What is forest harvesting?

the development and management stage of forest main products in forestry production. Its main task is to rationally develop forest resources and produce commercial timber according to the principles of maintaining ecological balance, ensuring sustainable utilization of forests and giving full play to economic benefits.

evolution

the world forest harvesting operation industry has roughly experienced three historical stages: manual operation, mechanized operation and overall mechanized operation. (1) Before the 194s, forest harvesting and transportation in various countries in the world basically relied on manpower and animal power for operations, such as logging, pruning and timber making with axes and saws; The skidding adopts series slopes, slideways (see slideway skidding) and ox-horse sledges (see animal skidding); Most of the materials are transported by water, such as single drifting and transportation; Land transportation is mainly based on forest road vehicles, and some countries have begun to use forest railway transportation and automobile transportation. ② In the late 194s, power chain saws (chainsaws and chainsaws) were used in logging, pruning and timber making. Tractors, winches and aerial ropeways began to be used in skidding; Timber transportation has turned to land transportation; All kinds of lifting and conveying machinery are often used in the material selection, grading and wood loading and unloading operations of the timber yard. Since then, there have been corresponding machines in each operation link of forest harvesting and transportation, and a new technology of collecting and transporting raw wood and cutting down wood has appeared, which has entered the stage of mechanized operation. (3) By the 196s, the United States, Canada, the Soviet Union, Sweden and other countries had not only increased the types of single-process machinery and improved their performance, but also applied multi-process combined machinery; Wood land transportation has gradually developed into heavy truck train transportation; The operation of the log yard began to form an automatic operation line. Due to the continuous improvement of mechanization and labor productivity, the mechanization of forest harvesting operation has moved to the stage of overall mechanization.

The mechanization of forest harvesting and operation in China first developed gradually in the northeast forest region in the early 195s, and the proportion of comprehensive mechanization of mining and operation in state-owned forest regions reached about 9% in the mid-198s.

characteristics

① forest harvesting and transportation should first give full play to the multiple benefits of forests, which should not only improve economic benefits, but also give consideration to ecological benefits and social benefits. Therefore, the rational development and utilization of forest resources must scientifically carry out the overall design of forest harvesting and transportation according to the natural laws of forests and the objective requirements of forestry development, and determine the scale of wood production, technology types and technical policies. ② Forest resources are renewable. In order to ensure the continuous expansion of forest reproduction, forest harvesting and transportation should follow the principle of sustainable utilization, consider reasonable harvesting methods, and closely combine harvesting and cultivation to meet the requirements of more harvesting, better harvesting and sustainable operation. (3) Forest harvesting and transportation is based on the difference of forest resources, the dispersion of distribution, the purpose of forest management, the nature of forest ownership, and the complexity of working conditions, which determines different production scales, working methods and labor organization forms.

The production process

is divided into three stages: forest harvesting, timber transportation and timber yard operation.

forest harvesting

the timber production operations carried out in the allocated cutting area include logging, pruning, timber making, skidding, ploughing, loading and clearing. Forest cutting should be carried out according to the requirements of the production process design of cutting area. Before cutting, the preparation of cutting area should be done well, including the construction of skidding roads, timber transportation forks, cutting areas and simple sheds. When logging, we should pay attention to the correct direction of falling trees to ensure the safety of operation; Make materials reasonably according to the technical requirements to improve the yield; According to the forest ecological site conditions, skidding methods should be reasonably selected and technical measures should be taken to protect the forest ecological environment, so that economic benefits and ecological benefits can be coordinated with each other. After logging, we should not only make full use of logging residues, but also create good conditions for forest regeneration.

timber transportation

the operation of transporting timber from the logging area to the timber yard by different modes of transportation. The main ways are divided into two categories: wood land transportation and wood water transportation. According to the structure of forest road and means of transportation, it can be divided into automobile transportation and forest railway transportation. No matter which mode of timber transportation is adopted, in order to improve the efficiency of timber transportation, it is necessary to make a good plan for forest highway and achieve a reasonable density of forest road network. According to the river conditions, timber is transported by water by single drift (commonly known as herding sheep), by platoon and by ship (see timber shipping). River regulation and engineering construction must be strengthened when water transport operations are adopted.

log yard operation

the final production stage of forest harvesting and transportation. Its main task is to receive, process, sort, store and keep the wood, and transfer or transport the wood to the unit that needs it. There are land timber yards and water timber yards. The operation contents of the timber yard generally include unloading (out of the river), making materials, selecting materials, returning to the warehouse, loading (loading) and so on.

development trend

① in order to further improve labor productivity and reduce labor intensity, the process of single-process overall mechanization, multi-process combined operation mechanization and production automation should be accelerated in the future. (2) With the decreasing trend of world forest resources year by year and the increasing contradiction between wood supply and demand, the development and utilization of forest resources will surely develop from trunk utilization to comprehensive utilization of whole trees and forests, which will cause great changes in forest harvesting and transportation technology and product structure. (3) In order to ease the pressure of transporting logs to cities, reduce the transportation cost and improve the quality of timber products, there will be great development in backing timber making and local processing. Due to the construction of timber mills and other timber processing plants in forest areas, forest harvesting and timber processing will form a joint enterprise, and the nature and operation content of the timber yard will change greatly. (4) Modern forestry requires intensive management day by day. In order to realize the comprehensive utilization of forest resources and give full play to various benefits of forests, wood production will be closely combined with maintaining ecological balance.