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Off-road transport of pinyon/juniper

Informally Refereed

Abstract

A 8-wheel forwarder was observed while transporting pinyon pine (P. edulis) and Utah juniper (J. osteosperma) from woods to landing in southern Utah. The forwarder was part of a 2-machine system used to treat pinyon-juniper stands. Trees were felled using a rubber tracked skid steer with a shear head, then transported to a collection point with a Ponsse Buffalo King 20-ton forwarder. A total of 47 cycles of the forwarder operating were captured on video and evaluated using time-and-motion study methods. The forwarder averaged 25.8 minutes per cycle at a mean total distance of 786 feet. Total travel distance ranged from 349 to 1851 feet. Total in-woods travel between stops while loading averaged 312 feet per cycle with 7.3 stops. Mean load size was 54.6 trees per load which translated into a payload of 5.08 green tons. The forwarder treated approximately 0.42 acres per hour and had a fuel consumption rate of 3.3 gallons per hour. Forwarding costs and productivity are compared to other alternative methods of off-road transport of pinyon and juniper.

Keywords

biomass, forwarder, time-study, productivity, off-road transport, pinyon, juniper

Citation

Klepac, J.; Rummer, B. 2012. Off-road transport of pinyon/juniper. In: Proceedings of the 35th Council on Forest Engineering Annual Meeting, Engineering New Solutions for Energy Supply and Demand. New Bern, NC. September 9-12, 2012.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/45593