Syllabus
FE 341 Timber Harvesting (4 cr)
Autumn 2002
e-mail: stjohnd@u.washington.edu
Course Lecture
Location: Bloedel 261
Monday: 1:30-2:20
Thursday: 12:30-3:20
Class attendance is extremely important and students can expect to be asked to participate in discussions.
Harvesting is the final phase as well as the beginning of a new forest or business cycle that usually extends over several decades. Forest harvest operations are usually the most expensive aspect in the forest business, both economically and environmentally.
A solid grounding in design principles, covering equipment and harvest operations,
assessment of safety issues and environmental impact assessment are all part
of the regular job when designing timber harvest operations. The forest engineer
must clearly understand the objectives of the forest management plan and in
the case of conflicting objectives and constraints, limits of acceptable performance
must be established for environmental and other forest values. The forest
engineer must then maximize the forest values within these constraints.
· Enough of the practical to talk the talk
· Improved communication
· Working in teams
· Solving problems
· Thinking for yourself
· Business skills
Course Objectives: At the end
of the course the student should be able to:
·
Explain the basic
harvesting systems, its components and functions
·
select the
appropriate timber harvesting systems based on the silvicultural prescriptions
·
Analyze the
forces acting in skyline cables, guy lines and tailholds in relation to wire
properties, cable yarding systems, tree characteristics and ground profile
·
Calculate
payloads and deflections as a function of cable yarding systems, wire
properties and ground profiles.
·
Design an
appropriate setting layout based on terrain features and equipment
characteristics
·
Perform basic economic analysis for evaluating designs for a harvesting operation based on
equipment and timber characteristics
·
Access and utilize variety of non-textbook information pertinent to design
(e.g. codes/standards, government regulations, handbooks, computer-based resources.).
Course Topics
Timber harvest terminology, methods, and analysis.
Use of deflection and payload programs, production and cost algorithms, use
of spreadsheets to solve harvesting design problems and perform economic analysis
The following reading
material will be provided in class:
Cable logging systems,
Studier and Binckley, 1974.
Cable Yarding Systems
H
Students are expected to peruse:
“Logging World” - a
magazine for logging contractors. It provides information about equipment
and new/used equipment prices.
“The Springboard” -
published by the Washington Contract Loggers Association (WCLA). The section
on “WCLA accident investigation” column
“Timber West” - provides industry news.
Additional readings (CFR library)
-Samset, I., 1985. Winch and cable systems.
-Staaf, K. A. G. and N. A. Wiksten, 1984. Tree harvesting techniques. Martinus
Nijhoff / Dr. W. Junk Publisher, Dordrecht. ISBN 90-247-2994-7.
-Conway. 1982. Logging Practices.
Glossary of terms:
Video tapes:
As part of the class students are expected to view a number of videotapes (from
7-22 minutes in length) that explain and show harvest systems. The tapes can
be viewed in Bloedel 261.
Class Assignments and Grading:
Students are required to read appropriate literature as assigned. In addition they will work on assigned design projects either individually or in teams.
Assignment Format:
Assignments may be turned in as a hard copy or by e-mail attachment
· The e-mail header or subject field will read: "your name-Asssignment
#".
· The attachment has as its file name: "your name_Assignment_#".
· Electronic files should be in Word, Excel, Visio, html, or PDF format.
They should be all in one format (don't submit something that has to be assembled
from multiple files).
· The electronic or hard copy version of assignments should have a
cover page showing name(s), assignment, date, e-mail address of author(s).
All paragraph text should be double spaced. Assignments should be organized
and easy for the reader to understand. They are not required to be pretty:
content is more important than looks.
Grading weight distribution
Assignments 40%
Mid-term exam 25%
Final exam 25%
Class participation 10%