0462-B4
Prof. Dr. H. Hulusi ACAR, Mehmet EKER, Habip EROGLU 1
The wood harvesting and transport operations are the mechanical dimension of the wood production facilities depending on various efficient factors. These operations are costly actions and capture % 25-35 of the total expenditure in the forestry operations of Turkey.
The logging technology in Turkish forestry is based on chainsaw, which is pronounced as intermediate or traditional technology. The wood extraction has been realized by mostly manual or animal, and rarely tractors or skylines. That is, basic and intermediate technologies are used all together. Generally trucks and tractor-trailers realize the wood transportation, which is intermediate technology because of manual loading.
There are many problems focusing on the economic, politics, demography, social, ergonomics, environmental issues and the lack of systematic/comprehensive planning and organization to obtain wood material.
In this study, it was mentioned from issues, deficiencies, and obstacles of forest operations in Turkey and the analytical and practical solution proposals relating to economic, ergonomic, political, and planning factors were demonstrated. The conflict between technology and traditional approach were scrutinized from tractable solutions, new trends and concepts on the forestry technology relevant to Turkey and the other developing countries.
In the worldwide, the natural resources like forests acting as source of life have gradually and tragically tended to disappear. Mankind, users and consumer of the natural resources, comprehended the risks and they took a precaution to reduce the destroying of nature.
In forestry, it was intended that the protecting, developing, and widening of forests in order can be able to provide the sustainability and continuity of forest resources for the all ecosystem in Turkey and other countries.
The forests are necessary to satisfy a lot of requirements of human life as wood, oxygen, recreation, and others. According to mechanical approach, the main service of forest is to provide wood product. The mechanical process is the wood production facilities.
In Turkey, the population quickly increases and the demands to forest resource also increase. While the demands are satisfied, a series of improvements such as the reducing of quality and quantity losses, the promoting of productivity, the minimizing of production costs in per unit, and the guarding of environmental and ergonomic condition, are necessary to continue the forest utilizations. Just at time, a dilemma between traditional methods and technological tendency appears from sustainability, wood supply chain, standardization of operations, environmentally friendly forestry, and socio-cultural expectation point of view.
In this study, it was put forward the state-of-the-art the wood production process involving harvesting and transportation and defined general issues and conflicts, examined the new trends and discussed the solution proposals.
The total forest areas of Turkey are 20,7 million hectares, which is approximately 27 percent of total areas. Tree growing stock is amount 1.235.586.659 m 3 and current increment is amount 32.442.043 (m 3 /year). The total forestland, 99,9 % of which is belonging to State. The total annual allowable cut was estimated at 11.997.088 m 3 in normal high forest and 7.841.349 stere in coppice forest in State Forest. (NDP, 2001).
In Turkey, the harvesting and transportation activities are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. The Current Status of Wood Harvest and Transport Operations
Cutting/Felling |
Harvesting Method |
Extraction Techniques |
Transport Method |
1.Axe |
Shortwood |
1. Gravity+groundbased |
1. Truck |
The harvesting method in Turkish forestry is cut-to-length. The trees are cut, felled, delimbed, topped and bucked to various assortments by chainsaw directly in the stump area. Debarking is handled by hand tools such as axe. The cut limbs and tops can be left in stand.
The wood extraction from stump to landing site is mostly realized on steep forestlands by manual by means of gravity, rolling, throwing, and sliding/skidding on the ground. On the flat grounds, firstly animal force and rarely agricultural tractors have been used. Forest tractors or skidder have been used on the pulling from slope stands and skidding. The forest skylines, various distanced, have been used on mountainous region. In addition that, the galvanized log chute developed by forest villagers are rarely used.
The loading operations have been weighty conducted by hand in remote areas far from central locations and by loader in central harvest areas. The wood transportation has been realized by trucks for timber. The tractor-trailer has been used for fuel wood, pulpwood or etc.
The fundamental transport foundation is the forest roads providing wood acquisition and access to harvest blocks. The road requirement of Turkish forest ecosystem was estimated as 201.810 km. Now, approximately 140.000 km of them was constructed.
The standardization of forest roads is low volume, majority of which are earth road. Thus, those roads are open to truck traffic only dry season. The road geometry has low standard, so the vehicle movement ability is therefore limited. Moreover, the forest road density is not balanced and low than aimed. The road network isn't planned as functional and rational.
In the road construction, although bulldozer and explosive matter have been traditionally used since average terrain slope of Turkey is 50 - 60 percent, recently, hydraulic excavators usage was started to build it.
In Turkish forestry, the wood production expenditures capture the majority of the total forestry expenditures, which is amount 35 percent of total expenditures. Taken into consideration the timber production per unit costs; 16 % of total unit costs is harvesting cost (cutting/felling, etc.), 31 % of them is extraction cost (bunching/skidding, etc.), and 30 % of them is transportation cost (loading/hauling, etc.) (NDP, 2001).
