Cut-To-Length Harvesting of Short Rotation Eucalyptus at Simpson Tehama Fiber Farm

Abstract

A system consisting of a cut-to-length harvester, forwarder, mobile chipper and chip screen was tested in a 7-year-old plantation. Three levels of debarking effort by the harvester (minimal, partial and full), and two levels of screening (with and without) were evaluated. The harvester had the lowest production rate and highest cost of the system elements. Harvester production rate was strongly affected by tree size and somewhat by debarking level. Bark contents for full debarliing averaged 1.5 %; screening apparently did not reduce bark content any further. Estimated stump-to-truck costs (without screening) for the system in stands of good form varied from $17/BDT for 11" DBH trees to $65/BDT for 3" trees. The system may be cost-competitive with whole tree systems.

Citation

Hartsough, Bruce R.; Cooper, David J. 1999. Cut-To-Length Harvesting of Short Rotation Eucalyptus at Simpson Tehama Fiber Farm. From Proceedings of the Short-Rotation Woody Crops Operations Working Group, Second Conference, 25-27 August 1998, Vancouver, Washington USA, August 1999