Natascia Magagnotti

• Italian National Research Council

The goal of this study was to develop a GIS-based Decision Support Model for selecting the best timber harvesting systems on steep terrain. The model combines multiple layers, each representing an important factor in mechanized logging. These layers are used to create a final map that functions as a spatially explicit Decision Support Model that he...

Pollarding is an ancient agroforestry practice that greatly contributes to the sustainability of farming but is slowly becoming extinct because traditional pollards are not viable from a financial and social viewpoint. In particular, the cutting of pollards is too slow, expensive and dangerous for modern farmers to apply. This study presents the fi...

The objective of this study is to create a GIS-based decision support model for steep terrain timber harvesting. The tool integrates multiple raster layers, each representing a critical aspect of mechanized timber harvesting, and uses them to generate a composite map that aids in decision-making about suitable areas for specific machine configurati...

Pollarding is an ancient agroforestry practice that offers many benefits but is slowly becoming extinct because traditional pollards lack financial and social sustainability. In particular, the cutting of pollards is too slow, expensive and dangerous for modern farmers to apply. This study presents the first test of mechanized pollarding, performed...

Planting plays a significant role in commercial forestry. Labour-related issues (scarcity, increased wages, absenteeism, ageing and high turnover), inconsistent work quality, increased operational costs, and poor ergonomics prompted the development of innovative planting techniques. This study aimed to assess the productivity (plants/productive mac...

Teaming draught animals with modern forest machines may offer an innovative low-impact solution to biomass harvesting in protected areas. Machine traffic only occurs on pre-designated access corridors set 50 m apart, while trees are cut with chainsaws and dragged to the corridor’s edge by draught horses. The operation presented in this study includ...

Planting plays a significant role in commercial forestry. Labour-related issues (scarcity, increased wages, absenteeism, ageing and high turnover), inconsistent work quality, increased operational costs, and poor ergonomics prompted the development of innovative planting techniques. This study aimed to assess the productivity (plants/PMH), worker p...

Short rotation coppice is a modern industrial crop and its profitability depends on the mechanization of all management operations. Once the crop is mature, trees can be felled with a variety of machines, but shears represent the most effective solution. However, shears can inflict a certain degree of stump damage, which has raised concerns about s...

It is common to have large trees in mature hardwood-dominated stands. This is especially true for European beech (Fagussylvatica L.), which can also have a complex architecture. Such trees have predominantly been harvested using motor-manual operations. However, in an effort to increase occupational safety and allow for a more continuous wood flow...

The Technodiversity project addresses technological diversity by gathering a common basis of technological knowledge and increasing the sensitivity for diversity in forest engineering. It aims to bring together and make generally available the existing knowledge in forest operations that is scattered across various European countries. It will serve...

Assessing the financial, energy and emission levels associated with alternative harvesting prescriptions, techniques, and technologies is crucial to sustainable forest management. This study aims at developing an overall predictive system able to estimate productivity, fuel consumption and emissions for a set of different forest harvesting technolo...

Yarding whole trees is the most efficient way of extracting timber in steep terrain and allows reaping the combined benefits of mechanization and biomass recovery. In downhill yarding, however, whole-tree extraction is associated with a greater risk of loosening rocks or debris by the incoming loads as they bounce around along the extraction corrid...

The study characterizes the types of forest interventions conducted on small-scale (< 2 ha) forests by 7 crews managed by the Forest Service in Verona, Italy, with the purpose of restoring degraded forests. Data were obtained from the operational records of these crews over 17 years across 340 worksites, and were used to determine operational perfo...

The study compared the cut-to-length (CTL) and the whole-tree-harvesting (WTH) methods under two alternative log length specifications (2 m vs. 4 m) as deployed in the new medium-rotation poplar plantations. The goal of this study was to determine if any of the four combinations of harvesting method and log length incurred lower cost and/or better...

