Production Economics of Harvesting Operations

Because of the species diversity, varied site §conditions and growth rates, it is really §challenging to manage the central Appalachian §hardwoods. Examining the harvesting techniques and §interactions among stands, harvests, and machines is §becoming a concern to the researchers in the region. §§This book, therefore, provides a modeling and §simulation approach to aid these efforts by §estimating the productivity, cost, and traffic §intensity of different harvesting configurations §under a variety of harvesting prescriptions and §stand conditions. A three-dimensional stand §generator was described in the book, which can be §used to visualize the stand structure and §composition of hardwood stands and perform dynamic §analyses of various management prescriptions. §Algorithms for felling and skidding operations were §modeled mathematically. Three commonly used §harvesting systems were modeled and simulated on §five generated stands of different ages in the book. §Five harvest methods were examined. This book will §be of interest to loggers, landowner, forest §managers, and students and researchers in forest §operations and timber harvesting.