Tools of the Trade

In  order  to  accomplish  land  management  objectives  on-the-ground,  foresters  employ  a  set  of  highly specialized  equipment.  Here  in  the  Black  Hills,  a majority of the harvesting that goes on is accomplished with what are called ‘ground-based’ systems.  Two such systems are highlighted here; whole-tree operations and cut-to-length systems.  A  whole-tree  operation  consists of three machines: the buncher (Figure 1) or harvester, the skidder (Figure 2), and  the  boom delimber (Figure 3).  In this type of operation, the  buncher fells the trees and places them in piles which the skidder picks up,

dragging them back to a central location  called a landing.  At the landing, the delimber clips off the tree’s branches and cuts the stem to log lengths.  This system is called ‘whole tree’ because the entire tree, limbs and all, is transported out of the woods - little in the way of branches (or ‘slash’) are left behind, which is important where reducing fire risk is a key objective.

Cut-to-length systems, unlike whole-tree systems, are designed to leave most of the ‘slash’ generated from harvesting in the woods.  The harvesting machine, or processor (Figure 5), clips off tree limbs and cuts logs from the stem as it works, leaving a mat of branches and leaves upon which it drives. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This mat can be important in averting erosion or soil damage in sensitive areas.The processor piles the logs it cuts for pick-up by the second machine in the operation, called the forwarder (Figure 6).  The forwarder places the logs on its bunk and brings them to a central landing, just as in the whole-tree operation.  However, since the harvesting machine has already done the work of making the logs and trimming the branches, there is no need for a delimber at the landing.