Public Deliverables
Policy Brief: Knowledge and Technologies for our Forests of the Future (D7.3)
Click here to download the full POLICY BRIEF.
Identifying and extending key silvicultural systems (D2.1)
The silviculture work package (WP2) focuses on the optimization of the access to wood resources. This goal involves two main aspects:
- The application of appropriate harvesting techniques – aiming at the promotion of mechanized systems wherever possible, and
- The evaluation of appropriate silvicultural operations.
Appropriate silvicultural measures are principally intended to increase wood production, maintain the biodiversity and resilience but also to enable and facilitate the use of efficient silvicultural and harvesting operations. The development of methods for increasing the wood production and optimizing the interface between harvesting technology and silvicultural procedures is the research emphasis of this work package.
Task 1 is charged with the evaluation of the current situation that means the currently practiced main silvicultural systems in the participating countries (“Where are we?”). On that basis the potential to increase wood production is identified. Task 2, as a consequence, aims at formulating research questions (“Where do we want to go?”), and at generating case studies and establishing case study areas, in order to clarify how the identified development potential can be materialized and defined research questions can be achieved (“How do we get there?”). This means that optimal combinations of silvicultural work steps such as choice of species and species mixtures, planting patterns, early operations, thinning regimes and definition of rotation length will be developed and assessed against their feasibility. Task 3 deals with the modelling of identified best practices, in order to make visible the consequences of the suggested improvements and to ensure their long term effect. Task 4 concentrates on the improvement of the sequence of business processes within supply chains of forest based products and services.
Report on ensuring continued forest resource production in the long term (D2.3)
The need for the establishment of a bio-based economy to reduce emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels will increase the demand for wood. Thus, the European forestry sector is confronted with the challenge of increasing access to wood resources. Access to wood resources can be increased by making forest operations more efficient and increasing growth rates in forests through silvicultural practices.
Mechanization is one way of increasing efficiency of forest operations, while also increasing safety at work and reducing the physical stress of forest workers. More efficient and safer forest operations in turn encourage the implementation of silvicultural practices such as thinning. The potential area of application for different harvesting systems has been assessed in this work and is presented as a Harvesting Systems Map for Europe. Although this
analysis includes data uncertainty, limitations and simplified assumption, it is evident that there is a huge, underutilized potential for the application of mechanized harvesting systems in Europe. Measurements for improving the efficiency of forest operations that include mechanized harvesting systems can thus potentially be applied for a great share of Europe’s forest area.
The impact of measurements suggested as results of case studies conducted in Task 2.2 of Work Package 2 has
been assessed by up-scaling the results to the country or ecoregional level using the Harvesting Systems Map for Europe. Although the up-scaling is a theoretical exercise and also includes limitations and simplifications, it is clear that there is a high potential for making forest operations more efficient and profitable by using mechanized systems and implementing appropriate silvicultural practices.
To read the full text, please download the PDF here !
Business tools for improved stand treatment and wood mobilization services (D2.4)
The report presents results with a particular focus on IT-tools, internet-based applications and other interfaces that enable both the requisition and marketing of silvicultural and harvesting services in three Nordic countries. Research has shown that considerable efficiency differences can exist between apparently similar supply chains, therefore, the Work Package 2 within Task 2.4 focused on selected business processes between forest administrators, service providers, and local Forest Based Industries in Denmark, Finland and Norway.
The Finnish case study showed that the presented model applying an online IT platform required less process interactions than the traditional direct inquiry alternative. With the presented results of the “Online IT platform” being more efficient, the current design of the Finnish tool can be considered an optimal design of a service tool when compared to a common traditional offer inquiry. Through the transfer of the presented design and best-practices, other regions could equally benefit from the efficiency improvement potential offered through the adaptation of such technology and service.
The Norwegian case study provided generalized business process maps for purchase and production planning in a Norwegian farm forestry context. A recent innovation from forest owner associations (FOAs) includes the offer of long-term forest management agreements. For the FOA such agreements ultimately provide the potential to increase planning horizons and the production cover time of the FOA contract bank. The innovation also offers the potential to reduce purchase lead times for initial contact with the forest owner. This can be particularly useful when periodic deviations in demand, production or operating conditions require rapid re-balancing of the contract bank.
To read the full text please download the PDF here !
Report on potential for efficiency increase in silviculture (D2.5)
Silvicultural practices are applied to modify forest conditions and to meet the pre-defined goals of forest owners and/or other stakeholders. They have a strong regional focus driven by the species distribution, local forest management and forest-based industry tradition, policy constraints and forest ownership structure. The most productive silvicultural systems (eg. age class forest, continuous cover forest, shelterwood forest, coppice, coppice with standard, forest with exclusively commercial purposes (“short rotation” and “plantation ”)) have been identified and evaluated in this work.
