Useable wood wasted

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33676, 28 October 1974, Page 12

Useable wood wasted

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Oct. 27. Up to 15 per cent of the useable wood is wasted at present during forestry c 1 e a r-felling operations, according to a forestry expert. Most of this unused material is known as “small wood” which is timber in the round between three and lOin in diameter.

This wastage is discussed by Mr J. W. Foresman, assistant logging manager of New Zealand Forest Products, Ltd, in a contribution paper for the November meeting of the Forestry Development Conference. While there has been a considerable improvement in handling wood in logging in New Zealand in the last decade, this improvement has not been so apparent in small-wood work, says Mr Foresman.

He says, that only recently has industry begun to make increasing use of small wood. “This trend is expected to continue and small wood will form a greater proportion of total wood use in the future,” he says. Most standard logging machinery is designed for use in much larger timber, and consequently the high operating costs make it uneconomic for 100 per cent clean-up to be achieved. Mr Foresman said that an alternative method must be developed with lighter, less I expensive machines to pick I up this small wood. The salvage logging could bast be done after the primary logging work has finished.