Logging Truck Research Articles

Effect of Lowered Tire Pressures on Road Erosion

The effect of tire pressure on sediment produced by loaded logging trucks operating on low-quality aggregate surfaced roads is analyzed. Rainfall and runoff were measured for three winter seasons with logging truck traffic. Sediment eroded from the road surface from moderately reduced tire pressure road sections averaged 45 percent less than from the highway tire pressure sections. An average reduction of 80 percent was measured from the section used by trucks operating with low tire pressure sections. Because the processes responsible for sediment reduction are not site specific, lowering tire pressures in logging trucks on unpaved roads can reduce the sediment loss from many unpaved road surfaces. The results were used to calibrate the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model. Once calibrated, the model estimated the sediment reduction expected at representative locations for all national forests. The WEPP model demonstrated its ability to be helpful in estimating the sediment reduction from forest roads.

Safety of Log Transportation After Regulation and Training in the State of Georgia, USA

Mechanical failure rates observed in highway accidents involving logging tractor-trailers have fallen significantly since Georgia subjected these vehicles to random roadside inspections. This improvement is attributed to both the regulation and the training efforts aimed at the log trucking community immediately before and after the implementation of the rules.

Out of Control in Colquitt: Swamp Gravy Makes Stone Soup

Day one the project nearly killed me. The big Cadillac was driving backroads from the Tallahassee airport to Colquitt, Georgia, past shanties, piney woods, and peanut fields. On a narrow strip of tarmac hemmed in by trees, Joy Jinks, my white, So-something hostess, pulled around a log truck. The truck swung left blocking the Cadillac's path. Time opened like a door as my brain recorded the nanoseconds. It is my fantasy that I did, indeed, die that day. So much of what I used to be as an artist is dead because of that trip. Since I came to Colquitt, I wonder

Confirmed Sandhill Crane Nesting in Yakima County, Washington

The sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) is a Washington State endangered species, and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Yakama Indian Nation sensitive species (Yakama Indian Reservation Forest Management Plan 1993-2002). In Washington, the only recent (since 1979) confirmed nesting by sandhill cranes has occurred at Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Klickitat Co. (T6N R12E). The refuge is located within the exterior boundary of the Yakama Indian Reservation (YIR), in an area that is open to the public. However, I have observed either pairs or single sandhill cranes each year since 1991 at a wet meadow in the forested portion of the YIR in Yakima Co. that is closed to the public. This meadow is 35 km northeast from the nests at Conboy Lake. The meadow (T9N R13E) covers approximately 79 ha. Vegetation consists of willows (Salix spp.), sedges (Carex spp.), tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa) and timber oatgrass (Danthonia intermedia) located in stringers between stands of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) cover type or mixed conifer cover type (predominantly Douglas-fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii] or grand fir [Abies grandis] with some ponderosa pine [Pinus ponderosa] and western larch [Larix occidentalis]). Portions of the meadow have standing water. This meadow is probably the same area that Jewett et al. (1953. Birds of Washington State. Seattle: Univ Washington Pr) listed for a 1941 nest: 2 adults and a nest with 2 eggs were in a swamp near Signal Peak, at 1372 m. This nest was on a small island covered with low shrubs. To my knowledge, this was the last confirmed nesting record for sandhill cranes in the forested area of the YIR. Each spring and summer since 1991 I have scanned this meadow for sandhill cranes. Before 1994, the earliest date I observed a pair was 5 April 1993, the latest, 23 June 1993. On 17 June 1994, I found a pair of sandhill cranes with 1 young at this meadow. I returned daily from 20 to 24 June, but saw no cranes. On 5 July, I flew over the meadow in a helicopter and observed 2 adults but no young nor nest. During the flight I surveyed other suitable meadow habitat, but saw no cranes. The latest I saw 2 adults (but no young) at the original meadow was 20 July. From 24 July to 15 August, this portion of the YIR was closed for fire suppression; field work was not possible. I did not attempt to locate birds after 15 August. Littlefield (1994. Draft Pacific Flyway management plan for the Central Valley population of greater sandhill cranes. Princeton OR: USDI Fish and Wildlife Service) reported a 6% mean recruitment of sandhill cranes from 1970 to 1985 at Malheur NWR. Poor recruitment was attributed to predation by coyotes (Canis Intrans), starvation of young because food may be limited by low water levels, and livestock grazing. The summer of 1994 was exceptionally dry on the YIR, although the meadow in which I observed the cranes had standing water on 20 July. Coyotes are also numerous here. This meadow is located within a grazing unit, but cattle generally reach it after 15 July. The major land-use practice nearby is timber harvest, but there is a 20 m no-entry buffer around this meadow. There is logging traffic nearby, however. During May through July 1994 there were approximately 4 log truck trips per day past the site. Since 1984, young sandhill cranes have survived to the flight stage at Conboy Lake NWR every year except 1994 (H. Cole, pers. comm.). I suspect that during 1994 the young sandhill crane that I observed perished. Tribal biologists will continue to monitor this meadow and other suitable habitat for sandhill crane occurrence.

