Productivity and costs of an integrated mechanical forest fuel reduction operation in southwest Oregon

Mechanical forest fuel reduction treatments that harvest and extract small, non-merchantable trees are often integrated into commercial thinning operations. Harvesting system feasibility and/or costs from such operations has been sparsely reported in the literature. To broaden the knowledge of mechanical approaches of harvesting and utilizing small trees, this study assessed the productivity and cost from an integrated forest harvesting/mechanical forest fuel reduction operation in southwest Oregon. The study was conducted in a fuel reduction thinning of a 20-acre mixed conifer stand on gentle terrain. A tracked swing-boom feller-buncher, two rubber-tired grapple skidders, a swing-boom grapple processor, an in-woods chipper, and a tub grinder were used to fell, extract, and process non-merchantable stems and limbs and tops from felled merchantable trees into fuel (energy-wood) chips. Thinned merchantable trees were also extracted and processed into log lengths. Results indicate that harvesting and processing non-merchantable trees increased total costs by $1,193.43 per acre. From a biomass harvesting perspective, removing only the non-merchantable portion of the stand would have resulted in a net cost of $968.96 per acre. Thinning merchantable trees added value to the operation, subsidized costs, and decreased the net loss by $872.00 per acre, resulting in a net cost of $96.96 per acre.

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