Citation | Krag, R. 1998. Productivities, costs, and site and stand impacts of helicopter-loggin in clearcuts, patch cuts, and single-tree selection cuts: Rennell Sound trials. In: Hogan, D.L., P.J. Tschaplinski, and S. Chatwin (Editors). B.C. Min. For., Res. Br., Victoria, B.C. Land Manage. Handb. No. 41. |
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Organization | FLNRO |
URL | https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/Lmh/Lmh41.htm |
Abstract/Description or Keywords | In 1992, a helicopter-logging trial was conducted in Rennell Sound on the Queen Charlotte Islands under the auspices of the Fish/Forestry Interaction Program. The purpose of the trial was to test the concept of using helicopters to selectively harvest timber from steep, potentially unstable hillslopes where the likelihood of logging-induced landslides precluded conventional cable-yarding and clearcutting. The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) monitored the trial to evaluate the operational feasibility of this concept. (Partial funding for FERIC’s studies was provided by the Fish/Forestry Interaction Program and the South Moresby Forest Replacement Account.) This paper describes the trial and presents preliminary results on yarding productivities, post-logging stand and site conditions, and costs of the helicopterlogging operations. In 1979, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Ministry of Environment established the Fish/Forestry Interaction Program (FFIP), a multidisciplinary research program with the goal of identifying ways to manage and harvest mountain forests while maintaining stream integrity and fish habitat on the Queen Charlotte Islands. The program was initiated in response to concerns that the road-building and logging practices of the day were increasing the frequency and magnitude of landslides on steep slopes, resulting in loss of productive forest land and damage to salmon habitat. One of FFIP’s stated objectives was “to investigate the feasibility and success of using alternative logging methods to reduce traditional environmental problems associated with logging. These methods include skyline and helicopter use, and improved planning of logging roads and logging layout in sensitive areas” (Poulin 1984). In 1980, at the request of FFIP personnel, FERIC initiated a series of studies to address this objective. During the next 5 years, FERIC examined the causes of landslides in logged areas (Krag et al. 1986), studied conventional and alternative cable-yarding operations on steep slopes (Sauder and Wellburn 1987), and developed and compared alternative logging plans for two typical sensitive sites (Sauder and Wellburn 1989). These studies showed that on many logged sites the risk of landslides could be reduced through the use of improved planning and road-building practices and the innovative use of a variety of cable-yarding methods, including conventional as well as skyline systems. On more sensitive sites, however, the risk of landslides precluded the use of conventional harvesting and silvicultural systems. The program therefore also examined the potential of using helicopters in combination with partial-cutting silvicultural systems to harvest such sites. Between 1986 and 1989, Husby Forest Products Ltd. and Canadian Air-Crane Ltd. successfully demonstrated the concept on gentle terrain in the Naden Harbour area by using a heavylift helicopter to selectively harvest timber in sensitive riparian areas (Moore 1991). As a result, part of FFIP’s second 5-year research plan included a proposed operational trial to extend the concept onto steep slopes. FERIC monitored the trial, which took place between June and November of 1992 on two sites in Rennell Sound, to assess the operation’ s performance and feasibility. |
Information Type | Article |
Regional Watershed | Coast Region |
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Project status | complete |
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