2001 Council on Forest Engineering ( COFE ) Conference Proceedings : “ Appalachian Hardwoods : Managing Change ” Snowshoe , July 15-18 , 2001 CABLE LOGGING IN APPALACHIA AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR AUTOMATED YARDER EQUIPMENT

The Appalachian forest terrain, typically with sloping hills over 30% slope, lends itself to cable yarder operations. To date, ground-based operations are still the most common harvesting techniques employed but in some places are no longer acceptable from an environmental point of view. The use of professional helicopter logging crews to access the higher value timber in the more remote areas of the Appalachians has provided local forest managers with an expensive but trouble free „turn-key‟ solution to their current problems. This paper reviews why there are too few cable-logging contractors that operate successfully in this area. The most common problem is a lack of planning and management expertise and the absence of enough true cable logging contractors with modern equipment. There is considerable opportunity for increased use of this harvesting technique and the newly developed medium sized automated yarder equipment from Europe may present opportunities for providing a cost effective remedy to the current situation.