Interviews with 51 entrepreneurs indicated that Italian cable-yarding specialist companies are small-scale businesses with a workforce of 3 to 5 operators and an annual production of about 5000 m³ over bark. Their primary piece of equipment is a tower yarder, which relies on a support fleet consisting of adapted farm tractors and excavators. There...

In this study, the authors provide a direct comparison made between whole tree-harvesting (WTH) and cut-to length (CTL) methods, which was conducted in two sites in the Slovak Republic and applied to poplar plantations. Both systems, WTH and CTL, have been employed at the highest mechanization level in two sites: “Nivky” and “Skalica”. Two differen...

Small tree size represents a main challenge for single-tree handling techniques and caps harvesting productivity in short rotation poplar (SRP) plantations. That challenge is best met by a shift towards mass-handling. Chainflail delimbing is one of the best solutions for multi-tree processing, but commercially available equipment is often too heavy...

Produce over 50 Practice Abstracts, guidelines and factsheets tailored for practitioners from the result of more than 30 EU and national projects, bringing to fruition valuable knowledge often inaccessible to the intended users. • Boost the implementation of technologies for bioeconomy solutions in farms through 5 national seminars, 10 show case da...

Many forestry roles have changed from being manual tasks with a high physical workload to being a machine operator task with a high mental workload. Automation can support a decrease in mental fatigue by removing tasks that are repetitive and monotonous for the operators. Cable yarding presents an ideal opportunity for early adoption of automation...

A survey was conducted on 12 cable yarding operations in northern Italy, with the purpose of determining fuel consumption and time use. The observation unit was the individual operation, intended as all the activities needed to complete the harvesting of a sale (mean = 500 m³ of timber). All teams were equipped with a tower yarder, an excavator-bas...

Underdeveloped tree crops (⩽ 30 bone-dry tons ha⁻¹) offer a main harvest of biomass-trees, which lack the size and the form for producing a log. However, about 1/3 of the available stems may yield at least one log, which could significantly increase the overall value of the harvest. Under those circumstances, it may make sense to sort log-trees fro...

To minimize the burden on periodical orchard termination and renewal, complete tree removal and processing represent the most effective work technique, when the above- and below-ground tree portions are kept together and removed in one single action. However, the presence of rootstocks imposes specific biomass processing techniques, when turning th...

We tested a large variety of harvesting chains and machines, covering both main harvesting systems: whole-tree harvesting (WTH) and cut-to-length (CTL) harvesting. Overall, twelve full-scale controlled harvesting tests were conducted from 2018 to 2022, in Italy, Poland and Slovakia. Additional work was conducted on the effect of cutting method (saw...

Log production is the main target of new short-rotation poplar plantations, and their profitability depends on maximizing log yield. The authors set up a controlled experiment to determine the log yield increase obtained by shortening log length specification from 4 to 2 m, and to quantify the additional cost incurred by this change. The experiment...

Small tree size represents a main challenge for single-tree handling techniques and caps harvesting productivity in short rotation poplar (SRP) plantations. That challenge is best met by a shift towards mass-handling. Chain flail delimbing is one of the best solutions for multi-tree processing, but commercially available equipment is often too heav...

New short rotation poplar plantations yield a mix of biomass and logs, whereby the latter are used for board production and represent the most valuable component. Therefore, there is an interest in maximizing log yield, which must be balanced against the incremental time consumption incurred for manufacturing any additional logs. This study explore...

Purpose of the Review The review synthesises the current knowledge of post-windstorm management in selected European countries in order to identify knowledge gaps and guide future research. Recent Findings Despite the differences in forest ownership and national regulations, management experiences in Europe converge at (1) the need for mechanizati...

The Authors conducted a long-term follow-up study of a John Deere 1490 forwarder-mounted bundler owned by a Portuguese company and used for bundling logging residues from fast-growing eucalypt plantations located in Portugal and Spain. The study spanned 7 years, from 2011 to 2016. During this time, the machine clocked over 11,500 h and produced mor...

