lack of reduced impact logging guidelines contributed to pervasive effects reflected in a mean reduction of ~35% of the aboveground carbon compared to unlogged stands. This research contributes to further improve our understanding of the relationships between selective logging and forest degradation in tropical managed forests and serves as input for the potential implementation of projects for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).

Comparison of TLS against traditional surveying method for stem taper modelling. A case study in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests of mount Amiata

Traditionally, taper equations are developed from measurements collected through a destructive sampling of trees. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) enables high levels of accuracy of individual tree parameters measurement avoiding tree felling. With this study, we wanted to assess the performance of two approaches to calibrate a taper function: using stem diameters extracted from TLS point clouds and measured at different tree heights with the traditional and usual forest instruments. We compared the performance of four taper equations built with data collected by TLS and traditional survey in a European beech ( Fagus sylvatica L.) forests of mount Amiata (Tuscany Region, Italy). We computed the volume of stem sections 1.00 m long by integrating the most performing TLS-based taper equation and by the Huber, Smalian and cone formulas applied on the diameter and height values measured with the traditional field surveys. We conducted the analysis of error distribution in volume estimates computed integrating the most performing TLS-based taper function along the stem. We tested if the differences in the volume estimate of the two methods were significant. Schumacher and Hall (1933) equation was the most performing taper function both in case of using TLS and traditional surveyed data , being the TLS-based function more performant (rRMSE = 9.17% vs 6.90%). Its performance did not increase when diameter values were extracted from TLS point clouds with a higher frequency (i.e. 25.0 cm vs 1.00 m). By integrating the TLS-based Schumacher and Hall (1933) function, the sections with the highest error resulted from 5.00 to 7.00 m of stem height (i.e. RMSE from 14.72 to 19.14 dm 3 and rRMSE from 13.00 to 17.76%). This study case represents the first attempts to develop a taper equation for European beech of mount Amiata using values of stem diameter and height extracted from the TLS point cloud. The results demonstrated that TLS produces the same stem volume estimates as traditional method avoiding falling trees.

A comparative assessment of Non-destructive and destructive methods for precise volume estimation of mango (Mangifera indica) trees

Terrestrial carbon sequestration is a natural process towards carbon mitigation in which perennial trees play a vital role. Total biomass of the tree can be measured by a destructive and Non-destructive method. Since tree felling is ban in India, Non-destructive measurements by allometric equations have been widely used for the estimation of tree biomass, which is derived from the destructive method. The present study focused on estimating mango (Mangifera indica) wood logs volume both by destructive and Non-destructive methods in ICAR-Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow. In Non-destructive method, all required physical parameters were recorded from different positions and further calculated by T2: log formula = ?h (r12+r22+r1 r2)/3; T3: cylindrical shape formula = ?r2h with mean value and T4: cylindrical shape formula = ?r2h with maximum value. The calculated volume of mango wood logs was compared with the obtained volume by T1:Water displacement method. ANOVA was used to compare volume generated from several methods. The results showed that average volume obtained by T2 and T3 methods was found less than the T1 method, which was 13.69 % and 12.95 %, respectively. The volume obtained by T4 was found close to the T1. The study minimized the error while estimating the biomass of mango trees with the essential parameter, the wood volume. Calculating the volume of major branches in the mango tree will make it easier to calculate accurate AGB by a Non-destructive method. The estimated AGB will be helpful to calculate the amount of sequestered carbon and contribution toward mitigating atmospheric carbon dioxide by mango cultivated areas.

The impacts of a logging road on the soil microbial communities, and carbon and nitrogen components in a Northern Zone Costa Rican forest

