Harvesting and marketing

 

Harvesting is largely clearfelling of unthinned crops because of the high proportion of high wind hazard class (unstable) crops. Thinning operations are confined to amenity and recreation areas, areas around communities and areas sheltered from strong winds, in total they amount to 35000 cubic metres (m3) per annum. Total current felling programmes amount to 525000 m3 annually, a figure expected to remain stable over the next ten years.

Crop rotation lengths are dictated by exposure and soil conditions, with most crops being felled when they are between 17 and 25 metres in height. Timing of felling of a particular compartment is also related to the age and height of adjoining compartments in order to achieve the objective of creating the diverse age structure which is central to the restructuring process. In order to achieve this, rotations have to be truncated because the opportunities for extending rotations to achieve the diversity of age sought are limited.

Markets

Around 50% of the timber is sold standing and harvested by the purchaser who may be a merchant or a sawmiller . The remaining 50% of the programme is harvested by the Forestry Commission using direct employees or contractors. The combination of close plant spacing used in many of these first rotation crops (1.4m*1.4m) and wind truncated rotations leads to a high proportion of small roundwood (49% SRW) with logs amounting to 51%.

Major SRW markets are the pulp mill at Workington, Cumbria making cartonboard, and Egger at Hexham, Northumberland making chipboard products. We also supply SEMCORP in Teeside where the wood is used at the power station.

Sawlogs are processed at a number of sawmills in southern Scotland and Northern England, with a small proportion milled as far away as Wales. Logs are graded into those suitable for the construction (carcassing) industry and those for smaller sawmills which cut for the pallet and fencing markets . Total income amounts to some £10.0 million per year.

Methods of sale

Marketing of Timber is the responsibility of the Regional Office in Bristol and is presently sold mainly using  electronic tenders throughout the year. These events are used to sell both sawlogs and standing timber. The bulk of the SRW produced by the Forestry Commission is sold on long or medium term national contracts negotiated with the large pulp and chipboard mills. Sawlog and standing sale contracts generally run for about six months although recent agreements are being made over a few years.
Much of the timber is sold by weight with some of the better material being sold by volume. Standing timber may be sold by weight or volume depending on quality and marketing conditions.

Harvesting

The mean tree size of harvested crops is currently 0.23m3 although a full range of tree sizes with averages from 0.05 - 0.8m3 is cut. Around 90% of operations are fully mechanised with only the roughest trees and those on difficult ground requiring felling and de-limbing by chainsaw. Thinnings use a mix of methods from machine and chainsaw felling with extraction by horse, forwarder, skidder or cable crane. Clearfell operations are mainly mechanised felling with small areas of chainsaw, extraction by forwarder with skidder or cable crane on more difficult terrain e.g. steep slopes or wet ground.

On any day in Kielder some 20 - 30 mechanised units will be working felling and extracting timber, allowing over 1750 metric tonnes to leave the forest for the mills every day of the year.
Harvesting machines are made up of two types, wheeled purpose built machines and track based modified diggers with the ability to harvest between 8 and 20 tonnes per hour.

Contractors

Responsible for handling 50% of FC work and most of that for purchasers of standing timber they may be employed on a short or medium term basis. 80% of the FC work is on a medium term basis.

Haulage

Haulage is carried out entirely by contractors or the purchaser. An agreement exists between the Forestry Commission and the local Highways Authority which limits the use of heavy timber traffic to certain agreed public roads. This has resulted in a slight increase in the FC internal road network but has allowed the Highways Authority to concentrate its strengthening work on strategic haulage routes.