What Loggers Are Noticing and Doing about Changing Winter Weather

Photo Credit

Photo courtesy of Raymond Higgins

A logging machine carrying a tree in Minnesota. 

Timber harvesting in the northern regions of the United States often requires frozen ground conditions to prevent soil damage from the weight of logging equipment. If winters become warmer, how will logging operations and timber supply be impacted in areas where frozen ground conditions are required? NRS scientist, Stephanie Snyder, and her colleagues at the University of Minnesota, held focus groups with logging business owners in Minnesota to learn whether or how winter weather changes are impacting their winter logging operations and whether or how they are adapting.

Approximately half of the timber harvested in Minnesota each year occurs during winter months when the ground is frozen enough to support logging machinery without causing soil erosion and rutting. Frozen ground in winter months is very important to the logging industry.  

Loggers discussed a variety of thoughts about changes in winter weather conditions, ranging from views that winter weather conditions are not changing, to feelings that winter temperatures (e.g., milder winter temperatures, later onset of the cold temperatures) and precipitation (e.g., more rain, more snow, change in timing of cold temperatures and snowfall) have changed. Loggers reported a decrease in the number of operable winter logging days, which they attribute to changing winter weather conditions and the increased weight of modern logging equipment.  

Study participants discussed a variety of ways in which they are adapting their operations to winter weather conditions and other challenges. Foremost, loggers discussed using different types of tires and tracks on their logging equipment (e.g, wider tires, dual tires, and track tires) to allow them to operate when the ground is not completely frozen. Loggers are also adapting by changing the type of timber sales that they purchase. For example, they try to acquire more sales that can be harvested year-round, as well as looking for sales that are closer to roads and easier to access. Loggers identified non-weather-related factors impacting winter logging productivity such as increasing logging equipment weight, lack of workforce availability, decreasing timber sale tract size, and perceptions of greater regulatory control over logging operations by public agencies.  

A key finding is that there is an interplay and compounding effect between winter weather conditions and external factors on winter logging profitability.  The challenges that loggers are facing may impact the supply of harvested wood from northern regions when frozen ground conditions are needed for harvesting.

This research provides important new information about challenges facing winter logging operations that forest managers, timber mills, and equipment manufacturers need to understand in order to sustain regional wood supply.

Key Findings

• Loggers who harvest timber in northern Minnesota where frozen ground conditions are needed are acknowledging changes in winter weather conditions which is making winter logging more challenging than in the past.
• Modern logging equipment is heavier and requires a greater depth of frozen ground to operate which creates additional challenges for winter logging operations regardless of any changing winter weather conditions.
• Loggers are spending more time and effort to freeze logging roads in order to be able to access harvest sites which is decreasing winter logging productivity.
• Many loggers are adapting to changing winter weather conditions by altering their logging machinery tire and track configurations in order to reduce ground pressure which allows them to operate when the ground isn’t completely frozen.
• Logging businesses that primarily work in lowland sites or peat soils may face more challenges to their logging operations under warmer winter conditions than those who work in upland sites or are able to purchase a more diverse portfolio of timber sale tracts.
• The weather and non-weather related challenges winter logging operations are facing may impact the supply of harvested wood from northern regions when frozen ground conditions are needed for harvesting.