Cut-to-length logging explained

Cut-to-length logging (CTL) is a mechanized harvesting system in which trees are delimbed and cut to length directly at the stump.^[1] CTL is typically a two-man, two-machine operation with a harvester felling, delimbing, and bucking trees and a forwarder transporting the logs from the felling to a landing area close to a road accessible by trucks.^{[2] [3]}

CTL is the primary logging method in European countries, while full-tree logging and the even older technique of tree-length logging are more popular in North America and less developed countries, where tree sizes can exceed the capacity of the harvester's felling head, i.e., tree stems with a butt diameter of over 90 centimeters. CTL lends itself to timber harvesting in plantation forestry where stems are often harvested before they reach large dimensions.^[4]

Advantages compared to full-tree logging

• Cleaner wood since the logs are not skidded on the ground to the landing (in tree length more than full tree)
• More fresh wood (in tree length more than full tree)
• Less damage to retained trees in thinning operations
• Typically requires fewer types of machines in an operation
• No need to clear large landings close to the road
• Greater personnel safety due to enclosed/protected machine cabs
• More environmentally friendly due to:
  • less soil disturbance than in skidding operations (if improper skidding practices take place)
  • no slash dumped at the landing
  • higher retention of foliar nutrients within the harvested area

Disadvantages compared to full-tree logging

• Somewhat higher capital cost per volume when used in large scale clear cuts
• Use of more advanced technology requires more operator knowledge and training

Cost

The capital costs for a typical CTL operation, with one harvester and one forwarder, are quite high. The price of a pair of machines alone are approx. US$1,000,000.

See also

• Logging truck

External links

• Stump Grinder

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tennessee Logging Family Sticks with Change to Cut-to-Length . Timberline Magazine . 5 February 2024 . 30 October 2023.
2. Web site: The cut-to-length method . . 5 February 2024.
3. Web site: Kotrba . Ron . Workhorses of the Woods . Biomass Magazine . 5 February 2024.
4. Spinelli . Raffaele . Magagnotti . Natascia . De Francesco . Fabio . Kováč . Barnabáš . Heger . Patrik . Heilig . Dávid . Heil . Bálint . Kovács . Gábor . Zemánek . Tomáš . Cut-to-Length Harvesting Options for the Integrated Harvesting of the European Industrial Poplar Plantations . Forests . 14 September 2022 . 13 . 9 . 1478 . 10.3390/f13091478 . free.