As a generalization, harvested timber is extracted from forests either as trees or stems by skidders or as logs by forwarders. Coupled with harvesters, forwarders team up to form cut-to-length (CTL) systems that are often perceived to be more modern than full-tree (FT) and tree-length (TL) systems, based on feller bunchers and skidders. As a result...

Cable yarding is a well establish technology for the extraction of timber in steep terrain. However, it is encumbered with relatively low productivity and high costs, and as such this technology needs to adapt and progress to remain viable. The development of biomass as a valuable byproduct, and the availability of processors to support yarder oper...

Small tree size represents the main challenge when designing a cost-effective harvesting system for European short-rotation plantations. This challenge is further complicated by the need to obtain 4-m logs for high-end products, which rules out the possibility to deploy whole-tree chipping. Both challenges can be met through mass handling, which mu...

Traditional coppice stands represent a sizable proportion of the Mediterranean forests and are generally geared to the production of firewood, which is eventually fed to traditional stoves for residential heat generation. In recent years, an alternative use has developed whereby trees are chipped whole and chips are fed to centralized heating plant...

Wire rope used in cable logging, where a series of cables facilitate the extraction of timber on steep terrain, experiences high tensions that must be managed to ensure safety. Innovations change practices over time and double-hitch carriages, which allow trees to be extracted horizontally, are a recent example. This makes it feasible to harvest ac...

Small tree size represents the main challenge when designing a cost-effective harvesting system for European short-rotation plantations. This challenge is further complicated by the need to obtain 4-m logs for high-end products, which rules out the possibility of deploying whole-tree chipping. Both challenges can be met through mass or multi-tree h...

Simulators are used worldwide for various applications in different industries (e.g. aviation and medicine), generally to train prospective operators for actual work situations. The forest industry is no exception, with numerous studies – mostly in countries such as Finland, Norway, Switzerland and the United States of America – showing that simula...

The aim of the study was to determine the mental workload of a harvester operator when working in late thinning and in windthrown stands of the same type and age, using eye movement patterns as an indicator. Eyeball movement variability was analysed using the eye tracking method. The mean duration of eyesight fixations in windthrown stands was shor...

Reaction surveys were collected during over 300 logger training courses issued between 2007 and 2015 in Piemonte (north western Italy). In the reaction surveys, trainees were asked to rate several course attributes, which were grouped under the following items: utility, outcome, teaching, content, and amenities. Reaction scores were intersected wit...

t Integration of technology is commonplace in forestry equipment supporting higher levels of automation and efficiency. For technology adoption to be successful it must demonstrate improvement in productivity, cost–effectiveness or in human factors and ergonomics. Cable yarding lends itself to automation with repetitive machine movement along a fix...

Cable yarding is an inherently expensive extraction technology, but the mainstay for mountain forest management. Fuel cost represents a considerable share of total harvesting costs. Energy-recuperating, electrical slack-pulling carriages (EC), which recuperate energy during lateral yarding and store it as electrical energy in super-capacitors for p...

In the article we determine the suitability of the phytocenose as a basic unit for determining soil susceptibility to mechanized logging. A total of 90 measurements of skid trail profiles were taken on a 13.9 km long sample transect. The forest infrastructure studied was categorized into primary and secondary skid trails, trails intended for CTL ha...

Mechanical felling is the most cost-effective solution for harvesting short-rotation poplar plantations, but the damage inflicted by conventional shear-cutting devices on tree stumps has raised concerns about stump mortality and resprouting vigor, both of which are crucial to coppice regeneration. To determine whether such concerns are justified, t...

In recent years, industrial roundwood production has enjoyed a steady success due to the development of a new bioeconomy and the rapid structural changes of the wood market. A very promising new solution for industrial fiber crops is the integrated production of logs and biomass in short rotation poplar plantations. In Europe, the expansion of thes...

Close-to-nature (CTN) forestry offers many advantages, but makes management more complex and generally results in lower harvesting productivity and higher harvesting cost. While the higher harvesting cost of CTN is widely acknowledged, few ever consider the potential impact on operator workload, as the harvesting task becomes more complex. This stu...

