Small tractors for harvesting fuelwood in low-volume small-diameter hardwood stands

Abstract

Much of the nonindustrial, private forest land in the Northeast is characterized by small diameter trees with low volume. Conventional harvesting systems used in logging these stands generally results in submarginal economic returns. Often, small-scale harvesting systems have economic advantages in these areas. Time and motion studies were conducted for several small tractors over a range of silvicultural treatments to estimate preliminary cycle times and production rates. Further research is progressing to incorporate this and additional simulation results into a generalized stump-to-mill logging cost, estimating computer package.

Citation

Huyler, Neil K.; LeDoux, Chris B. 1989. Small tractors for harvesting fuelwood in low-volume small-diameter hardwood stands. In: Proceedings of the 12th annual meeting of the council on forest engineering, Implementing techniques for successful forest operations; 1989 August 29-30; Coeur d''Alene, Idaho. 61-66