The Yellow Ribboning of America: A Gulf War Phenomenon

Whether tied around a tree, worn on a lapel or displayed in some other fashion, the yellow ribbon in America became a pervasive visible symbol associated with the Gulf War. It generated incredible sales, unprecedented usage and heated debate.Few symbols in recent times have been so quickly embraced by so many segments of society. Yellow ribbons cut across economic, religious, political, social, gender, regional, age and professional barriers. Military families used them, but so did individuals who had no relatives in the military. Politicians, companies, churches, retail businesses, advertisers, municipalities, school children and advocates on both sides of the war issue used them.Yellow ribbons were everywhere. Their presence across both rural and urban America before, during and after the war makes it hard to imagine that most Americans did not encounter them in some fashion. Few could escape seeing ribbons decorating something, reading references to them in newspapers and finding them for sale in stores and displayed on clothing and jewelry. No war in recent American history has seen a home front phenomenon of this type.This article examines the ribbon variants and sales, phases of utilization, widespread use and visibility, ambiguous meanings and controversies that surrounded its' use, and speculates on why it was so popular and the functional roles it played in the lives of the people and communities who displayed it.The Gulf War was neither the first nor the last time that yellow ribbons have been selected by individuals and groups to symbolize support for a cause or to welcome back loved ones. Since 1979, several different groups concerned with the release of Middle East hostages had popularized the ribbon as a symbol for their cause. And extending beyond the context, yellow ribbons were worn in 1985 by non-striking United Airlines flight attendants and pilots to support striking colleagues who were considered held hostage by the company (United A5). And while not entirely yellow, a ribbon was symbolically tied around the Pentagon in August 1985, the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Composed of thousands of individually stitched banners, at least one of which had a yellow ribbon encircling the earth, the Pentagon ribbon supported peace and called for an end to nuclear weapons (Lark ). In 1988 pro-timber industry workers in the Pacific Northwest formed the Yellow Ribbon Coalition to promote an understanding of their cause--saving their jobs and rural lifestyle from being eliminated as forests become increasingly protected to preserve the habitat of the endangered northern spotted owl. Convoys of 1000 ribbon-decorated log trucks have rallied in Northwest cities, members have tied ribbons to trees and car antennas and have appropriated the ribbon as their solidarity symbol (Strycker 1A, McKenzie C1). In February 1992, several hundred Oregon timber workers wearing yellow ribbons chanted Hey, Hey ESA, please don't take our jobs away, as they came to testify at government hearings on the Endangered Species Act (Durbin A1). Supporters of alleged Mafia leader John Gotti hung yellow ribbons outside his former social club during his Winter 1992 trial (Maykuth E15). While none of these instances reached the same proportion of use as was evident during the Gulf War, together they illustrate that the yellow ribbon had become fairly well disseminated as a support symbol across America by the early 1990s.RIBBON VARIANTS AND SALESDuring the Gulf War the yellow ribbon took many forms. In its most common manifestation, it appeared as a yellow plastic or fabric bow, streamer, banner or strip of ribbon, of varying widths and lengths, that was tied, pinned, folded, wrapped, draped, hung, glued or otherwise attached to or encircled around something else. One of the most common of all yellow ribbon usages was the tying of a bow around a trunk of a tree (Fig. 1). (Fig. …