For these silvicultural systems, key regional management options have been selected for their potential to enhance the productivity of European forests. In this report we describe 10 case studies in seven partner countries. The following groups were revealed:
1.) Mechanization in harvesting operations (three case studies).
2.) Tending and thinning practices (four case studies)
3.) More appropriate methods in early operations and stand establishment (three case studies).
In the course of our research, by examining increase potentials for European silviculture, we have identified two key themes: early operations (establishment methods, species mixes, stand densities, using improved regeneration material, fertilization) on the one hand, and tending/thinning on the other hand. Based on the case studies, we consider that one of the principal increase potentials for European forestry is to implement tending and thinning in conifer age-class forests more intensively, more properly and more cost-effectively.
In addition, we have a second focus on early operations, in which context we have presented very innovative and versatile suggestions. One additional study on coppice, addressing an essential increase potential for forestry in the South-West European countries, completes the range of our investigations. Furthermore, the enhancement of mechanization in forestry in Europe has been seen as a necessary measure to improve the cost-efficiency and safety at work.
To read the full text please download the PDF here !
T4E Bucking App (D3.1)
This deliverable describes the T4E Bucking App developed by BOKU and Latschbacher. Check our Results page for the latest manual!
Why a Bucking App?
When timber is harvested, trees are felled and cut (“bucked”) into pieces (so called “assortments”) of different length. Pricing of the assortments depends on their length, diameter class and quality and is given in € per m³, which is then multiplied with the respective volume. In motor-manual felling and bucking operations, the chainsaw operator has to determine which assortments to cut from a given tree. By separating the tree into the most suitable combination of assortments, the highest value can be gained from a given tree. In contrast to fully mechanized harvesting operations, chainsaw operators are at the moment not aided by computers when taking this value-defining decision. Further, they are lacking a proper performance documentation in the form of an assortment list and aggregated volumes per assortment, species, quality, length or diameter class.
The T4E Bucking App is an application for Android OS mobile devices, which aims to close this gap. With the T4E Bucking App, a value-optimized bucking scheme can be determined for a given tree from tree and contractual parameters entered by the user, thereby assisting the chainsaw operator in this critical decision. Further, the T4E Bucking App provides after-operation statistics, which can be utilized for documentation and planning purposes.
However, the T4E Bucking App does not aim to replace, but to assist the human brain when taking the bucking decision. While on the one hand enabling fully computer-aided operation, the user is on the other hand able to select a customized bucking scheme, which can be compared to the value-optimized scheme. This functionality aims at providing the user with a training option, which can be employed for both personal and institutionalized education and training purposes. This functionality is of further use when defects that go unnoticed during the visual pre-bucking inspection require to alter the original bucking scheme.
The T4E Bucking App’s target groups are (1) only occasionally bucking users (“farmer”), (2) users in education and training (forestry schools and training centres) and (3) professional chainsaw operators. The intention of the app is to not make the user depending on it to take the bucking decision, but to aid the decision as long as the user is not skilled enough to take the decision on his own. Occasionally bucking users are envisioned to profit from the app by assisted training on the job and increased value recovery due to a well-founded decision. In education and training, the app can be used as a tool to compare trainees’ ideas of the most suitable bucking scheme to each other or during personal training to the suggested value-optimized scheme. Professional users can benefit from the T4E Bucking App in terms of work documentation and as calibration tool, where every now and then the user decision is compared against the suggested solution.
Top Level Figures For Main Timber Harvesting Systems (D3.5)
The overall objective of this deliverable is to categorize the highest possible predictions of selected productivity functions (top level performance figures) for the main timber harvesting (felling, processing and extraction) systems in Europe and South Africa. The most common harvesting systems identified in this study were:
1) Harvester and forwarder in cut-to-length method
2) Winch-assisted harvester and forwarder in cut-to-length method
3) Chainsaw and skidder
4) Chainsaw and cable yarder in whole tree method
Outcomes from this deliverable will be helping in estimating harvesting costs and to evaluate if the harvesting system applied is the most efficient. This deliverable has been compiled by collecting and systematizing information from existing research and by creating a dataset based on past records. The material consists of productivity functions and datasets.
Results indicate that among the studied functions the most relevant variables to predict the relative top level figures are:
- For the harvester and forwarder in cut-to-length method: average stem size (in dm3 or m3), removal (m3/ha), the number of assortments and diameter at breast height (cm). The highest productivity predicted for a thinning was 32.6 m3/PSH15 and 164.4 m3/PSH0 for the clear cutting/final felling.
