Raffaele Spinelli

• PhD
• Research Director at 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...

Purpose of Review The introduction of cable yarding systems has transformed timber harvesting operations on steep slopes. Subsequent adaptations and modernizations of rigging configurations, carriages, and work practices have led to substantial improvements in safety, productivity, and environmental performance. This review focuses on the base, or...

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...

In 2017, 22% of the woody biomass harvested in EU28 was used for energy production, and low-value forest biomass is seen as a key resource in mitigating climate change. The use of logging residues and small trees from thinning is still far from its maximum sustainable potential due to low supply chain profitability. The cost structure for the bi...

The increasing demand for woody biomass has revived tree stump collection. Stump biomass is a viable raw material for the bioenergy sector, and could also be used for extracting valuable chemicals, such as resin. However, the harvesting of stump biomass requires heavy equipment and is a practice that has received much criticism for its potential ne...

Purpose of the Review Recent technological innovations in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have successfully revolutionized many industrial processes, enhancing productivity and sustainability, under the paradigm of Industry 5.0. It offers opportunities for the forestry sector such as predictive analytics, automation, and precision management, which co...

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...

The production of wood chips can be achieved using different types of wood chippers whose productivity can be influenced by many factors including proper knife management. Research was conducted to determine the productivity of the new Diamant chipper in chipping air-dried tops stacked at a roadside landing and to compare the efficiency of dry shar...

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...

Purpose of Review The aim of this literature review was to bring together the most relevant and recent research information on the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions caused by the fully mechanized cut-to-length (CTL) harvesting machinery when applied to industrial roundwood. A specific aim of this review was to describe the effect of different inde...

In recent years, a significant import of modern tower yarders has been registered in Bulgaria, where official productivity standards are routinely used for operational planning and control. Given the higher potential of the newer yarder models, the Bulgarian forestry sector has started a review of the older productivity standards dating back to the...

The paper is focused on the research of chipper knives with a straight and modified cutting edge in order to determine the energy consumption of the chipping process and the uniformity of the size of the fractions of the designed chipper knife for the production of dimensionally uniform chips. The research took place on two different tree species w...

There has been a global increase in the demand for woody biomass in the last decade. The imperative to achieve the highest production per unit of land while preserving natural forest resources has expanded intensive forest cultivation in industrial plantations. The development of a global bioeconomy is expected to further increase the demand for bi...

The aim of the study was to provide a comprehensive overview of global long-distance road transportation of industrial roundwood. The study focused on the maximum gross vehicle weight (GVW) limits allowed with different timber truck configurations, typical payloads in timber trucking, the road transportation share of the total industrial roundwood...

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...

The disturbance that ground-based extraction operations can imply on the forests ecosystem is an issue which demands more attention. Skidding and forwarding are the two most common ground-based extraction systems. While skidding implies to partially or fully dragging the logs on the ground, in forwarding, timber is transported on a deck thus avoidi...

Under exacerbated environmental conditions due to climate change and more fre quent and more severe disturbances the establishment of forest stands has become a challenge for forest managers. This study aims at comparing stand establishment methods on a European scale. We differentiated between five biogeographic regi ons to detect similarities and...

Forest harvesting generates variable amounts of residue that pose a fire hazard and a hindrance to regeneration and must be managed accordingly. In South Africa, burning is the most common residue management method, but there is interest in introducing safer and more effective techniques, such as mulching. For that reason, a productivity study was...

Forest harvesting generates variable amounts of residue that represent a fire hazard and a hindrance to regeneration and must be managed accordingly. In South Africa, burning is the most common residue management method, but there is an interest in introducing safer and more effective techniques, such as mulching. For that reason, a productivity st...

Purpose of Review Electrification is the second major shift in the type of drivetrain technology employed in cable yarding equipment, after the gradual transition from mechanical to hydraulic drives that began in the 1960 s. Electric slack pulling carriages are omnipresent today and more advanced electrified solutions are close to market entry. Few...

The demand for increased efficiency in timber harvesting has traditionally been met by continuous technical improvements in machines and an increase in mechanisation. The use of active and passive sensors on machines enables improvements in aspects such as operational efficiency, fuel consumption and worker safety. Timber harvesting machine manufac...

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...

Radical changes are necessary to address challenges related to global warming and pollution. Ever-tightening emission standards for combustion engines have already led to a drastic reduction in the amount of harmful gas and matter emitted. Drivetrain hybridization and electrification, which are becoming increasingly popular in all sectors, are two...

