Traditional Wood Processing (Lumber) Method in Forest; Production, Costs and Value Loss (Case Study: Namkhaneh District)

Lack of forest management plan and forest road network caused that the traditional tree felling and processing was developed in Hyrcanian forest. In this system, trees are felled, limbed and topped motor-manually. Felled trees are processed with chainsaws into lumber and/or pulpwood. In order to evaluate this system, lumber processing was studied in two compartments of Namkhaneh district in Kheyroud forest. Objects of this study were time study of lumber processing, estimating productivity and costs, developing regression model, and obtaining wood waste and value loss. Factors affecting on regression model of lumber processing were dbh and log length. The hourly productions of lumber processing, based on production of lumber, with and without delay time were 0. 69 m³/h and 0.93 m³/h, respectively. Number of produced lumber in this method increased exponentially in relation to dbh. The unit cost of lumber processing with and without delay time were 245950 and 183140 Rials/m³, respectively. The unit cost of lumber processing decreased exponentially when dbh increased. Average cycle time of the lumber processing with and without delay was 30.35 and 22.06 minutes, respectively. Value losse associated with log degrade averaged 34.24 percent per processed log volume.