For the winch-assisted harvester and forwarder in cut-to-length method: tree volume (m3). The highest productivity predicted was 46.0 m3/PSH15. - For chainsaw and skidder: machine gross power (kW), average tree volume (m3) the payload size (m3) in-field extraction distance (m), the time taken to load (min), the time taken to unload (min). The highest predicted productivity for skidding were 28.8 m3/PSH with a farm tractor, while with was 89.0 m3/PSH with a skidder.
- Finally, for chainsaw and cable yarder in whole tree method the variables were: yarding distance (m), lateral yarding distance (m), number of logs per turn (#) and the average piece size (m3). For this system the highest value was 29.0 m3/PSH.
To read the full text please download the PDF here !
Terrain Accessability Maps for 4 Case Study Areas (D4.1)
The extent and severity of disturbance of forest soils can often be managed through a greater awareness of the causes and effects. Soil disturbance in the form of wheel rutting and compaction can impede the future production potential of the site, promote the spread of diseases such as root rot (e. g. Heterobasidion spp.), and alienate environmentalists and recreational users of the forest (Spang 2014, Luther 2016). In addition, wheel sinkage and slippage directly increase the cost of timber extraction through higher fuel consumption and lower productivity, providing the verifiable goal of minimizing soil damage for any forest contractor.
Wet soil conditions reduce soil bearing capacity irrespective of the soil type. The occurrence of wetter or drier areas is difficult to predict during forest operations, as stands are often dense and visibility is limited. In order to maintain longer-term trafficability and site productivity, the most recent developments in methods and technologies should be applied, also in improving the public perception of the forest industry as a pro-active and responsible manager of the land on which it depends. The Depth-To-Water algorithm (DTW) is such a method that helps to identify critical areas.
To our current state of knowledge, the DTW algorithm developed by Murphy et al. (2009) is the least data demanding approach for mapping wet areas and consequently zones of low soil bearing capacity or risky trafficability, and so can be applied on a European scale. The algorithm is based on a grid of flow accumulation in conjunction with a grid of slope values and ultimately provides a single number for any point in the terrain, the depth to water. The DTW-index determines the flow direction according to the elevation difference between adjacent cells in the landscape, in direction to exposed surface water. In other words, the metric DTW-index shows the depth from a particular point in the area to the nearest surface of open water. Low values of the DTW-index indicate lower drainage condition of that point, and therefore a higher probability for wetness at that point.
Using algorithms developed by the University of New Brunswick, DTW-indices with four different flow initiation areas (0.25 ha, 1.00 ha, 4.00 ha, 10.00-40.00 ha) were calculated for study areas in Finland, Germany, Norway and Poland. By using different flow initiation areas, the seasonal variation of flow paths can be simulated. The created maps were assessed using five randomly selected squares with a side length of 1500 m. The partial wet areas, showing a DTW-index To read the full text please download the PDF here: D4.1 Terrain Accessability Maps for 4 case study areas
Mapping App - Minimize site impact through improved planning and operations (D4.3)
Like for all environmental sciences, large quantities of information are being generated from easily accessible data sources, like aerial and satellite based LiDAR and imagery. This information can contribute significantly to improved forest management, and especially the planning and carrying out of forest operations.
Of special relevance to WP4 is an improved decision basis, provided for avoiding site damage by trafficking of forest machinery. One of the biggest challenges to operationalising the data is visualisation in the field. Static maps are not practical to use in the field, and poorly represent varying soil moisture conditions. While mapping functionality is available in most CTL harvesters, it is proprietary property and useable only within the remiss of each manufacturer. In a diverse forest sector, there is a need to develop solutions that work across platforms. In addition, it cannot be expected of a machine operator or forest worker to manually edit and provide accurate feedback to operations managers in analogue format.
This demonstrator describes how an app developed by T4E partner Latschbacher GmbH (https://www.latschbacher.com/) provides a solution to these challenges. The ‘TECH4EFFECT Mapping App’ is a handy tool that allows field operatives access to the most recent, complete and diverse data available. The basic data includes terrain trafficability quantified through a Depth-To-Water (DTW) map, woodland key habitats and other hotspots requiring special awareness, as well as terrain or slope maps. The position of the forest machine or worker using the device is always indicated in relation to other features on the map. As Web Map Service is used, any data layers from any participating country can be displayed.
A number of key functions of the Mapping App are employed in ensuring full versatility of the tool:
(1) The maps can be cached and map tiles can therefore be used offline in areas with poor network coverage.
