Methods to Reduce Damage of the Tree Trunks During Selective and Sanitary Forest Felling Operations

Comprehensive improvement of forest usage from the standpoint of production, economic and forestry-ecological efficiency is an important task of improving the transport and technological process of developing the depleted forest areas. Skidding is the main operation. which causes harmful environmental impact on the reserved trees at the transport routes of the selective cutting area. In order to reduce damage to the components of the forest stand during skidding, it is advisable to move the skidders along a curvilinear route, that maximizes preservation of the undergrowth, young trees and target trees during thinning. Technical and technological methods are usable to reduce the harmful effects on the soil cover and the root system of trees. The usable technical methods are expensive. Technological solutions to save tree stems from damage require less investment. For example, various protective fences are applied. In general, technical methods, aimed mainly at reducing the specific pressure on the soil are proposed. One of the technical methods aimed at preserving the soil cover and the root system from destruction can be the strengthening of the skidding trail with the logging residues. This method enables reduction of the damage to the root system significantly, especially in summer. When skidding near trees there occurs damage not only to the soil cover and root system, but also to the bark of the stems. The trees located closely to the turn of the skidding trail are particularly affected. Therefore, in order to reduce the damage of tree stems located along the skidding trails, a multi-operated, removable, dismountable protective device patented in the Russian Federation is proposed in this paper. It will assist to protect against damage - peeling of the bark and trunk of the reserved trees during skidding and traffic of machinery nearby. A protective device for a tree stem is a structure consisting of protective elements - short non-standard logs from 1.5 to 2 meters long having screw nails with rings for a flexible annealed wire to be reeved into. The ends of the wire form a loop by the mean of a clip.