Timber Transport Research Articles

Forest visitors' opinions on the importance of forest operations, forest functions and sourcesof their financing

The survey was conducted in three selected areas of the Czech Republic in 2008, with the results processed in 2009. Forests visitors received inquiry forms (face to face interviews, random sample). The total number of visitors on 8 survey days was 7,369. The total number of filled-in questionnaires in the three areas was 1,122. Tree planting and tree protection are considered as the most important forest operations, followed by road and stream bank maintenance. On the contrary, timber transport and harvesting are considered as the least important activities. The nature-protecting function is considered as the most important forest function, followed by soil-conservation, climatic, hydrological and health (recreational) functions. Timber production and non-timber production are the least important functions according to the respondents. 20% of respondents claimed that increased costs needed to improve non-market forest functions, used by the visitors, should be partially or fully financed from the timber sales revenues, while only 6.5% of respondents say the costs should be partially or fully financed from payments by the users of forest functions.

Minimizing Empty Truck Loads in Round Timber Transport with Tabu Search Strategies

In Central Europe transportation accounts for an estimated 30% of the total costs of round timber and is an essential element of cost. In this paper, Tabu Search based methods for solving the Timber Transport Vehicle Routing Problem (TTVRP) are presented. The TTVRP uses solutions of preceding optimization problems as input that are obtained with standard solver software. The presented methods differ with respect to the considered neighborhood and the static or dynamic setting of their parameters. They are verified with real life data in extensive numerical studies and compared to the results obtained with the solver software Xpress. It is shown that the methods are capable to generate good solutions in reasonable computing time.

Tama River's Transport of Timber and Management of Raftsmen in Early Modern Times : Mainly Concerning Historical Records on Itsukaichi and Oguno Villages in Tama County, Musashi Province(Regular Meeting)

Tama River's Transport of Timber and Management of Raftsmen in Early Modern Times : Mainly Concerning Historical Records on Itsukaichi and Oguno Villages in Tama County, Musashi Province(Regular Meeting)

Operational Service Management System of Forest Roads

The joint-stock company Latvian State Forests is the largest Latvian forest management company; it manages approximately 1.6 million ha of state-owned forests. Key areas of activity are forest management and development. The company maintains a network of forest roads to provide for the removal of timber from the forests to supply cooperative partners. At the beginning of 2010, the company owned a network of roads with a total length of 10,158 km. In 2009, 5 million m3 of timber were transported through this network of forest roads. Options for forest road operation in Latvia depend largely on weather conditions. After extended or intense rain or during spring thaws, the forest road surfacings are too wet, resulting in a significant reduction in their bearing capacity. When the bearing capacity of the pavement layers is low, there is heavy damage to or even destruction of the pavement in the course of timber transportation. Every year hundreds of kilometers of forest roads have to be repaired or even rebuilt because they are operated under inappropriate circumstances. To develop a management system, a research project was organized, which was expected to be fully completed in 5 years. During the first 2 years the principal part of the research took place—development of a basic model of the forest road network management system. The next 3 years of the study are provided for the introduction of this model. The study is to be carried out in seven stages, the first two of which have been completed. This paper describes the progress and conclusions made during the first two stages of the research. Completion of the remaining five stages is expected during the next 3 years.

Economic analysis of sustainable management of candeia

Candeia wood (Eremanthus erythropappus) is widely used for production of essential oil and its active ingredient, alpha-bisabolol, is consumed by both the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. This study aimed to determine the productivity and operating costs associated with exploration, transportation and commercialization of candeia timber obtained from sustainable management systems and used for oil production; to determine the gross income or revenue obtained from the sale of candeia timber; to analyze the economic feasibility of sustainable management of candeia. For the economic analysis, Net Present Value, Net Present Value over an infinite planning horizon, and Average Cost of Production methods were used. Results indicated that the most significant costs associated with candeia forest management involve transportation and exploration. Together they account for 64% of the total management cost. Candeia forest management for oil production is economically feasible, even in situations where the interest rate is high or timber price drops to levels well below currently effective prices. As far as candeia forest management is concerned, shorter harvest cycles allow higher profitability. However, even in situations where the harvest cycle is relatively long (30 years), the activity is still economically feasible.

Organization of private forest sector in Timok forest area.

