Forestry: Felling and Extraction

We annually log approximately 100,000 meter's of timber per annum as opposed to ten years ago when production was mainly by hand and yielded approximately, 8000 metres per annum.

We have quite high rainfall in the areas we work, however most of our sites are reasonably flat with good ground conditions, rarely do we need to use tracks or chains. F.C.S and operator certification are being introduced at the moment, placing much more emphasis on ground and tree damage along with environmental pollution, issues that we are all now taking on board and dealing with.

The timber species we work in are Norway Spruce, Sitika spruce, Scots Pine and Corsican Pine. The spruce tends to be heavy branched and the Scots Pine quite twisted.

The most characteristic aspect of logging in our areas is small plots of timber with poor quality trees. 90% of our contracts are thinnings. Our customer requirements are for green and red sawlogs, fencing bars, pallet wood dunnage, stakes, pulp and chipwood, all graded for length, diameter and quality.