Simon,
While in Nanaimo (Van. Island, BC), back around '92 or thereabouts, I
knew a fellow who worked with Erickson Air-Crane. They were working
regularly back then, although it seems I remember the fellow saying
something about the company reconsidering their presence on the Island.
I wish I knew some specifics regarding costs associated with selective
logging using air-cranes, but what the numbers were I've since
forgotten....if I ever heard any at all <g>.
However, I would think the margin fairly thin if they had to restrict
themselves to the old-growth timber of the Island rainforest's. Otoh,
the crew all made /huge/ money, so either the speed with which the crane
can deliver makes up the difference, or it really isn't as expensive to
fly as one would think. The number of middle-men that can be bypassed on
the way to the mill (or barge) must make a big difference to the bottom
line as well.
Gary Williams
LenihSim at aol.com wrote:
> hi all,
> i have noticed some posts about selective logging in bc coastal
> forests using horsepower. we are a full time commercial horselogging outfit
> from ireland currently working in cumbria. we came to cumbria to do selective
> logging on very steep ground [45degrees+] for the national trust / national
> parks/ woodland trust. some of the timber in these stands was large diameter
> douglas fir and european larch which was planted at the turn of the century.
> horses have always worked steep ground in the past and it is no different for us
> today. a horse can zig/ zag up a steep hill rather than going straight up,
> you can use the horse to pull the trees down should they get caught up, you
> can also extract the tree without snedding it and this acts as a brake. in
> really steep ground you can fit a rigid set of shafts which stops the tree
> running up on the horse. horselogging might not be the fastest method of timber
> extraction but it is definitly the most enviromentaly friendly and seeing that
> the only other method of doing selective logging on steep slopes is a
> helicopter i believe it would also be more cost effective.
> simon lenihan.
> _______________________________________________
> Ag-forst mailing list
>Ag-forst at net.bio.net>http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/ag-forst>
