Steep Ground Harvesting Great Glen
The video (access is at the bottom of this text) is courtesy of Forest Enterprise Scotland and features the Steep Ground Project team led by Kate Tuer. Kate explains that the aim of the project was to test and evaluate skyline systems and steep ground working techniques to establish the most efficient and cost effective timber production methods. The project was also tasked with providing facts, figures and guidance for use by the wider forest industry on training requirements and technical developments for steep ground working.
The first half of the video shown here features contractor and machine owner Calum Duffy and his team working in the Great Glen (South Laggan Forest) on some very steep slopes in 2012.
Some statistics for the brave are:
The estimated yield was 621m3/Ha
Max. tree size of 10 m3 and an average of 0.46 m3.
Below the road had been planted in 1970 and above the road in 1936. The soil was ‘mobile’ with evidence of previous landslides. The average slope was 80%. With rock outcrops and steep sided gullies the site is definitely a skyline only option.
To tackle this Calum’s team were using an A & B Services converted Daewoo 220 Solar skyline system, with a hydraulic Igland winch, a Koller USKA 1.5 carriage, and an automatic de-chokering system. This set-up was being worked over a pulling distance of 350 m and had a direct lift capacity of 2 tonnes giving an extraction load of 3.5 tonnes. The processor is a Caterpillar 320cl with a John Deere 758 harvesting head. A Timberjack 1410 forwarder is used to the landing clear of produce and brash.
Kate Tuer is next shown working on a site in Clunes Forest as part of the evaluation process of determining the parameters for successfully working of a site with a skyline system.
The next item is the key A82 route from Inverness to Fort William and how the Forestry Commission is working to safeguard the road from the effects of unstable ground and falling trees.
In the final part of this half Grant MacIntosh, Special Projects Officer for the Forestry Commission, highlights the problems experienced with large accumulations of brash on Cable Crane sites and how they are evolving systems to deal with it.
Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Fort Augustus, Groups of people, Timber harvesters, processors, forwarders and cable cranes, Video
I do hope you enjoy the spectacular scenery, the innovative equipment and working methods shown in this first half. All being well I hope to load other parts of the video later this month as I grapple with unfamiliar technology here! Comment left on 02 April 2015 at 19:20 by Norman Davidson