(2) The app user can annotate the map with text and vector features including polygons, lines, and points, with the option of activating a track log recording the machine or user’s movements. Additionally, the user can be warned when approaching a critical area by a pushing notification.
(3) The user is able to store locally or share the annotations, as well as geo-referenced photographs, with other actors via a number of technologies (FTP, OneDrive, and Dropbox).
Technically, it is now possible for the user to add environmental data to the SILVISMART database. This provides an innovative new approach to capturing and working with environmental considerations within the efficiency framework being developed within the TECH4EFFECT project as a whole.
To read the full text please download the PDF here !
Norwegian Efficiency Portal (D6.1)
Fully mechanized harvesting systems such as Harvesters and Forwarders collect lots of data using a global standard (standard for forest data – StanForD). A new efficiency portal for the forest sector, called “SILVISMART”, digitalizes the dataflow from forest operations and transforms machine-captured data into business intelligence and decision support.
SILVISMART is the entry point into the world of productivity, information and advice on how to continually improve the efficiency of operations. To facilitate the access to the global portal, national portals are required, where potential users can get information and support in their national language.
The Norwegian National Efficiency Portal is now available online at: www.silvismart.no. The website ensures that potential users get all the information about the efficiency portal they need. Until project end participating users can use the portal for free and bring in their concerns, needs and suggestions to improve the global efficiency portal. This report gives an actual overview about the Norwegian national efficiency portal and explains in detail the functionalities of the website. As website maintenance is an ongoing process, the website will be constantly updated and improved.
To read the full text please download the PDF here !
German Efficiency Portal (D6.4)
The main objective of this work package was to ensure the successful implementation of the German Efficiency Portal. In preparation for this issue business models and plans were compiled by the partners in Norway, Germany, Italy, Austria and Denmark. In close collaboration with work package 5 the “SILVISMART” platform was designed and implemented as a Global portal with access by National partners.
The German Efficiency portal is the German national access to the TECH4EFFECT SILVISMART platform at https://www.silvismart.eu/de/. TECH4EFFECT partner KWF is in charge of SILVISMART for Germany and provides first level support for German users.
To read the full text please download the PDF here !
Italian Efficiency Portal (D6.7)
SILVISMART collects StanForD files and is designed around one universal system, which maintains and updates the actual database that stores the data, reads the data from the incoming files, and updates and develops the actual analysis and reporting tools available in the system. Having one universal system ensures very low development and maintenance costs for the individual countries and organizations that use the system.
The national SILVISMART portals serve as access points to the global SILVISMART system. The host of the national portal is responsible for user support, making the system and tools available in the national language and provides the website that links to the SILVISMART system. Further, the national hosts adapt contracts on confidentiality and other restrictions to data use according to national legislation and are essential in ensuring the longer-term sustainability of the SILVISMART system, also in terms of generating revenue for covering the costs of maintaining the system.
The national portals and the global SILVISMART system are mutually dependent. The global system maintains the database, algorithms, code and analytical tools. The national portals ensure that the system is properly adapted to local interest and conditions and that it is actively used. Now, the website for the Italian national efficiency portal is online. This report gives a short description of the functionalities and the information provided on www.silvismart.it.
To read the full text please download the PDF here!
Austrian Efficiency Portal (D6.10)
The Austrian National Efficiency Portal is part of TECH4EFFECTs SILVISMART platform and is now available online at www.silvismart.at. The website ensures that potential users get all the information about the efficiency portal they need. Until project end participating users can use the portal for free and bring in their concerns, needs and suggestions to improve the global efficiency portal.
This report gives an actual overview about the Austrian national efficiency portal and explains in detail the functionalities of the website. As website maintenance is an ongoing process, the website will be constantly updated and improved.
To read the full text please download the PDF here!
Danish Efficiency Portal (D6.13)
Fully mechanized harvesting systems such as Harvesters and Forwarders collect lots of data using a global standard (standard for forest data – StanForD). A new efficiency portal for the forest sector, called “SILVISMART”, digitalises the dataflow from forest operations and transforms machine-captured data into business intelligence and decision support. SILVISMART is the entry point into the world of productivity, information and advice on how to continually improve the efficiency of operations. To facilitate the access to the global portal, national portals are required, where potential users can get information and support in their national language.
The Danish national efficiency portal is now available online at www.silvismart.dk. The website ensures that potential users get all the information about the efficiency portal they need. Until project end participating users can use the portal for free and bring in their concerns, needs and suggestions to improve the global efficiency portal.
This report gives an actual overview about the Danish national efficiency portal and explains in detail the functionalities of the website. As website maintenance is an ongoing process, the website will be constantly updated and improved.
To read the full text please download the PDF here!