In Turkey, wood procurement costs have highly materialized more than average timber costs in the worldwide, which increases the timber prices. These operation costs are highly since production facilities are being executed by forest cooperative as monopoly.
As mentioned above (in section 2.2.), it has been traditionally used the basic (simple or manual) and intermediate technology as mixed for harvest operations in Turkish forestry. While being used the chainsaw to cutting, felling, topping, delimbing, and bucking of trees, the manual techniques such as axe is being used for debarking. From this point of view, it can be pronounced that the cutting/felling operations are motor-manual or moderately mechanized (intermediate technology) in Turkey.
In certain region, where is low the standard of living, pre-skidding for cable logging and tractor pulling, and skidding or grapping of cut trees from stump to collection points or landings have been executed by mostly manual or animal logging. These are manual/basic technology. The loading operations of trucks to haul are made by hand or simple tools, which is the basic technology. In the other region, where may be used tractors and cable logging and loader executes the loading of trucks. Thus, it has been benefited from intermediate technology.
The harvesting and transportation activities may alter the environment. The impacts of driving equipment and moving material in the forest cause to substantial damages and soil, water, and residual vegetation can be affected. The logging techniques cause the damage on soil, standing trees, and flora and fauna. Some impacts are short-lived, while others may affect the long-term productivity of the forest. The forest road or skid trails construction, truck traffic and dragging of wood influence the soil disturbance and forest landscape.
The employee working harvest and transport activities have got no social insurance and they are unrecorded to any trade union and they have temporary status whose payment is arranged to unit costs. In addition that, since they live in rural areas far from city center, their education and training level on safety, healthy, and productivity is low and their source of income is therefore restricted. Their main priorities are only to earn money with easiest and cheapest method. Their skills and training are based on observation of old worker or experiment (Acar and Şentürk, 1999). The simple hand tools used in daily works weren't mostly designated according to anthropometrical features of the workers (Acar et al., 2002).
The number of forest villages and their population in Turkey are respectively 19.577 and approximately 7.379.000 people (Konukçu, 2001). The forestry operations are source of income of them. According to the last census, Turkey population is over the 69 million. Unemployment proportion has gradually increased; so labour force costs are plentiful and low especially in rural areas. This forces being done logging as manual. However, the villager, forest workers use simple tools and traditional method because their revenue acquired from forestry is low. They have no possibility of machine purchasing and renting.
The "Turkish Constitution" and "Forest Law" dictate to be protected, developed, expanded of forest resources and to be used of them by the citizen. Forest villagers esteem this as a right.
The wood procurement activities have been traditionally carried out according to timber management plan but not ecosystem management. There are no comprehensive transport and operational planning guiding the operators, and workers.
The forest information system containing of all forest reserves and relevant knowledge in Turkish forestry has been recently developed. The technological tools that are remote sensing and GIS combining with GPS and other tools, can be used to plan the forest management plan. Nevertheless, these systems and tools have been not driven yet as applicable decision support tools in transportation planning (Eker and Acar, 2002).
The forest operations are materialized by forest contractors or cooperatives that are generally forest villagers as monopoly by traditional approach with making a labour contract. The contracts cannot be able to illustrate for harvest and transport operations in terms of so that can be able to answered those questions about operations; how is it to be done, where is the entering point to stand, how many workers are employed, or so. However, there aren't any job scheduling to organize work to be made.
The developed technologies in every field has modified mankind's behaviors and expectations and promoted the standard of living. While being used increased the machine system, it has been intended to be reduced of workload per worker, to be minimized of production costs and process, to be maximized work productivity, and to be protected of ecosystem.
New technology can make the harvest and transport operations more productive, cost-effective, and environmentally sensitive. Moreover, the equipment is to be used in operations must be compatible with demanded product form, worker, and environment. The developments in wood harvesting, processing, transportation, and product mode affect the requirements of forest operations. New trends in the wood production technologies may lead to new constraints or opportunities. The appropriate or available technology defines the possibilities of forest operation and a kind of wood products to be harvested.
For example, the feller-buncher, processor, or harvesters can fell trees and process them through computerized harvester heads that delimb and buck trees to optimum product lengths according to customer demands. Forwarders and skidder accumulate, bunch, extract, and transport the wood from stand and load wood onto highway trailers or trucks. By using of the machine systems in the cut-to-length harvest method, the trees can be processed in stand and limbs and tops cut left on the ground. In this way, soil disturbance may be reduced. The cable logging systems such as forest skylines with high capacity and various distanced can haul the wood material from stand by environmentally soundly and without quality and quantity losses (Rummer, 2002).
