Environmentally sound timber extracting techniques for small tree harvesting

Due to large area disturbed and great deal of energy cost during skidding operations, introducing or applying the appropriate techniques of timber extracting could significantly reduce the impact of timber extraction operations to forest environment while pursuing the reasonable operation costs. Four environmentally sound timber extraction techniques for small tree harvesting, particularly for thinning operations, were presented and introduced in this paper. The results of evaluation, test or practices indicated that these timber-extracting techniques are feasible, applicable and reasonable in small tree harvesting with a relatively low impact no environment and a moderate operation cost.

Estimating costs of salvage logging for large-scale burned forest lands: A case study on Turkey's Mediterranean coast

Different forest fires causing different degrees of effects occur in fire-sensitive forests due to various reasons such as climate change.Useful as well as harmful aspects of forest fires are a multi-disciplinary research topic.Geographical information systems(GIS)and remote sensing(RS)methods offer a number of benefits for researchers and operators in the field of forest fire research.The present study analyses timber pricing based on forest contractor demands of post-salvage logging processes.The effect of timber obtained from compartment units on producers’pricing policy was modelled.Sapadere forest fire area(2500 ha)located in Antalya in Turkey was selected as the main study area.Topography parameters(aspect,slope and slope position),stand types(diameter class and crown closure),and burn severity were analyzed together using GIS and R software packages.A multi-linear regression model(R^(2)=0.752)demonstrated that factors that had the most impact on pricing were slope position,aspect,stand age,crown closure and burn severity.This model can be used to estimate salvage logging prices in Calabrian pine(Pinus brutia Ten.)stands with similar parameters.Forest administrators and contractors may readily address the unit price of timber by estimating approximate costs in a given forest area for which they are going to bid.This will help reduce operational planning times of harvesting procedures in burned stands.

Effect of logging on rodent scatter-hoarding dynamics in tropical forests:implications for plant recruitment

The present study tested the hypothesis that logging affects the scatter-hoarding behavior of rodents,which,in turn,negatively affects the quantity and quality of Pouteria campechiana(Sapotaceae)seed dispersal.A series of seed stations was established in logged and unlogged forests of ejido Senor,Yucatan Peninsula,and comparisons were made between logged and unlogged forests in terms of:(i)seed removal;(ii)number of seeds hoarded;(iii)hoarding distance;and(iv)the number of recruits and the survival of hoarded seeds.The number of both hoarded and removed seeds was significantly higher in unlogged sites.Furthermore,the mean distance of hoarding was greater in unlogged compared with logged sites.Although recruitment and survival were present in both logged and unlogged sites,there were more surviving seedlings in unlogged sites.The data indicate that both the quantity and quality of seed dispersal are negatively affected by logging because of a change in the rodent scatter-hoarding dynamics.These changes suggest that plant-animal interactions are crucial to the understanding of the ecology and conservation of managed tropical forests.