Frequency Response Analysis of Canadian Logging Trucks

SUMMARY This paper examines the frequency responses often logging truck configurations currently operating in the interior of British Columbia in Canada. The work is an extension of a previous study conducted at the National Research Council (NRC) in 1990. The previous study presented an extensive analysts of the directional responses and frequency responses of four Canadian log-hauling truck configurations; a tractor/pole trailer, a tractor/triaxle trailer, a tractor/quadaxle trailer (with a single load), and a tractor/single-axle-jeep/pole trailer. In the current study, the frequency responses of these four configurations are compared with those of six more log-hauling truck configurations; a tractor/ tandem-axle-jeep/pole trailer, a doglogger, a double doglogger, a tractor/quadaxle trailer (with a dual load), a tractor/jeep/triaxle trailer, and a tractor/jeep/quadaxle trailer. The current study makes use of three models developed by NRC in the previous study, and a new model developed at NRC in coopera...

Local Regulation of Timber Harvesting and Trucking in Georgia

Abstract By early 1992, 49 Georgia counties regulated timber harvesting or trucking activities in their jurisdictions by either a formal ordinance or an informal working policy. As recently as 1988, only 14 counties were known to have such ordinances. All new regulation since 1988 occurred in rural counties. The most common form of regulation requires that a logging permit be obtained or that county officials be notified of an intent to harvest timber. The posting of a surety bond is also a common requirement. Current local regulations in Georgia are summarized in an easily updated field guide, Field Handbook of Local Logging and Log Trucking Regulations in Georgia, that is now available. Regular revisions of the handbook are planned to keep foresters and logging contractors up to date on local regulations in the future. South. J. Appl. For. 17(4):200-206.

Gamma-Ray Logging of Outcrops by a Truck-Mounted Sonde: GEOLOGIC NOTE

An Innovative Technique Has Been Developed to acquire gamma-ray logs from rock outcrops. A standard logging truck is driven to the top of a quarry or cliff, and a gamma-ray sonde is lowered down the face by cable to the base of the cliff. The sonde is then raised at a constant rate, and gamma-ray measurements are continuously recorded, a method similar to logging a borehole. The logging rate is slower than conventional (borehole) rates since, on a cliff face, the gamma-ray tool is exposed to less than half of the rock mass normally encountered in a borehole. Outcrop logging of strata where the geometry and stratification character of the deposit is observed demonstrates the reliability and potential pitfalls in subsurface wireline log correlations and provides better visualization of interwell-scale lateral continuity (and discontinuity) of strata. These outcrop logs assist in developing an understanding of the properties of the strata responsible for a particular gamma-ray log response and demonstrate the necessary caution in interpreting vertical sequences, depositional environments, lateral continuity, and reservoir quality from gamma-ray logs.

Logging Truck Vehicle Performance Prediction for Efficient Resource Transportation System Planning: Computer Modelling Approach

Transportation systems, characterized by extremely heavy logging trucks running on low standard roads, are critical to Canadian woodlands operations. Because predicting logging vehicle performance is essential to planning efficient forest road transportation systems, a Heavy Vehicle Performance Model (HVPM) was developed which takes into account the characteristics of forest road transportation system components in order to predict vehicle performance parameters such as speed and fuel consumption. Two independent field test data sets were used to verify the HVPM. Verification results showed that the average speed predicted by the HVPM was as much as 17 percent lower than the average observed speed, while predicted fuel consumption was as much as 20 percent higher than the field observations. Implementation of the HVPM is presented by showing how it is used to solve three forest road transportation problems: a practical application is given in a case study comparing the performance of two specified trucks on two proposed road alignments, the selection of truck components using vehicle performance predictions from the HVPM is illustrated, and the HVPM is used to predict truck performance on different classes of roads.