European short-rotation poplar plantations are harvested at 5–8 year rotations and produce relatively small stems (0.05–0.10 m³), which represent a major challenge when designing a cost-effective harvesting chain. Until now, the challenge has been met through whole-tree chipping, which allows mass-handling all through the harvesting chain. However,...

A chain-flail delimber-debarker-chipper (CFDDC) was adapted for treating smaller trees than normal by replacing the standard flails with lighter ones, and by reducing flail drum rotation speed. The machine produced 16 full containers (24 t each) for the standard configuration and 24 full containers for the innovative one. For each container the res...

The use of modern multi-functional forestry machines has already been associated with central nervous system fatigue induced by high mental workload. As these machines are being used under increasingly difficult terrain conditions, further knowledge is required on the expected aggravation of operators’ mental workload, so that suitable work/rest...

Afforestation of marginal farmland with fast-growing tree species is a cost-effective way to produce wood fiber for industrial and energy use. The final harvest is often performed with terrain chipping, in order achieve high productivity and minimum-cost supply. Several machine manufacturers have developed new chipper models, specifically designed...

Purpose of Review One of the challenges of forest operations is to consider the consequences of different management strategies and to estimate the economic, environmental and social performance of different processes, products, or services. From the methods available to quantify the impact of alternative forest management, we selected the method o...

We tested multi-tree handling for the two main harvesting methods, and namely: whole-tree harvesting (WTH) and cut-to-length (CTL) harvesting. In particular, multi-tree WTH was tested in Italy, while multi-tree CTL was tested in Poland. Furthermore, a simplified multi-tree CTL system was also tested in order to provide a low-investment alternative...

Chipping weighs heavily on the total delivered cost of wood fuel, which calls for accurate chipping cost estimates. Chipper repair and maintenance cost is perhaps the most obscure among the figures required for a reliable estimate of chipping cost. To clarify this issue, the authors examined the long-term repair and maintenance records for 51 wood...

A comparative study was conducted in the second commercial thinning of a 12-year-old slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm.) plantation in South Africa. The goal of the study was to compare semi-mechanized tree-length harvesting with fully mechanized cut-to-length (CTL harvesting) in terms of: compliance with silvicultural prescriptions, value and vol...

The study surveyed eight small-scale operations designed to produce wood pellets and microchips, the latter intended as a low-price pellet surrogate. Surveyed operations were equally spread between the two product types, and they all targeted residential users. They were all run by forest owners or forest contractors, driven to the new business by...

Mediterranean pines account for 14,000 ha in Tuscany alone, where they form large and homogeneous stands and represent an important resource for the forest economy. Among the harvesting systems applied to thinning operations, the most popular are whole-tree and cut-to-length harvestings. Both systems can be deployed with different levels of mechani...

Due to recent high emission values and increasing public demands for renewable energy, many countries have promoted biomass use instead of fossil originated fuel consumption. Wood chipping operation is one of the most popular biomass processing techniques. In recent years, there has been an interest in using mechanization in forestry, especially in...

A new shredder was designed for comminuting small‐size rootstocks from the termination of orchards and short‐rotation plantations. The new shredder is lighter than any similar models available on the market and is fitted with an integral star screen: these innovative characteristics allow the machine to work in‐field, leaving dirt on site and packi...

The objectives of this study were to examine the possibility of reducing the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of harvesters during cut-to-length operations by applying various technical settings to the machine through the machine's own software package. The adjustment of machine settings had an effect on the fuel consumption per unit product (l m...

The study sampled six representative work sites in Northern and Central Italy, in order to assess the risk for developing musculo-skeletal disease due to poor work posture (postural risk) among the operators engaged in semi-mechanized post debarking operations. Assessment was conducted with the Ovako Working posture Analysis System (OWAS) on 1200 s...

