2020 Volume 35 Issue 1 Article ID: 35.31
This study aimed to investigate the effect of travel distance out of cutting areas on the productivity of forestry machinery. We measured the travel distance and the shortest distance in straight lines between the cutting area and the forest road using a forest road map from the national forests in Hokkaido. The results showed that the forwarder does not travel on the forest roads when access roads to the cutting area are 1500 m or longer than the shortest distance determined from the forestry map. In addition, running distances on access roads increase until reaching 1000 m. The aim of the study was to achieve travel distances of less than 500 m in the national forests of Hokkaido. Establishing a cutting area within 50 m of the shortest distance access the road achieves this aim while decreasing the travel distance out of the cutting area. The result is a decrease of up to 7% in the forwarder productivity.