Today, private forest owners (PFOs) in Serbia cooperate in form of private forest owners associations (PFOAs). Currently, there are 20 PFOAs, of which 15 are in Timok region. Initiatives of PFOs from Timok forest area, animated the owners from other parts of the country and led to foundation of Serbian Federation of Forest Owners' Associations. Twelve of PFOAs from Timok forest area are the founders of Serbian private forest owners' umbrella organization. Restructuring of Public Enterprise (PE) "Srbijasume", which started in 2001, led to development of private small and medium forest enter- prises, engaged as contractors of PE for harvesting, timber transport and con- struction of forest roads. The objectives of this paper are to elaborate if there are differences between PFOs in Serbia and Timok region and to analyze organization of private forest owners in Timok forest area. In order to reach these objectives, results of PRIFORT project were used. This project focused on four countries of Western Balkans region: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia. The aim of this project was to explore precon- dition for formation of PFOs in this region. Quantitative survey (n = 350) of randomly selected PFOs was conducted in nine municipalities in Serbia, of which two were in Timok region (n = 100). The results show that there are dif- ferences between PFOs in Serbia and Timok region in number of PFOs, size of private property and in additional incentives. These results also indicate that economic interest is a motive for establishment of PFOAs and that state sup- port is very important for their development. Since a number of PFOs are entrepreneurs, it can be assumed that, further development of theirs organiza- tions could lead to development of SMEs clusters.

Geoprocessamento como ferramenta de apoio à gerência de pavimentos em estradas florestais.

O objetivo do trabalho foi utilizar as técnicas de geoprocessamento na aquisição, manipulação, espacialização e visualização de dados do padrão de qualidade de estradas florestais, e na confecção de mapas temáticos, com a identificação de pontos críticos para o transporte de madeira, servindo como subsídio para o desenvolvimento de um programa de manutenção preventivo e regular. Identificaram-se e avaliaram-se a integridade e as condições de operação de estradas florestais mediante levantamento contínuo de defeitos na superfície de rolamento e obtenção do ICRNP (índice de condição da rodovia não-pavimentada). A base de dados georreferenciada, a alocação das unidades amostra e a espacialização da rede viária foram obtidas com auxílio da imagem do satélite CBERS II, modelo de elevação do terreno SRTM, e GPS. A identificação e a avaliação das rodovias, por meio de levantamentos detalhados em campo, demonstraram as condições da superfície de rolamento das rodovias, gerando informações sobre os trechos mais críticos e a intensidade de cada defeito, apontando ainda ações e base de custos para manutenção das estradas florestais. As técnicas de geoprocessamento, GPS, sensoriamento remoto e SIG mostraram-se como eficientes ferramentas para a interpretação, qualificação e quantificação de fenômenos naturais da região de estudo e para auxílio na gerência de pavimentos das estradas florestais. O SIG integrou os dados referentes aos padrões de operação e manutenção das rodovias à base de dados georreferenciada, manipulando, espacializando e disponibilizando visualmente, por meio de mapas, as informações geradas.

English

This study was aimed at investigating different timber transportation methods and harvesting mechanization progress level of Turkey. Furthermore, major problems of timber harvesting in Turkey and the future principles and objectives were defined.Timber harvesting in Turkey is still carried out by manual methods due to economical, social and environmental constraints. Almost 80% of harvesting activities are mechanized in many developed countries while this value is only 13% in Turkey. Overall ratio of mechanization is relatively low. Approximate percentage of man power, animal power, machine power and skyline harvesting are 72, 15, 8 and 5%, respectively. Turkish General Directorate of Forestry’s timber harvesting machines total amount was 448 in 1982, 859 in 1998, 457 in 2005 and 376 in 2009. Timber harvesting machines amount was reduced to 20 tractors (4 x 4 and assembled shovel), 133 skidding winches, 5 tractors with equipment of snow cleaner, 38 forklifts, 18 loaders, 30 skylines, 61 agricultural tractors, 3 agricultural tractors with shovel, 67 trucks, 1 barking machines as at 2009. In spite of existence of substantial number of harvesters, the amount of modern harvesting processor in Turkey is not sufficient. Different type and marked machines have not been taken into consideration to improve mechanization, and a poor standardization in harvesting is another problem in Turkey. Total machine park amount has been reduced to 56.2% between 1998 - 2009. Forest main repair shops should be opened again in Turkey.   Key words: Timber transportation, transportation methods, harvesting mechanization, forest harvesting, Turkey.

Planning hydrological restoration of peatlands in Indonesia to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions

Extensive degradation of Indonesian peatlands by deforestation, drainage and recurrent fires causes release of huge amounts of peat soil carbon to the atmosphere. Construction of drainage canals is associated with conversion to other land uses, especially plantations of oil palm and pulpwood trees, and with widespread illegal logging to facilitate timber transport. A lowering of the groundwater level leads to an increase in oxidation and subsidence of peat. Therefore, the groundwater level is the main control on carbon dioxide emissions from peatlands. Restoring the peatland hydrology is the only way to prevent peat oxidation and mitigate CO2 emissions. In this study we present a strategy for improved planning of rewetting measures by dam constructions. The study area is a vast peatland with limited accessibility in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Field inventory and remote sensing data are used to generate a detailed 3D model of the peat dome and a hydrological model predicts the rise in groundwater levels once dams have been constructed. Successful rewetting of a 590 km² large area of drained peat swamp forest could result in mitigated emissions of 1.4–1.6 Mt CO2 yearly. This equates to 6% of the carbon dioxide emissions by civil aviation in the European Union in 2006 and can be achieved with relatively small efforts and at low costs. The proposed methodology allows a detailed planning of hydrological restoration of peatlands with interesting impacts on carbon trading for the voluntary carbon market.

