Southern Research Station

Title: Felling small trees with a drive-to-tree feller-buncher

Author: Mitchell, Dana

Date: 2008

Source: Technical release 08-R-16. Rockville, MD: Forest Resources Association, Inc. 2 p.

Description: Conventional forestry equipment is often used to harvest small-diameter trees. The typical ground-based logging operation is highly mechanized, with the most common using feller-bunchers, grapple skidders, and a chipper or grinder. But these machines may not be economical when used in pre-commercial or unmerchantable thinning operations in which the number of trees to be removed per acre is high but volume per tree is low. Published studies commonly find that feller-buncher productivity (tons/productive machine hour) is directly proportional to tree diameter. As tree diameters increase, the tons produced per hour increase, resulting in a lower cost per unit of wood produced.

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Citation

Mitchell, Dana  2008.  Felling small trees with a drive-to-tree feller-buncher.   Technical release 08-R-16. Rockville, MD: Forest Resources Association, Inc. 2 p.