During 1992 and 1993 the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) observed three cable-yarding systems harvesting old-growth forest in the Walbran Valley on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. FERIC compared the performances of the cable-harvesting techniques and evaluated them in terms of productivity and cost, quality of merchantable logs recovered, site disturbance, and among and quality of fibre left on the site after harvesting.