JCS Latvia's State Forests agreement No. 5-5.9_003v_101_16_47
The aim of the study is to develop, adopt and to implement innovative technologies and work planning tools to reduce the environmental impact of forest technology, to increase the efficiency and productivity of intermediate and regenerative felling, as well as to increase the technical and economic availability of wood resources.
Research areas:
- Mechanization of forest operations on low bearing capacity soils;
- Small and non-standard logging technique in intermediate felling and regenerative felling;
- Methods of preparation of biofuel and round timber in pre-commercial and commercial thinning;
- Solutions for reducing fuel consumption in forest operations;
- Recommendations for improvement of technological maps for harvesting;
- Proposals for improving the training of forest machine operators;
- Monitoring the growth of forest stands after thinning in 2012–2015.
Expected results of the study are:
- Solutions for competitive logging in forests with low bearing capacity soils;
- Solutions to reduce logging costs and stand damage in thinnings and forest infrastructure maintenance;
- Reduction of fuel consumption in logging and biofuel preparation;
- Recommendations for forest management planning, incl. improving the preparation of working orders and reducing the cost of thinning and regenerative felling;
- Assessment of the knowledge of forest machine operators engaged in felling forests and proposals for improvement of training of forest machine operators;
- Proposals for improvement of guidelines for thinning of young stands;
- Workshops for JSC "Latvia’s state forests" employees and service providers on research results.
