Direct costs of final cuttings in two Japanese cypress shelterwood stands

Abstract

To clarify the harvesting costs associated with final cutting in Japanese cypress shelterwood stands, we observed four final cutting cases in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. All final cuttings were performed using chainsaw and heavy machinery. After felling with a chainsaw, heavy machinery was used to produce logs from the felled trees that had reached the forest road network. We analyzed the time consumption for the final cuttings consistently trackable from felling to bunching along the forest road network without forwarding. The average direct cost, calculated from our set unit price, was 4,118 yen per harvested tree, and multiple comparisons using the Games–Howell method showed no significant differences among the study sites at the 5% level. We also estimated direct costs for trees not directly observed in the final cuttings and determined the total harvesting costs incurred at the study sites. Although the harvesting costs were proportional to the number of harvested trees, the amount of the reforestation costs reduced by the understory and the number of harvested trees were uncorrelated. The results suggest that the maximum allowable additional cost for understory varies with forest conditions. Adding the spatial analysis of harvesting systems should clarify efficient final cutting and improve the economics of shelterwood.