Logging road development is considered as potentially more damaging to a tropical forest than the felling of the actual trees. However, little work has been conducted to determine how logging road development impacts the soil microbial communities and associated C and N cycle activities in tropical forests. This study was conducted within an upland tropical forest in the Northern Zone of Costa Rica that had a 2-year abandoned logging road system (used for harvesting trees felled during a tornado) to determine how development of logging roads affected soil C and N cycle activities, efficiency of organic C use, and bacterial and fungal community compositions. Soil samples from a set of logging roads, the road edges, and adjacent primary forests were analyzed for C, N metrics, the Microbial Quotients, and DNA-based microbial taxonomic community compositions; which were tested for differences using multivariate statistical analyses. The logging road soils had significantly greater bulk density and clay, and lower levels of sand, TN, NO3−, NO3−/NH4+, TOC, C Biomass, and Microbial Quotients compared to the road edge and forest soils. The composition of the total bacterial genera of the road edge and forest soils were similar to one another and different from that of the logging road soils, and the composition of the total fungal genera was unique within each of the three areas sampled. The relative abundance of DNA sequences of N-cycle bacteria were greater, and lignin degrading bacteria and wood rot/lignin degrading fungi were less in the logging roads compared to the edge and forest soils. These results suggest that the rate of recovery of both the C and N cycle activities and associated microbial groups in the soils from the road edges is occurring more rapidly than in the abandoned logging road soils. Thus, we suggest that a new tropical forest management practice should include the movement of the slash and debris from the road edge regions onto the logging roads after abandonment, as it would enhance the rate of recovery of both the C and N cycle activities in the soils, and perhaps begin to address the concern that logging roads add an additional 10–15 years to tropical forest recovery following deforestation.

ORGANIZATION AND MONITORING OF FOREST PESTS WITH THE USE OF PHEROMONES IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE STATE ENTERPRISE «ZARICHANSKE FORESTRY»

ORGANIZATION AND MONITORING OF FOREST PESTS WITH THE USE OF PHEROMONES IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE STATE ENTERPRISE «ZARICHANSKE FORESTRY»

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi facilitate the uptake of radiocesium by Eleutherococcus sciadophylloides (araliaceae) – a pot-scale and field survey

ABSTRACT Radiocesium (137Cs) contamination caused by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident has posed a serious problem, especially for forest ecosystems. Phytoremediation is an effective decontamination method with less disturbance to the ecosystems than tree felling and soil removal. Eleutherococcus sciadophylloides is one of the 137Cs-accumulating tree species in Japan. However, the accumulation mechanism is not well understood. Herein, we aimed to clarify the contribution of the colonization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to 137Cs uptake by E. sciadophylloides based on both field and greenhouse experiments. In the greenhouse experiment, we used a growth pot system with a mesh partition, which enable to confirm separately the contribution of AMF hyphae from tree roots. In addition, because potassium (K) in the rhizosphere is related to 137Cs uptake, we also aimed to clarify the role of AMF in 137Cs uptake by E. sciadophylloides in the presence of K. Semi-quantitative analysis of the field survey revealed a significant and positive relationship between AMF colonization and radioactivity in the fine roots of E. sciadophylloides. The pot experiments with K treatment indicated that AMF contributes to 137Cs uptake by E. sciadophylloides through its hyphae, and that the addition of K into the rhizosphere was effective in increasing the 137Cs uptake synergistically by AMF colonization. These results could prove helpful to future applications of AMF and K for enhanced phytoremediation of 137Cs by E. sciadophylloides.

Integration lean manufacturing and 6R to reduce wood waste in furniture company toward circular economy

The furniture industry is suspected to have triggered global warming. The need for wood as raw material becomes a necessity for cutting down trees. The concept of a circular economy aims to reduce the use of natural resources by utilizing production waste or post-use product waste into raw materials. One strategy that can be used to support the circular economy is by implementing 6R. The application of 6R in a circular economic perspective on the furniture industry will be interesting to do. This study uses value stream mapping as a lean manufacturing analysis tool to identify furniture company waste. Value stream mapping is developed by integrating green manufacturing indicators such as material consumption and waste management. Practically, the furniture company can find out the map of production waste so that it can utilize waste as raw material for derivative products as an effort to reduce tree felling. Theoretically, this research will enrich the integration of green-value stream mapping toward the circular economy by implementing the 6R strategy in furniture companies. Reuse wood waste as a raw material for a variety of table products can reduce the amount of wood waste while reducing the resources of wood logs.

