The North Mountain Old Forest Society

Scenes of Low-Impact Forestry on the North Mountain

low-impact logging with horses and machines

Lance Bishop uses a single horse to skid logs through forest trails. This is an excellent method for low impact single tree selection, though profitability is challenged in some forests if the trees harvested are the smallest, weakest trees in the stand.

More important than the choice of harvesting technology is the philosophy of the operator. This small tracked harvester cuts small-diameter, repressed white spruce quite efficiently compared to horselogging methods, with minimal disturbance to the remaining forest if the operator is careful.

This selection cut was done with the little harvester.

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