Clearfell work patterns

The ground conditions, layout of the block (landing and boundary locations), wind direction, and tree lean will influence the felling pattern.

Once the feller buncher has progressed into the stand of trees of a safe distance, the skidder operator may then perform their task of snigging bunched trees.

The feller buncher operator may present the trees 90° to the gullet row or plantation rows.

The more common and efficient method for the skidder operator, is to lay the bunched trees in ribbon style with the butts of the trees facing the direction they are to be snigged.  

This has the effect of keeping all the felled trees inside the coupe boundary, and reduces debris on access tracks in the forest (which is extremely important in the fire season months). 

Often the feller buncher will first fell the zone within two tree-lengths of the landing site and adjoining road.

This ensures a ready supply of wood for the skidders close to the landing as the operation commences.

Fig 1 trees presented 90o to skid track	Fig 2 trees presented ribbon style to skid track

The picture below shows a blue gum clear fell operation.

The trees are felled and bunched in ribbon style for the skidders.

The skidders snig the bunched whole trees to the landing site for processing by the heavy production mobile chipping plant.

This method allows the feller buncher to work safely, however as you are snigging trees to the landing site, you may have to drive past the feller buncher and notify the operator of your intentions by 2 way radio.

Fig 3 Typical blue gum clear fell operation with a track feller buncher harvesting the trees

The pictures below figure (4) shows the ribbon style felling and bunching whole trees for the skidder operator.

The trees are felled parallel with the plantation rows; tree butts pointing the direction of snigging.

This method allows the skidder to travel on the forest floor in-between the stump line, making it comfortable and maximum efficiency of work for you.

Fig 4 Felled & bunched blue gum trees	Fig 5 Feller buncher left, skidder right snigging trees to landing site

You need to communicate with the feller buncher operator to gauge the best sized bunches to ensure the overall production, quality and efficiency of the whole forest operation.

Bunched trees should not be too small as this could cause inefficiency in volumes of trees being snigged.

They also cannot be too big. This causes you to leave 1 or 2 trees behind, creating unnecessary additional work.