A mechanized¹ harvesting system combined with whole-tree chipping was investigated on two harvesting sites in central and eastern Ohio, USA. Production and machine rate data of the operations were collected through time-motion studies, with chipping sub-tasks (elements) defined as: feeding, chipping, and loading. Chipping cycles averaged 21.5 min t...

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...

Skidders are very cost-effective extraction machines, and winch-assist systems may extend their operating range to increasingly steep terrain. The use of winch-assist skidder systems is relatively new, and little information is available about their operational efficiency and potential soil impact. A productivity and soil disturbance study was carr...

Coppices are a major potential source of forest biomass in Spain, where they occupy around 4M ha. Quercus coppices are mostly neglected because of their high harvesting costs and the small size of their products. This makes them very interesting to test and compare alternative means for utilizing their resources in an optimized way. Hence, a compar...

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 November 2021, a project proposal submitted by the TU Dresden and in which seven other partner institutions are involved was approved in the ERASMUS+ program Action Type KA220-HED. The aim of the project is to develop an e-learning tool that can be used to teach forest technology at the Master’s level. Project work develops along four main tasks...

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...

Meeting ever-tightening emission regulations and ambitious climate targets requires drastic efficiency improvements and emission reduction across all sectors. Hybridization as an intermediary step towards electrification is a prominent approach to achieve this. Within the forestry sector, most equipment still relies on conventional mechanical or hy...

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...

Plantation forestry has a long history in Europe and still supports local industry, generating employment, improving environmental quality, and mitigating climate change. As part of these plantations, medium-rotation poplars (5–8 years) provide good quality logs for fiber production, and the branches and tops can be converted into green energy. Fin...

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...

Se estudian cortas selectivas fuertes sobre montes bajos de encina y rebollo en Palencia, comparando una taladora-apiladora pesada de sierra circular con una cuadrilla de dos motoserristas y un apilador. La productividad mecanizada dependió de especie, peso por árbol y porcentaje de área basimétrica extraída, mientras la semimecanizada dependió sól...

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...

Purpose of Review Carriages are an integral component of cable yarding systems that are used to harvest timber on steep terrain. They provide the mobility component by allowing a payload to be pulled along a skyline that spans a harvest setting, as opposed to a brute force pulling a load along a slope. While yarder machinery and cable yarding syste...

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...

Deciding which re-establishment methods to apply has become increasingly complex due to the expanding range of options and the numerous criteria that need to be fulfilled to support any chosen options. The objective of this study was to develop a decision model for the selection of the best method to perform different re-establishment activities, b...

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...

Efficient and cost-effective re-establishment practices are important parts of any sustainable forest re-establishment programme. Re-establishment activities include residue management (post-harvest slash), preparation of a planting position, planting, fertilisation and vegetation management. In South Africa, these activities are largely labour int...

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...

A comparative study of motor-manual and mechanized felling and bunching was conducted when thinning dense coppice stands of the two most important oak species in Spain to obtain biomass for bioenergy use. In particular, the study matched chainsaw felling and manual piling against the work of a drive-to-tree feller-buncher in the very same sites. Pr...

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...

Mobile wood chippers represent a mature technology now available in a wide range of sizes and configurations. Different types exist, but the most widespread are disc and drum chippers. The latter have enjoyed wider popularity in recent years because they are best suited to processing logging residue and other low-quality wood. Drum chippers can be...

This paper offers a conceptual analysis of the unaccounted-for cost of owning and operating used machines from an operational, financial and market perspective. It is based on input from experts and a literature review. In the scientific literature, assessing the operating cost of used machines in forest operations is typically based on standard co...

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...

Plantation re-establishment is a key component of silviculture as it deals with the creation of a suitable environment when planting or seeding a stand. Re-establishment practices include slash management, site preparation, marking and preparation of a planting position, planting, fertilisation and vegetation management. Over the past decade, there...

Chestnut forests represent an important environmental and landscape element in Europe, especially in the hill regions of southern Europe. In Italy, the total surface amount of chestnut forests is slightly expanded with 788,408 hectares, but orchards show a dramatic reduction (147,586 hectares or 20% of the total) and timber-producing stands a compa...

Purpose of the Review This review offers essential information on the factors affecting the efficiency of wood chip supply chains, and of comminution in particular. The paper indicates the pros and cons of alternative set ups, as well as the impact of specific technical choices, including machine setup and adjustments. Recent Findings Chipping per...

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...