Outcrop gamma-ray logging to improve understanding of subsurface well log correlations

Abstract Reliable, reproducible gamma-ray logs of outcrops have been generated by two techniques which aim to improve the visualization of interwell-scale lateral continuity (and discontinuity) of strata and to demonstrate the reliability and potential pitfalls of subsurface wireline log correlations. One innovative technique was developed which uses a standard gamma-ray sonde run from a logging truck in order to log vertical cliff or quarry faces. A second technique employs a hand-held gamma-ray scintillometer to log more easily accessible outcrops. Examples are presented from the Jackfork Group (Pennsylvanian), Arkansas, USA, of outcrop gamma-ray logging of both laterally continuous and discontinuous turbidites in structurally simple and complex settings. Because the strata from which the logs were measured can be visualized and discussed at the outcrop, these examples can clearly illustrate the following aspects of wireline log correlation: (1) reliability can be greatly improved by understanding expected subsurface depositional geometries and lateral facies changes; (2) wireline log correlations in stratigraphically and structurally complex settings, such as many oil or gas fields, may not be reliable without sufficient coring and special logging in addition to well testing; (3) erroneous correlations can result from the common practice of inferring three-dimensional rock geometries from two-dimensional well log data. Additional examples demonstrate that correlations and interpretations of subsurface wireline logs in both oil/gas fields and in exploration areas can be improved by comparing the subsurface logs with outcrop gamma-ray logs of nearby analogous strata.

Keeping Mud Off the Highway During Wet-Weather Logging

Abstract Mud transfer from soil-based logging roads to paved public highways by log trucks operating during muddy conditions is a major problem for southern logging contractors. Mud transfer can result in fines, traffic accidents, lawsuits, and loss of production. Four devices that could be attached to a log trailer to remove mud from the trailer's dual tires were designed, constructed, and field tested. A simple and inexpensive "bar and scraper" was found to be particularly effective, removing 85% of the mud accumulated during the control phase of the study. South J. Appl. For. 15(1):50-53.

On-Board Log Truck Scales: Application to Southern Timber Harvesting

Abstract Case studies of electronic on-board log truck scales were conducted with cooperating logging contractors in Georgia and Virginia. The scales were found to accurately predict gross vehicle weight with less than 1.0% error. The cooperating contractors were able to reduce net load weightvariance by 0.52 tons and 1.14 tons, respectively. The investment in on-board scales produced an internal rate of return of 24.3% for the Georgia logger and 9.8% for the Virginia logger. South. J. Appl. For. 11(2):112-116.

Predicting logging truck travel times and estimating costs of log haulage using models

Summary The travel times of articulated logging trucks along varying classes of road in the Circular Head region of North West Tasmania were investigated. A road classification system was developed to relate the performance of such trucks to roads of different standards. Using this system, models were tested to predict travel times over any specified route for both unloaded and loaded travel. By using one of these models, fixed, variable and total haulage costs per tonne could be estimated for a vehicle travelling over one or more of eleven defined classes of road. This approach illustrates how costs estimates can be made, more equitably than those currently in force, without necessarily changing total haulage costs, since variations in road conditions along different haulage routes can be taken into account.