Operators may significantly increase the value of small logs by selling them as posts for fencing and horticulture, after proper sorting and debarking. Effective debarking can be performed with simple technology, within the reach of small-scale operators (investment ≤ 30,000 €). Based on a careful analysis of seven representative operations conduct...

Industrial chipping is becoming increasingly popular, as the result of a growing demand for woody biomass. Industrial chippers are large, powerful machines that generate much noise and vibration. This study explored some factors that may affect exposure to noise and vibration, namely: feedstock type (branches vs. logs), work station characteristics...

Acknowledging the absence of up-to-date empirical data on the value retention, service life and annual use of chipping machinery, in 2017 the authors surveyed the records kept by 50 contractors offering biomass chipping services. The machine fleet and operations in this survey could be taken as representative for most of Europe, where the biomass s...

Annual use, utilization, productivity and fuel consumption of three purpose-built and three excavator-based harvesters and processors were monitored for one work year. All machines were owned and operated by private contractors and were representative of the Italian machine fleet. Despite challenging mountain terrain, annual use ranged from 675 to...

Integrated biomass harvesting system is one of the conventional biomass utilisation methods applied in Australian pine plantations. This project studied the productivity-cost and yield of this harvesting system in 32 years old Pinus radiata plantations located in South West Western Australia. The harvesting systems consisted of a harvester and a fo...

Reed represents an opportunity fuel that can be obtained from wetland restoration activities designed for reducing the dominance of invasive reed over native matrix vegetation. Equipment used for reed recovery must be light enough to negotiate soft terrain. At the same time, it needs to be versatile, so that investment cost is depreciated on a vari...

Coppice is a traditional form of forest management widely practiced in Europe since ancient times. This COST Action FP1301 EuroCoppice report gives an overview about the most important coopice products in Europe.

Short-rotation coppice (SRC) is an important source of woody biomass for bioenergy. Despite the research carried out on several aspects of SRC production, many uncertainties create barriers to farmers establishing SRC plantations. One of the key economic sources of uncertainty is harvesting methods and costs; more specifically, the performance of c...

This study surveyed logging businesses in the Italian Alps to obtain a first detailed description of their current financial wellbeing, of their future intentions and of the success factors and obstacles perceived by the entrepreneurs. Answers from 322 respondents suggest a relatively stable group of enterprises, where the large majority (ca. 90%)...

The authors describe a study conducted under controlled conditions, with the goal of determining the eventual benefits of replacing the conventional clamped carriage with an unclamped motorized dropline carriage. The rigging was a classic three-cable configuration common to European yarder operations, with a single span standing skyline. The mainli...

The authors describe a study conducted under controlled conditions, with the goal of analysing the dynamic tension in the skyline of a yarder resulting from hauling known loads. The rigging was a classic three-cable configuration common to European yarder operations; with a single-span standing skyline and the mainline and haulback used to move the...

Coppice management is applied to many species, in many countries and in many ways, so that several harvesting techniques have been developed depending on specific local conditions. However, all techniques designed for handling coppice stands must be suitable for coping with small stem size and stump crowding, and often with steep and generally diff...

Coppice management is extremely efficient, because it offers the benefits of easy management, prompt regeneration and short waiting time. Efficiency is also achieved during harvesting, because coppice is often clearcut, which allows concentrated harvest and simple felling arrangements. On the other hand, coppice management has some important limita...

Farmers are reluctant to establish short-rotation coppice because too many uncertainties remain about its economic feasibility. Up to now, most progress has been accomplished by increasing plantation yields through genetic improvement and by reducing management costs through mechanization. In contrast, the potential increase of value recovery has r...

Latest chipper models feature new in-feed and evacuation systems that can be adjusted on the fly to match variable work conditions. Proper adjustments of the two systems are expected to produce significant effects in terms of productivity, diesel fuel consumption and chip quality. The study verified such claims by testing one of these new machines...

