WV LOGGERS COUNCIL NEWS www.wvfa.org Spring 24 | West Virginia Forestry Association Mountain State Forestry 27 10-acre site. Logically, larger harvest units will tend to take longer to complete than smaller ones. To improve the comparisons between different-sized harvest units, we standardized the harvest operations size (acres) by the number of days duration to get an “acres per day” value. When comparing these values to other areas of the country, it’s crucial to recognize the unique harvesting conditions in WV, which are characterized by hardwood-dominated forests on steep slopes with constructed skid trails. Most harvesting is completed using ground-based manual felling or the use of a feller buncher, a grapple skidder to move logs to the landing, and hydraulic loaders to help process the logs and load trucks on the landing. Analysis Results Considering the entire dataset, we found the average time required to complete the average sized harvest unit of 77 acres is 209 days. When these data are standardized based on the acreage, the average harvest will complete 0.54 acres/day. Further analyses looked at how different variables impacted the average harvest duration based on this standardized acres/ day value. The data were compared between regions of the state, by silvicultural harvest type, season of the year starting time, and by timber owner type. The results of these analyses are presented in Table 1. Discussion Duration by Region: Using the WV Division of Forestry’s regions, average acres per day was the lowest in Region 1 and the highest in Region 5. Both of these regions were significantly different (p<0.01) from most of the other regions. Regions 2, 3, 4, and 6 did not show a significant difference between each other. While there are differences in topography, timber types, and potentially types of treatments, there is not a clear reason why there is a such a difference between Region 1 and 5. Duration by Silviculture Treatment: Each silviculture treatment type’s duration was significantly different (p<0.01). While more care and time are typically required to harvest in an uneven-aged treatment unit, the lower total volume of timber to be harvested per acre allows for faster acreage completion. Even-age treatments (clearcutting) take longer to harvest as there are typically more trees to remove per acre, which is confirmed in this analysis with lower acres/day completed. Duration by Starting Season: Seasonal weather can impact the time required to harvest timber. Specifically wet weather can lead to poor soil conditions, where skidding and felling machines may not be able to work efficiently. Those operations starting in the summer months had a significantly higher (p<0.01) acres/day rate than those that were started in the winter months. Duration by Timber Owner: If the timber being harvested is owned by a non-industrial forest landowner, the duration of the harvest will be significantly longer (p<0.01) than that of timber that is owned by a timber industry organization. This could be explained by the operational systems and personnel that the industry uses to improve efficiencies and that most non-industrial landowners have Figure 1. WV Division of Forestry Regions
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