Many citizens of foreign countries ask our company questions about the seasonality of logging in Russia, our expert Andrey Kichaev answers these questions in detail.
The logging process in Russia has a pronounced seasonal character. The seasonality of logging is a chronic disease of the logging industry in Russia, this is due to both the climate and the soils in the forest zone. During the Soviet era, for several decades, the seasonality was as follows: 70% of the annual volume of timber was harvested during five winter months – from November to March inclusive, the remaining 30% – during seven months. This type of work was possible due to the consistently low temperature in the winter, the cheapness of logging equipment produced in the USSR and the provision of cheap loans by the state to create inter-seasonal timber reserves (tree trunks). Everyone got used to this mode of work and adapted to it. However, at present, the problem is significantly exacerbated due to global warming. Winter has become unstable, with numerous thaws. The studies conducted in the winter of 2019 to 2020 showed that the winter period most favorable for logging operations was reduced from 5 to 4 months, that is, by 20%, and the volume of timber harvesting during the winter months was reduced from 70% to 50%, that is, by 20%. How loggers worked in the winter of 2020 – 2021, especially in the European part of the country, can only be imagined. And what will happen in five – ten – fifteen years?
In the updated strategy of the forest industry of Russia, this problem is not even mentioned. And who will solve it “in the presence of a complete absence” of scientific research in the Forest Industry Complex (FIC)?
Inter-seasonal timber reserves are created not only by logging enterprises. They are forced to be created by enterprises of the woodworking and pulp and paper industries.
To create inter-seasonal reserves, enterprises of all branches of the FIC require credit resources. Loading and transport work to create and use timber reserves is expensive. During long-term storage, the quality of timber decreases.
According to the research of Associate Professor of Technical Sciences N.K. Klimusheva, as a result of spring-summer (from May to September) storage of timber (tree trunks), the yield of first-grade assortments decreases from 4% to 1.3%, the yield of second-grade assortments decreases from 64% to 42%, the yield of third-grade assortments increases from 15% to 25%, and the yield of fourth-grade assortments increases from 16% to 30%.
The losses and lost profits associated with such a mode of operation of the forestry complex are enormous, but no one has calculated them.
It must be acknowledged that the logging industry cannot be a stable supplier of raw materials for woodworking industries.
Thus, eliminating the dependence of logging operations on natural conditions is one of the most pressing challenges in the development of the forestry complex.
Reasons for the seasonal nature of logging.
The seasonal nature of logging stems from the unique natural conditions of Russia. Weak, waterlogged soils are the “Achilles heel” of Russian forests. In Russia, only 7% of forest territory allows forest work regardless of weather conditions.
Category III soils (clay soils, sandy loams with clay layers), which have increased humidity throughout the warm period of the year, and category IV soils (peaty-swampy, humus-gley soils), which are waterlogged for most of the year and are especially unfavorable for timber harvesting, make up 57% of the total area of forest soils.
In the USA, Canada, and especially in Sweden and Finland, the situation with forest soils is much more favorable for forest exploitation. In Finland and Sweden, rocky soils predominate. In Canada, which is the closest to us in terms of natural and climatic conditions, weak forest soils make up only 18-20%.
The reason for the seasonal nature of logging has two components:
problems with the primary transportation of timber within the logging area, i.e. with timber skidding;
problems with the removal of timber from logging areas due to poorly developed transport infrastructure, a lack of year-round logging roads.
The problem of developing logging areas with waterlogged soils (timber skidding) is technically more complex. All attempts to create skidding machines capable of working without problems in logging areas with weak waterlogged soils, which are undertaken by leading machine-building companies around the world, fail.
As for the construction of year-round logging roads, this is mainly an economic task. The high cost of building logging roads is also associated with unfavorable soil conditions: in areas with weak and waterlogged soils, deposits of road-building materials are rare. Long distances for the delivery of road-building materials make the construction of such roads very expensive.
In addition, as already noted, the creation of transport infrastructure is greatly influenced by the disintegration of the logging industry, the formation of thousands of small enterprises incapable of road construction, and high bank loan rates. At the time of writing, the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of Russia is 21%.
In these conditions, the task is to offer enterprises the most economically accessible technologies for the construction of logging roads from local building materials, which must be solved by industry science. But in Russia, after the collapse of the USSR, and “thanks” to the Ministry of Industry, it simply does not exist. Elimination of the seasonal nature of logging is possible only if the problems associated with the development of logging sites with weak soils and the construction of year-round logging roads are simultaneously solved.
The problem of developing logging sites with waterlogged soils.
Effective functioning of the forest transport infrastructure is possible only if the timber is continuously delivered to the loading platforms located near the logging roads. Otherwise, the most modern year-round road will be idle most of the time due to the lack of timber in the upper warehouses.