In developed countries, so that can be provided the sustainability of forests and forest products it has been improved the certification and standardization in the forestry. Thus, the resource utilization, the methods and tools used in forest operations can be certified, standardized, and controlled according to quality management.
The disappearing tendency of renewable natural resources such forest has forced the scientist and manager to make comprehensive and interaction plan about the resources as functional and holistically. Thus, new planning concepts or terms such as ecosystem management, functional planning, and hierarchical planning have made an impression in forest planning to provide sustainability of forests and forest products, to save biodiversity, and to maintain life cycle.
As well, the harvesting and transportation plans have been recently planned as hierarchically and integrated with other resource usage planning. The new planning approach contains strategic, tactical and operational level. In these planning level, operations research (AI, mathematical programming, heuristics or so), management sciences, process management, logistics management, GIS and other information technologies have been used as decision support system.
The environmental restricts gradually increase and this panorama dictate the environmentally soundly operations methods and techniques. To be reduced impacts of logging operations and road construction many full mechanized systems such as walking machines, wheeled skidders, and long distanced skylines were improved in developed countries. The excavator usage has increased to reduce road construction impacts.
The harvest and transport operations technology is continuously changing in the worldwide and it must also change in Turkish forestry. In Turkish forestry, basic/manual technology and intermediate technology but full-mechanized (advanced) technology has been still used in forest operations as one within the other.
On the one hand, the economic, social, geographic, ergonomic, environmental, energy, traditional method and equipment usage, climate, population dynamics, and quality and quantity of labour force are limited to technology usage. On the other hand, new trends that are the improving of human living standard, the maximizing of work productivity, and the protecting of environment entail the technology. There are a conflict between technology and traditional method from being promoted of national development-level point of view. The increasing of merchantable forest managership, being reduced of unemployment, satisfying of social expectations are got difficult the technology selection in Turkey.
While the new technology is adapted instead of traditional methods, the main problem facing the forest manager and administrator is whether the prescribed operation is technically, economically, and environmentally feasible. The main topic is "which technology is appropriate for forestry operation in this condition". Appropriate technology is that technology is the best, easiest, cheapest and the most suitable for all constraints.
Furthermore, the primary driver of technological changing is economic acceptable (According to Rummer, 2002). However, technology tends to reduce costs of forest operations. The forestry technologies are cost-saving try to controlling rising operational costs. The forest worker costs have increased with rising worker's compensation rates whereas unemployment is rising. Under the price pressures, the harvest and transportation technology to reduce costs is focused on maintaining profitability of operation. Thus, the result has been a shift towards more mechanized operations with higher productivity per person because technology reduces the costs through elimination of workforce.
A secondary driver of technological changing has been the development of ecological issues that are water-quality, esthetic values same as visual impacts, nutrient cycling and global carbon sequestration. Neither economics nor ecology are optional.
As a result, new technology to be used in wood harvesting and transportation in Turkey may be the perfect solution to many problems aforesaid in context. But, the adoption process proceeds is slow and over time to reduce the adverse effects while optimizing the benefits. Besides, technology can often be undesirable character for manager, operator, and worker. Another obstacle to the adoption of new technology is the integration of forest operations that are silviculture, harvesting, and transportation.
The sustainability of workforce conducting the forest operations should be also considered as much as sustainability of the forests. In addition that, to be increased of forest worker comfort and to be promoted of forestry like developed country forestry, technology and new variations are necessary and unavoidable for Turkish forestry. Those are should be done to accommodate it to operational facilities;
Acar, H.H. and Şentürk, N., 1999. "An Investigation on Forest Worker's Health in Artvin Regional Forest", İ.U. Review of Faculty of Forestry, Series A, Volume: 49, No: 1, pp 25-39, İstanbul, Turkey.
Acar, H.H., Eroğlu, H., Eker, M., 2002. "A Research on Forest Logging and Nursery Workers (in Turkish), Proceedings of II. National Karadeniz Forestry Congress, 15-18 May 2002, Vol: I, pp 365-375, Artvin, Turkey.
Eker, M. and Acar, H.H., 2002. "An Assessment on The Utility of GIS-Based Decision Mechanism in The WPP, Proceeding CD of International GIS' 2002, ITU, 23-26 September 2002, İstanbul, Turkey.
Konukçu, M., 2001. "Forests and Forestry", DPT Publication No: 2630, Ankara, Turkey.
NDP, 2001. "VIII. Five Annual National Development Plans, DPT, No: 2351/547, Ankara.
Rummer, B., 2002. "TIMBR-3: Forest Operations Technology - Southern Forest Resource Assessment Draft Report, www.srs.fs.fed.us/sustain
1 Karadeniz Technical University (KTU), Faculty of Forestry, 61080, Trabzon, TURKEY
E-mail: [email protected]
KTU, 61080, Trabzon, TURKEY
E-mail: [email protected]