In order to secure the supply source as well as promote the further utilization of “Untapped wood” following the completion of the Feed-in Tariff Scheme for Renewable Energy (FIT), small-diameter trees such as not only cleanings from young planted forests but also broad-leaved trees from coppice forests can be expected to be prospective in Japan. In order to discuss the effective method of harvesting such small-diameter trees as unutilized forest biomass appropriate for Japan, a basic model forest was assumed in this study, while the harvesting of small-diameter trees was experimented with a truck-mounted multi-tree felling head and time-studied. As a result, the machine used in the experiment could fell the maximum six trees inward a row from a forest road, but the harvesting (felling, accumulating, and chipping) cost was the cheapest when the machine felled five trees inward a row. The results of the sensitivity analysis suggested what kind of improvement should be necessary for the felling machine used in the experiment.
could I know what you mean by " small-diameter trees"?Which diameters? and, what species are you talking about?
Many thanks for your replay
Thank you very much for your question!
About diameter of "small-diameter trees" in this study, we intended to be between 5 to 10 cm. Of course, there were trees of which diameter was bigger than 10 cm during the field experiment. The felling head could cut up to 30-cm diameter trees in the catalog.
The tree species were zelkova, oak, willow, etc.
Takuyuki Yoshioka
About diameter of "small-diameter trees" in this study, we intended to be between 5 to 10 cm. Of course, there were trees of which diameter was bigger than 10 cm during the field experiment. The felling head could cut up to 30-cm diameter trees in the catalog.
The tree species were zelkova, oak, willow, etc.
Takuyuki Yoshioka
RV