Continuity Strengthens South Fork Hoh River Bridge Replacement

T South Fork Hoh River Bridge (see Fig. 1) is a 142 ft 3-Y4 in. (43.4 m) long, three-span continuous prestressed concrete structure made up of pretensioned decked bulb tee girders. The bridge replaces an old deteriorated timber structure using the existing middle piers. To increase the load capacity of the bridge, the girders were post-tensioned for continuity. The bridge is designed for off-highway logging trucks and overload crossings of large tower and yarder units. This article describes the preliminary studies, design and economic considerations, advantages of continuity, post-tensioning layout and joint details, construction aspects and post-tensioning operations used to construct this unique bridge. The South Fork of the Hoh River is Iocated on the Olympic Peninsula, southeast of Forks, Washington (see Fig. 2). This region has the highest average annual rainfall in the continental United States, averaging 140 in. (3556 mm) per year. Storms have been known to bring up to 6 in. (152 mm) of rain in a 24-hour period and this, when combined with melting snow, can cause the river to rise quickly, sending logs and debris rushing downstream. In this constantly moist environment, decay is rapid and omnipresent, thus presenting formidable obstacles to bridge construction and longevity. The South Fork Hoh River Bridge, also known as the Marsh Bridge, was originally built in 1960 for HS20 loading using log stringers and timber decking over two interior reinforced concrete support piers on footings embedded in rock. Twenty-two years later, the log stringers were decaying, threatening structural integrity. After the original bridge was built, the

Calculating the Maximum Grade a Log Truck Can Climb

Abstract Steep road grades provide managers with a new way to reduce economic and environmental costs of transportation systems. Equations for maximum grade-climbing ability (gradeability) of both loaded and unloaded log trucks are presented. They were derived by considering rolling resistance, vehicle geometry, and weight-distribution changes among axles as the truck negotiates different grades. West. Appl. For. 1:43-45 April 1986

Aloe: A Short Story

• ^vLCvE h^^K^V^?* A Short Story ****.w*******> by marypothoven «***· She lay the knife edge lightly against the chicken's bleached, stippled skin, drawing it slowly down, blade-weight and motion alone opening a furrow. The second floating stroke penetrated and the skin split wide from the pressure. "Lo, can't you keep your brats out of my stuff!" Beck whirled out of the house, slamming the screen to punctuate her sentence. Aloe watched her younger sister's full breasts swing under the light robe, straining the single button fastened at the waist. "You don't need to come out here half-naked, Beck," she said, conscious of a long engine whine tunneling toward them through the pine forest. A flat-bed logging truck emerged at the edge of the open field to the north, ramming along the corduroy road in front of the house. "Hiieee Beck!" a man's voice pitched falsetto sang out. Beck grinned, snapping the robe tight. A long, leering whistle trailed off in the diminishing rumble. After the truck passed Beck's anger dimmed to petulance. "I can't have anything to myself in this place. Look at this!" Beck held out a carmine lipstick, the buttery paste now dented and smashed. "It was just new," she said. 56 Aloe shrugged and turned again to the open carcass. "I told you to latch your door when you went out." She laid the knife down. "Can't be watching them all the time with all the work to do." Cradling the back of the flaccid body in her left hand, thumb and finger circling under the limp skeletal wings, she tightened her grip. A thin, prolonged squawk drained out ofthe corpse as the last air pushed from the lungs. "Guess he won't crow no more," she said. Beyond the house another rooster flung a long, off-key cock-a-doodle into the morning air. Aloe tipped her head toward the sound. "That one's the last," she said. Beck twisted her face as her sister's spread fingers entered the slick morass of the body cavity and slowly drew the mass of vitals out. "I don't see how you stand that. It stinks." "Never smell like chicken dinner 'less it stinks like this first." "Yeuckh!" Beck used her tongue to push out the sound as the entrails spilled onto the makeshift table. Aloe smiled slightly, conscious of her own strength. Beck went inside. The leaves hung mute, as if resigned to yet another stifling August day. In the still air, the acrid odor of the singeing lingered. A few feet away the scalding bucket steamed, a grayish scum moving slowly on the water, a pile of sodden white feathers beside it on the grass. Her hands coated with viscous fluids and blood, Aloe pushed back a straggle of black hair with her wrist. She worked deftly, methodically, the green sac of bitter gall separated and flung unbroken into the weeds, the heart and liver cut free and laid aside, the gizzard opened like a clam, the lining with its burden of sand stripped away. She cleaned the last remaining fragments from the body cavity, a bit oflung, the flat kidney against the backbone, a piece oftrachea. A sudden wail made Aloe turn as Beck dragged four-year-old Corrine out of the house. "Let go ofher," Aloe said, her voice husky with anger. Beck threw the small hand from hers. "She said she did play with my lipstick. Ifyou don't give her a whipping for it, I will." Corrine started to run for her mother's protection, but seeing her bloody hands, stopped midway between the two women and began to cry. "You lay a hand on her again and you won't sleep another night in my house." Turning her attention to the child, Aloe crooned, "It's all right," but the girl would come no closer. "Just a minute," she said. "They'll be spoiled rotten," Beck said. "They're my kids, Beck. You keep your nose out of it." As Aloe scrubbed her hands in the pan of fresh water she had meant to use to wash the chicken carcass...