Применение георадаров для диагностики состояния лесовозных автомобильных дорог

Применение георадаров для диагностики состояния лесовозных автомобильных дорог

Учет неблагоприятных погодно-климатических условий при разработке мероприятий по обеспечению безопасности дорожного движения на лесовозных автомобильных дорогах

Учет неблагоприятных погодно-климатических условий при разработке мероприятий по обеспечению безопасности дорожного движения на лесовозных автомобильных дорогах

Changes in timber haul emissions in the context of shifting forest management and infrastructure

BackgroundAlthough significant amounts of carbon may be stored in harvested wood products, the extraction of that carbon from the forest generally entails combustion of fossil fuels. The transport of timber from the forest to primary milling facilities may in particular create emissions that reduce the net sequestration value of product carbon storage. However, attempts to quantify the effects of transport on the net effects of forest management typically use relatively sparse survey data to determine transportation emission factors. We developed an approach for systematically determining transport emissions using: 1) -remotely sensed maps to estimate the spatial distribution of harvests, and 2) - industry data to determine landscape-level harvest volumes as well as the location and processing totals of individual mills. These data support spatial network analysis that can produce estimates of fossil carbon released in timber transport.ResultsTransport-related emissions, evaluated as a fraction of transported wood carbon at 4 points in time on a landscape in western Montana (USA), rose from 0.5% in 1988 to 1.7% in 2004 as local mills closed and spatial patterns of harvest shifted due to decreased logging on federal lands.ConclusionThe apparent sensitivity of transport emissions to harvest and infrastructure patterns suggests that timber haul is a dynamic component of forest carbon management that bears further study both across regions and over time. The monitoring approach used here, which draws only from widely available monitoring data, could readily be adapted to provide current and historical estimates of transport emissions in a consistent way across large areas.

Influence of habitat restoration on post‐emergence displacement of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.): A case study in a Northern Swedish stream

AbstractDuring the 19th and 20th centuries, Swedish streams were channelized to facilitate the commercial transport of timber on water. Stream‐dwelling fish were affected by the consequent reduction in habitat quality. To mitigate the effects on salmonids, which sustain important recreational fisheries, many streams have been restored through the replacement of boulders into the channel since the early 1980s. However, the effects of restoration on salmonids remain poorly known. This study assesses the effect of habitat restoration on the post‐emergence displacement of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) fry. Hatchery‐raised fry were released in a third‐order stream canalized for timber floating in northern Sweden, and the effect of restoration on displacement was assessed. The short‐term (24 h) displacement of trout fry was reduced from 10.1 to 2.3% of fry released following restoration. Water velocity accounted for 89.4% of the variation in fry displacement across years and sites. Post‐summer recruitment (the proportion of introduced juvenile trout remaining in the study reaches 60 days after the emergence) increased approximately three fold after restoration. These findings suggest that habitat restoration benefit trout populations through substantial reductions of fry displacement and possible contributions to juvenile recruitment. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluation of forest operations in Spanish eucalypt plantations under a life cycle assessment perspective

The forest is an essential natural resource providing multiple benefits to people. However, forests face several environmental problems created by modern industrial society such as acidification, eutrophication and global warming. This study investigated the environmental loads associated with the Spanish forest sector, where this activity plays an important role in socioeconomic development. A Eucalyptus globulus plantation located in north-western Spain was considered as a case study. Forest operations were divided into three subsystems: silvicultural operations, logging operations and secondary hauling. The results showed that logging operations consume more energy than any other part of the wood supply chain, with a remarkable contribution in the potential impact categories of global warming, acidification and photochemical oxidant formation. Transportation of timber from forest landing to industrial sites (secondary hauling) is the second most important energy user. Silvicultural operations made an important contribution to eutrophication, mainly due to phosphorus-based fertilizer application. This study will enable improved Iberian life cycle assessment studies of wood products in the absence of detailed studies for this region.