Evaluation of an HSM 208F 14tone HVT-R2 Forwarder Prototype under Conditions of Steep-Terrain Low-Access Forests

Forwarding technology is well established in use around the world but, at the same time, forwarders are expensive machines that require a good planning to ensure the sustainability of operations. In addition, forwarder market is characterized by a limited pool of customers, therefore innovation attempts may be limited compared to other product development industries. Since the steps towards a full automation of operations are still at their beginning, improvements of forwarder machines may rest in developing and integrating components that could contribute to an increased effectiveness. To respond to such challenges, the Forwarder2020 project developed innovative components that were integrated in a number of forwarder prototypes based on a market pull approach that resulted in a flexible adaptation to customer requirements and work environments. Since one of the typical work environments was that of low access forests, some components (i.e. suspended cabin and transmission system) were engineered to enable faster and safer operations and to economize fuel. As a common validation step is that of bringing field evidence on the performance improvement, this study evaluated the operational speed, productivity and fuel consumption of a forwarder prototype in conditions of a steep-terrain low-access forest. The main findings were very promising as the prototype was able to operate at significantly increased speeds and the fuel savings were evident. For an average forwarding distance of about 1.5 km, net productivity and efficiency rates were estimated at 14.4 m3/h and 0.07 h/m3, respectively. They were related to the availability of wood, and further improvement of such figures is possible by a better organization of tree felling and processing. Operational speed was affected by the condition of skid roads used for forwarding, which were harsh. During the transportation tasks developed on roads typical for forwarding, the machine was able to sustain average speeds estimated at 8 km/h. As a matter of fact, in such tasks, the dominant operational speed (almost in 100% of the cases) was higher than 5 km/h irrespective of the road condition. Hourly fuel consumption was estimated based on the time in which the engine was working and it amounted to 17.1 l/h. More importantly, by considering the forwarded payload in terms of volume and mass, the unit fuel consumption was estimated to be 1.25 l/m3 and 1.47 l/t, respectively. These results bring evidence on the performance improvement by modular innovation. In fact, such solutions could answer the challenges related to the sustainability of forest operations in low access forests.

Degradation of agricultural land: Evidence from non-farm livelihood sites in Ogun state, Southwest Nigeria

ABSTRACT In Nigeria, non-farm livelihood activities are becoming rampant in agrarian communities, thereby reducing land capacity to support agriculture. This study examines effect of non-farm livelihoods on agricultural land. A multi-sampling technique was used to sample160 rural households. Soil samples, Geographic Information System (GIS) coordinates and Landsat images were obtained. Data were subjected to statistical, GIS, chemical analyses. Findings revealed that sand mining (88%), rock mining (63.1%) and tree felling (76.9%) were the main non-farm livelihoods on agricultural land for about two decades. Soil analyses revealed that soil nutrients were lower at livelihood site; with nitrogen (0.050-0.150%), sodium (0.1-0.3cmolkg-1), and calcium (2-5cmolkg1). Result showed that matured forest reduces to 9.39% in 2016 but was 15.12% in 2000. It is recommended that degraded land should be improved, people should be educated on the detrimental effect of degradation, and their activities should be monitored to avert further degradation of agricultural land.

Role of Kairomones in The Management of Sal Borer (Hoplocerambyx Spinicornis) Population

Hoplocerambyx spinicornis is a major pest of Sal which causes extensive damage to the Sal trees. As regard to the chemical control there is any likelihood of chemical control. The grub bores very deep into the heartwood and lodges itself inside chambers and galleries. Thus the present study deals with the multidisciplinary approach like the use of biocontrol agents (natural enemies), testing of kairomones, use of olfactrometer and the use of variously designed traps to manage the borers’ population. Kairomone is the alternate chemical attractant which contain flavanoids, terpenoids and amine compounds. Such methods avoid felling of trees which are used in controlling pest population since decades. Above methods being eco friendly and environmentally sound could manage the pest population up to certain economic threshold level.

ВЫРУБКИ ПОД ЛИНИИ ЭЛЕКТРОПЕРЕДАЧ В СОСНОВЫХ ЛЕСАХ БЕЛОРУССКОГО ПООЗЕРЬЯ КАК МЕСТА ОБИТАНИЯ ЖУЖЕЛИЦ (COLEOPTERA, CARABIDAE)

For the first time in the Belarusian Lake District, the influence of regular tree felling in pine forests under power lines on the biodiversity of ground beetles has been studied. On the power line corridor species richness, number of individuals, and the diversity of ground beetles were highest in comparison with the adjacent forests (Pinetum vacciniosum and Pinetum myrtillosum). In addition, species composition and group of dominants composition were different. Among dominant species there are inhabitants of open spaces Poecilus versicolor and Calathus erratus. The assemblages of ground beetles of the power line corridor were the most differed from Pinetum vacciniosum. Regression analysis (GLM) showed a negative influence of the height of the herb-dwarf shrub layer on the number of individuals of ground beetles. Shrub cover positive affected carabid diversity, whereas soil moisture had a negative effect.

