The basic wood properties of 45-year-old second-growth sitka spruce were examined to determine if rapid growth produces poor wood quality. Five dominant and codominant trees were sampled from each of four stands with stocking densities of 520, 640, 1080, and 1520 stems/ha. Stem size, extent of live crown, yearly wood relative density trends, and longitudinal shrinkage were measured.
This report describes some of the background and results of work done to date on second-growth western hemlock basic wood properties at Forintek Canada Corp. The B.C. Ministry of Forests (BCMOF) Research Branch, UBC Forestry Faculty and PAPRICAN were the other cooperating agencies on this project and they investigated live crown/tree growth relationships, strength properties of small clears, and pulping properties, respectively. Properties that were assessed by Forintek, both within and between trees include: relative density of wood, shrinkage, moisture content and relative proportion of heartwood-sapwood, bark thickness, content and distribution of compression wood, incidence and degree of spiral grain, incidence and severity of brown stain, and strength properties of small cleear bending samples. Naturally grown 90-year-old western hemlock stands represent much of the emerging timber supply in the B.C. coastal forest region. Information characterizing the commercial quality of this resource is needed now to support processing and marketing decisions and for product promotion. In addition, the BCMOF and industry members are making stand management decisions today which will determine the future quality of western hemlock. We can reduce the risk of making wrong investment decisions by providing information on how different growing conditions (e.g., biogeoclimatic zone, site, stand density, thinning) affect second-growth wood quality.
In order to provide bridge designers with better information, International Forest Products Limited (Interfor) asked the Forest Engineering Resarach Institute of Canada (FERIC) to evaluate the bending strength and stiffness of log stringers used for constructing bridges on forest roads in coastal British Columbia. Given the lack of definitive standards for testing this material, FERIC developed a field-based test procedure and designed a test facility for destructive testing of full-size, whole-log stringers obtained from second-growth stands. Sixteen coastal Douglas-fir and twelve western hemlock logs were tested in 2003. This report describes the test procedure and methods of analysis, presents the log bending strength and stiffness results, and makes recommendations regarding future testing.
Two Madill 044 Yarding cranes were monitored over a three-week period in 1989 in a coastal British Columbia stand were chokers were used for yarding mechanically felled and bunched second-growth timber. Productivity, costs and profitability of the choker system were determined and compared to using grapple systems on the same yarding cranes.
Pacific Forest Products Limited began commercially thinning Douglas-fir dominated second-growth forest on southeastern Vancouver Island with mechanized shortwood systems in 1992. In the summer of 1994, FERIC monitored a thinning operation near Cowichan Lake to determine productivities, costs and impacts to sites and residual stands. The thinning treatment was carried out with a Timberjack 1270 harvester and a Timberjack 910 forwarder.
The coastal B.C. logging industry is striving to lower its costs in order to continue to compete in the world marketplace. This report documents one company's trials of three different logging systems carried out during 1985. Production and costs were monitored, evaluated, and reported for the falling, skidding, yarding, processing and loading phases. The study area was located in a second-growth stand of timber on Vancouver Island, B.C. The logging system found to be most efficient and cost-effective was bunch skidding with landing processing, combined with close supervision.
FERIC and the Faculty of Forestry of the University of British Columbia (UBC) developed a computer model, for use at the cutblock level, to predict the net revenue of coastal second-growth stands that are to be clear-cut or partial cut. Cruise data and company sort descriptions are used to predict volume by sort and timber value. Productivity and cost data from within the model, or as defined by the user, determine the total harvesting costs for an operation. Net revenue is obtained by subtracting the harvesting cost from the timber value. At two harvesting sites near Powell River, B.C., the predicted total volumes and timber values were within 5% and 3% of scaled volumes and actual values, respectively.
The objective of this study was to compare grapple yarding feller-director bunched wood with feller-director unbunched wood. The study was done at Weyerhaeuser Forest Products Company's vail operations, near Olympia, Washington. FERIC monitored a Washington 108 grapple yarder in three areas over a period of 16 days. Costs in the three areas ranged from a low of $1.65/m**3 to a high of $3.11 m**3. The bunched-wood area produced 10% more trees per productive machine hour and 36% more trees per turn than the adjacent unbunched area.
The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) undertook a study to investigate the feasibility of using a grapple skidder to complement a loader-forwarding operation in a second-growth cutblock on northern Vancouver Island. This report presents productivity and cost results of the skidding operation, identifies the factors that influence performance of the grapple skidder, and describes the soil disturbance resulting from skidding.
The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) undertook a study with TimberWest Forest Corporation Ltd., to investigate the feasilbility of using a rubber-tired grapple skidder to complement a loader-forwarding operation on moderately steep slopes in second-growth forests in coastal British Columbia. This report presents the productivity and cost of the skidding operation, identifies the factors that influence performance of the grapple skidder, and describes the soil disturbance resulting from skidding.