The Great Lloydminster Oil Rush

Perhaps because of my Canadian citizenship, Schlumberger Well Surveying Corporation transferred me to Canada when they first opened an office in this country in 1946. The manager was to be Charlie Bailey, with offices in the Burns Building in Calgary. I was to be the field engineer, located in Lloydminster. The way had been paved for us with a smooth layer of promises by Andrei A. Perebinossoff who, in two months, had become a legend as Mr. "Perry" in all the small towns of Alberta, where a presumably, all the future oil exploration would occur. Arriving dressed like a World War I flying ace (perhaps piloted by his friend Roy Graves of Dowell Incorporated) or striding into a beer parlor like a movie director from Hollywood in his French beret, breeches and riding boots and exuding his unique blend of French-Russian-American charm, "Perry" presented a picture of Schlumberger well logs never seen in Canada before or since. Largely due to the impression left by Perebinossoff, the Canadian branch immediately operated in the black, but there were other reasons. Our logging truck came cheap, having already been written off as obsolete in California. Also, brilliantly, "Perry" had hired Hughie Gough and Arne Thorson of Okotoks as truck drivers and operators. These two, after rebuilding the truck in Casper, Wyoming, to suit our winter conditions, were apparently willing to carry it on their backs if necessary to maintain our reputation for service. Our competition was the logging service offered by Halliburton, which became Welex a few years later. We felt that we had the better logs, but we had to admit that they had earned the loyalty of their clients, That loyalty was hard to win over to our side. We were the late-comers, by several months at least. So began a long period of friendship, mutual respect and rivalry with Halliburton's Bob Wark, Stan Nelner, Jack Pettinger and Harold Fairbanks. Stan is still with Welex, in Europe. We all believed that the client's interests came first and we would call in our competition rather than make a well wait, if we were very busy. The Lloydminster oil boom of the late 1940s was something to experience. When we arrived, there was only one hotel and only one hotel room allowed per company; no rooms for mere families no houses and no office space to be had. However, it did have a very large, busy, dripping beer parlor, which served as a sort of oil forum and labour exchange. Perebinossoff had told me not to get an office, but to operate from the beer parlor in order to be part of the oil picture, but after a week or so I had to give up and rent part of a shack for office space. My wife, and daughter got a room in the Brunswick Hotel in Vermilion and I became a commuter.

Oshkosh Logging Truck

Oshkosh Logging Truck

Log Trucking in Oregon—a Survey

ABSTRACT IN a comprehensive survey of the log-trucking industry in Oregon, 228 questionnaires were returned, representing 24 percent of the approxi-mately 950 log hauling operators and 4,550 high-way log trucks operating in the state. Analysis of the survey data shows that the average Oregon log truck hauls approximately 14,900 m3 (2.7 million board feet) of logs annually, making 587 trips and traveling more than 71,900 km (44,677 miles). To-tal annual operating costs for this average truck are about $50,200. It uses approximately 36,340 L (9,600 gallons) of diesel fuel, a fuel consumption rate of 0.0266 L/m3 hauled per round-trip km (0.0632 gallons per thousand board feet per round-trip mile.

Determination of causes of cranking of main-bearing bushes in diesel engines of log trucks

Determination of causes of cranking of main-bearing bushes in diesel engines of log trucks