HeProMo: A decision support tool to estimate wood harvesting productivities.

In the field of forestry, one of the most economically important ecosystem service is the provision of timber. The need to calculate the economic effects of forest management in the short, medium, and long term is increasing. Forest operations or timber harvesting, which comprises felling, processing, and transport of trees or timber, are responsible for a large part of the costs and environmental impacts associated to forest management or enterprises. From a decision maker's perspective, it is essential to estimate working productivity and production costs under given operating conditions before any operation is conducted. This work addresses the lack of a valid collection of models that allows estimating time, productivities, and costs of labor and machinery for the most important forest operations in forest stands under Central European conditions. To create such models, we used data from forest enterprises, manual time studies, and the literature. This work presents a decision support tool that estimates the wood harvesting productivities of 12 different kinds of forest operations under Central European conditions. It includes forest operations using chainsaws, harvesters, skidders, forwarders, chippers, cable and tower yarders, and helicopters. In addition, the tool covers three models for wood volume estimation. The tool is written in Java and available open-source under the Apache License. This work shows how the tool can be used by describing its graphical user interface (GUI) and its application programming interface (API) that facilitates bulk processing of scientific data. Carefully selected default values allow estimations without knowing all input variables in detail. Each model is accompanied by an in-depth documentation where the forest operation, input variables, formulas, and statistical background are given. We conclude that HeProMo is a very useful tool for applications in forest practice, research, and teaching.

К вопросу выбора харвестерной головки для лесов Центральной России

Theoretical and experimental studies to substantiate the choice of a harvester head are presented. A mathematical model of the harvester’s work has been developed based on natural and production-technological factors. The results obtained make it possible to justify the dimensions of the harvester head for the Central Federal District, in particular, the maximum width of the opening of the gripping levers harvester head. When choosing the size of the harvester head, it is recommended to proceed from the fact that some of the large trees can be left in the cutting area. Felling of such trees can be done with chainsaws. If we proceed from the number and volume of harvested trees, then the width of the opening of the gripping levers harvester head for the Central Federal District can be recommended equal to 750 mm. In this case, the percentage of the harvested number of trees without taking into account the small size will be 99,8%. As for the volume of harvested wood, it is also quite high and amounts to 98,6%.

The Felling of Hung Up Trees—A Work Safety and Productivity Issue

Research Highlights: The felling of hung up trees is considered by literature in the field as an activity with a high injury risk. The low work productivity in the felling of hung up trees is wrongly cited by workers in order to justify various more or less safe work techniques. Background and objectives: The purpose of this paper was to determine work productivity in the felling of hung up trees when this activity has a well-defined structure with stages and specific activities that would allow workers to assess injury risk correctly. In addition, this paper aims to identify the moment when workers should give up the manual felling of hung up trees with a hand winch and start using specialized logging equipment. Materials and methods: The research was conducted in the Eastern Carpathians in a spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) tree stand where clear cutting normally takes place. A single team of workers was used consisting of two chainsaw operators—a main one and a secondary one. This team had a high level of qualification and experience in the operations performed. For the felling of hung up trees, the technique based on rotating the tree around a pivot with a hand winch was used. Time was measured in seconds by using the continuous time study method. Results: The results indicated that work productivity decreases with the number of times the traction line needs to be repositioned. It decreases from 3.477 trees·h−1 (in trees where no repositioning is necessary) to 1.402 trees·h−1 (when the repositioning takes place twice). In trees that needed the repositioning of the traction line, safety rules were broken in the following ways: crossing over the tensioned cable of the traction line, the main chainsaw operator being positioned inside the triangle formed by the hung up trees and the anchorage points of the pulley and the hand winch as well as the operator being positioned very close to the hung up tree stem base while the latter is being tied. That is why, if the repositioning of the traction line is necessary, the question is—would it be better to give up the manual felling of hung up trees and start using specialized equipment? Conclusion: The felling of hung up trees must be regarded and understood, first and foremost, through the perspective of reducing injury risk and protecting workers. Thus, the work productivity of 3.477 trees·h−1 can be considered acceptable for trees that need no extra repositioning of the traction line or when the time consumed does not go over 17 min·tree−1.