Key messageMechanized cutting may result in higher stump damage levels, especially if cutting is performed with shears. Nevertheless, stumps cut with mechanized technology do not show higher mortality rates than do stumps cut manually with a chainsaw. One-year growth is also unaffected, and so is nutrient balance within the stump. ContextCoppice ha...

Integrated biomass harvesting system is one of the conventional biomass utilisation methods applied in Australian pine plantations. This project studied the productivity-cost and yield of this harvesting system in 32 years old Pinus radiata plantations located in South West Western Australia. The harvesting systems consisted of a harvester and a fo...

A survey of harvesting contracts was conducted in the Alpine regions of France and Italy. The main goal was to produce a benchmark for the harvesting contract rates in the area that may guide forest owners and logging contractors when making their harvesting decisions. The sample included 443 contracts, evenly distributed between France and Italy....

Industrial comminution is becoming increasingly popular, as the result of a growing demand for wood biomass. Such task is performed with either chippers or grinders, which are large, powerful machines, capable of generating much noise. In turn, high noise levels may have negative impacts on the health and comfort of workers, and of the people livin...

This study determined the biomass retention effects and the technical–financial performance of alternative harvesting practices, applied to mountain sites. The two alternatives were: whole-tree (WT) and tree-length (TL) harvesting. Five cable yarding sites were selected from a larger pool of available sales, and on each site two adjacent and parall...

Reed is an invasive perennial grass that grows on wetlands and spreads to the detriment of other native species. The eventual dominance of reed may cause a severe loss of plant species diversity, and dramatically alter natural habitats. Reed control can follow a number of different practices, which are all expensive. However, the financial sustaina...

The study compared the silvicultural results of individual tree selection as performed by licensed foresters, loggers, and licensed agronomists. The experiment was conducted on two tree marking training sites installed by the Regional Forest administration for Lombardy in the northern Italian mountains. Each site consisted of a 1.2-acre (0.5-ha) fo...

A time study was conducted to determine whether stem crowding had any impact on harvester productivity in Eucalyptus grandis stands. This represents an important element when trying to balance the advantages and disadvantages of coppice management in fast growing plantations designated for mechanized harvesting (i.e. machine felling, delimbing, deb...

Winching is common in small-scale forest operations, especially on steep slopes, where tractors cannot reach the logs inside the forest. In this case, logs are dragged to the roadside with tractor-mounted winches, for later collection by transportation units. Winching is a heavy task, posing a high physiological stress on winching crew members. The...

A new industrial chipper was designed for use in short-rotation forestry plantations, which requires high productivity and allround mobility. The new machine was tested at seven different sites, representative of the main work environments negotiated by modern agroforestry contractors. The tests produced 114 chip containers, or 929 tonnes of fresh...

Winching is among the most common logging techniques in small-scale forestry, but it is inefficient and hard on the operators. The authors conducted a comparative test to determine the benefits of introducing an auxiliary winch that automatically returned the winch cable to the loading site. Such device would make it unnecessary for a crew member t...

A new chipper was designed around a versatile wheeled carrier, capable of both in-field and road traffic. This solution reduces relocation cost, and it is especially valuable when dealing with small, scattered fields. At the same time, good off-road mobility allows taking a large industrial operation directly into the field, to the benefit of impro...

An increasing number of agricultural contractors are getting into industrial wood chipping, following the rapid expansion of fiber farms on ex-arable land. Wood chippers are noisy machines and agricultural contractors tend to work long hours, which raises the question about their exposure to noise. The objective of the study was to quantify noise e...

A new chipper-truck was developed for extending the benefits of industrial chipping to space-constrained landings, normally inaccessible to industrial operations. The new machine was taken for a European test tour, so that it could be tested under conditions considered typical of Mediterranean, Alpine, Central and Nordic Europe. The same machine an...

Chipper design is a main driver of production efficiency within forest fuel supply chains, but little scientific knowledge is available about the performance of different types. Two alternative drum chipper designs were tested on different feedstock types and under different knife wear conditions. The closed drum full-length knife design was more e...