The problem that has no solution not only in Russia, but also throughout the world, is the problem of skidding (transportation) of timber. At present, there are no machines in the world, with the exception of winch (rope) installations, capable of skidding timber in logging sites with waterlogged soils without problems.
The absence of machines in the forests of industrially developed countries that can work regardless of natural conditions is explained by the fact that the situation with forest soils there is much more favorable than in Russia. Thus, the issues of developing machines capable of working on weak, waterlogged soils are not as acute in these countries as in Russia.
Working on waterlogged soils leads to their destruction and the possibility of erosion, a decrease in the voyage loads and productivity of machines in timber harvesting, their premature wear and failure, and the impossibility of operation when reaching a track depth equal to the ground clearance (clearance) of the skidding machine.
For example, this is what a logging site looked like, developed using forwarders from the Finnish company Ponsse at Lesprom-Tomsk OJSC in late autumn 2010, with an air temperature of minus 20 degrees.
In order to ensure the reliability of machines, machine builders are forced to take into account the difficult conditions of their operation already in the process of their creation and lay down increased requirements for the strength of metal structures and energy saturation of machines. Machines are becoming heavier and more expensive. Fuel consumption increases. Costs for timber harvesting are growing. During transportation through logging areas, trees, especially their crowns, are contaminated with the soil of the logging area, which complicates its processing and planting of new forests after logging operations. This in turn causes serious environmental damage to forests, which are the lungs of the planet.
Trends in the development of designs of skidding machines in forests of industrially developed countries in order to increase their cross-country ability.
Work aimed at increasing the cross-country ability of logging equipment is being intensively carried out in all countries with forestry machinery. Let’s consider what steps have already been taken in this direction.
One of the ways to increase the cross-country ability of machines is to increase the ground clearance. For wheeled machines, this problem was solved by installing larger diameter wheels. Wide-profile tires with powerful lugs were created.
The cross-country ability of machines when turning was significantly increased by creating a chassis with articulated frames.
A significant measure to increase the cross-country ability of skidding machines was to increase the number of pairs of drive wheels. Chassis for skidding machines with a wheel arrangement of 6 × 6, 8 × 8 were created.
To increase traction properties and reduce specific ground pressure, wheeled vehicles began to be equipped with chains and tracks.
Machines with twin tires appeared. But even this technology did not greatly affect the situation in the forests during logging. Although it slightly improved the overall removal of timber from difficult areas.
The above skidding machines are designed for skidding timber by trees (tree trunks). With this method of skidding, only part of the mass of the transported timber falls on the skidding machine. The entire mass of timber falls on the forwarders used in the assortment technology of timber harvesting.
Experience shows that using the most advanced skidding machines does not allow loggers to easily harvest timber on waterlogged soils.
The only most effective way to transport timber on such logging sites is to strengthen the soil with stem wood. This in turn leads to soil oxidation and the loss of part of the harvested timber, which affects the cost of logging and causes environmental problems.
According to information from Novgorod Forest Industry Company Sodruzhestvo, a number of enterprises in the Vologda Region, lay timber under Finnish forwarders at the rate of 1 cubic meter per 1 linear meter of timber haulage. This is simply a colossal expenditure of harvested timber – from 5 to 7% of the timber is spent on laying such roads.
Manufacturers in Canada, the USA and Finland are forced to do the same when developing logging sites with weak waterlogged soils.
Even a brief analysis shows that measures aimed at increasing the cross-country ability of skidding machines when developing logging sites with weak, waterlogged soils do not produce the desired results: increasing the cross-country ability of machines is accompanied by even more significant destruction of forest soils and grounds. Machines are becoming heavier, more energy-intensive and more expensive. The practice of operating such machines shows that this is a dead-end path.
The lack of useful foreign experience for us suggests that Russian scientists should immediately begin work on developing fundamentally new technologies and machines for developing logging sites with weak, waterlogged soils.
Conclusion:
- The seasonal nature of logging, which is a consequence of the prevalence of waterlogged forest soils with low bearing capacity in Russia, is a serious factor that negatively affects the efficiency of all sectors of the forest industry complex. There are especially many such soils and grounds in the North-West region, which makes it less profitable for logging.
- Progressive global warming may significantly paralyze the logging industry in the coming years. The main blow will be in the Northwestern and Volga Federal Districts of Russia.
- There are no technical means in the world that allow for efficient timber harvesting in logging areas with waterlogged soils with low bearing capacity. It is necessary to immediately revive the science of the forestry industry and begin to create such means in Russia itself, without relying on the experience of other countries.
The article was prepared by “Geoburo” expert Andrey Kichaev January 31, 2025.