Basic Steps of Timber Harvesting

Drawing of mechanized wheel-based
timber harvesting systems

There are several phases commonly considered in designing harvesting operations. However, some phases can be combined or even eliminated depending on the product or in this case the woody feedstock being generated. To reduce confusion that might be caused by unfamiliar terminology in the following sections on Timber Harvesting for Biomass and Practical Biomass Harvesting Systems, it is worthwhile to review all these operations in Basic Steps in Timber Harvesting in The Encyclopedia of Southern Appalachian Forest Ecosystems.

The graphic below shows some of the options for mechanical ground-based harvesting systems. The phases shown from upper left to right include felling, delimbing or processing and then lower left to right the processes involve extraction, loading and transport.