Sensitivity Analysis of an Optimal Access Road Location in HillyForest Area: A GIS Approach

There are various models for establishing the efficient forest road allocation and evaluating optimum density of forest roads network for the transport of timber commodity. Most of them are based on the calculation of common timber transport costs and costs for forest roads. Today, forest road design from traditional method continues to be transformed by remote sensing technology and advancement of GIS. It is now possible for a forester to analyze many different road location alternatives over a large geographic area in a minimal amount of time. A computer programming using GIS, digital terrain data and sensitivity analysis for locating optimal forest road access in a hill area is presented. The optimal access road location specifies destination (starting point) and target (ending point) of the desired path. These paths were allocated by calculated each individual criteria by given weights placed on each cell. Therefore, the objective of this work is to describe an attempt to compute the optimal allocation of forest road corridor in hilly area of Peninsular Malaysia using GIS approach and sensitivity analysis to satisfy the result. Finally, the model minimizes total cost of construction and forest environmental impacts resulting from a specific access road. Sensitivity analysis should be explored further to understand the effects of uncertainty in derivation of model parameter on model outputs. It is concluded that the location of optimal access path were established in the area can reduce the cost and environmental impact to the forest ecosystem.

Forest road network design using a trade-off analysis between skidding and road construction costs

Designing forest road networks in a large forest land is a challenging task because many feasible alternatives exist and need to be analyzed. To provide field managers with an analytical tool that can create and analyze alternative road networks, we have developed a road network optimization model. The model formulates a large network problem in which links represent two timber transportation options from evenly distributed timber locations: on-road transportation via new roads and off-road transportation using skidders. A heuristic network algorithm is employed to solve the network problem and identify cost-efficient road networks for timber harvesting under given cost parameters. To demonstrate our model, we applied it to a 4760 ha forest in the upper part of the Mica Creek watershed in Idaho owned by Potlatch Forest Holdings, Inc. The sensitivity analyses were conducted to verify the model’s performance under various cost and volume settings. The model-generated road network was compared with a road network proposed by experienced forest engineers in Potlatch. The sensitivity analyses confirm that the model appropriately responds to changes in input parameters. Comparisons between the model output and the manually designed road network indicate that the model tends to develop a tree-shape road network to evenly cover the entire management area.

Case Studies of Tree Farmers in Maasin, Leyte Island, the Philippines

Case study interviews were conducted with five tree farmers in Southern Leyte Province of Leyte Island in the Philippines. The case studies were designed to gain indepth insights into the problems and benefits of growing and managing trees from the perspective of the tree farmers. Interviews focussed on attitudes to regulations concerning the registration of tree plantings and transport of timber. Also discussed were the way in which tree farmers manage their trees, why they choose to manage a tree farm and their interactions with staff of the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources. It was found that some tree farmers were motivated to plant trees after receiving free seedlings from the DENR and having positive interactions with DENR officers thereafter to help manage their farm and fulfil requirements of DENR policies. Tree farming was regarded as an effective way of improving living standards and welfare.

Development of an Extension ‘Primer’ on Tree Registration Policy in Leyte: An Example of a Collaborative Material Design

Tree registration in the Philippines helps meet the legal requirements for harvesting and transport of timber, and is encouraged by the Philippines Government. To help improve information flow an extension primer was developed. The primer contains basic information on tree registration, harvesting, log transport and marketing. The development process involved input from staff of the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources, tree farmers, furniture dealers, the Philippine National Police, the World Agroforestry Centre, Visayas State University and The University of Queensland. Key stakeholders were brought together at three workshops to review policy information and explore the interactions between, and differing opinions of, the various stakeholders. The primer has been distributed widely. Positive feedback has been obtained, although testing has shown that further improvements are possible. A revised version of the primer is to be produced.

Exposition of working and natural environment to noise during timber transport by helicopter MIL MI-8 in Carpathian region of Slovakia

This paper includes the results of noise measurements during timber transport by helicopter MI-8 in The High Tatras conditions in 2005. Using this highly efficient timber skidding technology with multiple positive environmental properties causes an unwanted effect – air-traffic noise. The objective of this paper is to quantify the level of noise effect for two correlated groups; noise effecting workers and noise effecting environment. The highest values measured in the worst conditions reached 90–100 dB (A).

Evaluating the competitiveness of railways in timber transports with discrete-event simulation

Railway liberalisation in Europe started with UK's separation of railway operations and infrastructure in the mid-1990s. From the beginning of 2007 freight operations have also been operating under free competition in Finland, where freight volume is dominated by forest industry. New entrants will most probably try to utilise the volume of this largest sub-sector. In this study, we describe and evaluate a railway transportation concept for timber by using simulation. Results suggest that the concept could be successfully applied in the timber transportation market. Not only could it be competitive over current railway transportation distances, but possibly also over shorter distances now serviced solely by road transport.