An Operational Compromise For Forest Tending In Protected Areas

The integration of draught animals with modern forest machines may offer an innovative solution to forest tending in protected areas. With this new system, machine traffic is constrained on pre-designated access corridors set 50 m apart, while trees are cut with chainsaws and dragged to the corridor’s edge by draught horses. The operation presented in this study included one chainsaw operator, two draught horses with their driver, an excavator-based processor with its driver and a helper equipped with a chainsaw for knocking off forks and large branches, and a light forwarder (7 t) with his driver. That operation achieved a productivity in excess of 4 m3 over bark per scheduled hour (including delays). Harvesting cost was estimated at 53 € m-3, which was between 15% and 30% cheaper than the traditional alternatives. What is more, the new system increased labor and horse productivity by a factor 2 and 7, respectively; that can effectively counteract the increasingly severe shortage of men and animals.