Process of cutting, processing, and moving trees

Logging

Logging

Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving <a href="/en/Tree" title="Tree" class="wl">trees</a> to a location for <a href="/en/Transport" title="Transport" class="wl">transport</a>. It may include <a href="/en/Skidder" title="Skidder" class="wl">skidding</a>, on-site processing, and loading of trees or <a href="/en/Trunk_(botany)" title="Trunk (botany)" class="wl">logs</a> onto <a href="/en/Logging_truck" title="Logging truck" class="wl">trucks</a><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a> or <a href="/en/Flatcar#Skeleton_car" title="Flatcar" class="wl">skeleton cars</a>. In <a href="/en/Forestry" title="Forestry" class="wl">forestry</a>, the term logging is sometimes used narrowly to describe the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the <a href="/en/Forest" title="Forest" class="wl">forest</a>, usually a <a href="/en/Sawmill" title="Sawmill" class="wl">sawmill</a> or a <a href="/en/Lumber_yard" title="Lumber yard" class="wl">lumber yard</a>. In common usage, however, the term may cover a range of forestry or <a href="/en/Silviculture" title="Silviculture" class="wl">silviculture</a> activities.

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Process of cutting, processing, and moving trees</div>
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<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Felling_a_gumtree_c1884-1917_Powerhouse_Museum.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Felling_a_gumtree_c1884-1917_Powerhouse_Museum.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Felling_a_gumtree_c1884-1917_Powerhouse_Museum.jpg/220px-Felling_a_gumtree_c1884-1917_Powerhouse_Museum.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="1024" data-file-height="1339" data-file-type="bitmap" height="288" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Felling_a_gumtree_c1884-1917_Powerhouse_Museum.jpg/330px-Felling_a_gumtree_c1884-1917_Powerhouse_Museum.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Felling_a_gumtree_c1884-1917_Powerhouse_Museum.jpg/440px-Felling_a_gumtree_c1884-1917_Powerhouse_Museum.jpg 2x" alt="Felling_a_gumtree_c1884-1917_Powerhouse_Museum.jpg"></a><figcaption>A mountain ash (<a href="/en/Eucalyptus_regnans" title="Eucalyptus regnans" class="wl">Eucalyptus regnans</a>) being felled using springboards, <abbr about="#mwt5" typeof="mw:Transclusion" data-mw="{&quot;parts&quot;:[{&quot;template&quot;:{&quot;target&quot;:{&quot;wt&quot;:&quot;circa&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;./Template:Circa&quot;},&quot;params&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:{&quot;wt&quot;:&quot;1884–1917&quot;}},&quot;i&quot;:0}}]}">c.</abbr> 1884–1917, Australia</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:McGiffert_Log_Loader_c._1907.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:McGiffert_Log_Loader_c._1907.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/McGiffert_Log_Loader_c._1907.jpg/220px-McGiffert_Log_Loader_c._1907.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="1438" data-file-height="1040" data-file-type="bitmap" height="159" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/McGiffert_Log_Loader_c._1907.jpg/330px-McGiffert_Log_Loader_c._1907.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/McGiffert_Log_Loader_c._1907.jpg/440px-McGiffert_Log_Loader_c._1907.jpg 2x" alt="McGiffert_Log_Loader_c._1907.jpg"></a><figcaption>McGiffert Log Loader in <a href="/en/East_Texas" title="East Texas" class="wl">East Texas</a>, US, circa 1907</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Winter_in_Montgomery,_circa_1880s_-_DPLA_-_a85550daf546d80511282cac549cefaa.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Winter_in_Montgomery,_circa_1880s_-_DPLA_-_a85550daf546d80511282cac549cefaa.jpg"><img loading="lazy"alt="Lumber under snow in Montgomery, Colorado, 1880s" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Winter_in_Montgomery%2C_circa_1880s_-_DPLA_-_a85550daf546d80511282cac549cefaa.jpg/220px-Winter_in_Montgomery%2C_circa_1880s_-_DPLA_-_a85550daf546d80511282cac549cefaa.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="1600" data-file-height="1316" data-file-type="bitmap" height="181" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Winter_in_Montgomery%2C_circa_1880s_-_DPLA_-_a85550daf546d80511282cac549cefaa.jpg/330px-Winter_in_Montgomery%2C_circa_1880s_-_DPLA_-_a85550daf546d80511282cac549cefaa.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Winter_in_Montgomery%2C_circa_1880s_-_DPLA_-_a85550daf546d80511282cac549cefaa.jpg/440px-Winter_in_Montgomery%2C_circa_1880s_-_DPLA_-_a85550daf546d80511282cac549cefaa.jpg 2x"></a><figcaption>Lumber under snow in Montgomery, Colorado, 1880s </figcaption></figure>
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain that provides raw <a href="/en/Material" title="Material" class="wl">material</a> for many products societies worldwide use for <a href="/en/Housing" title="Housing" class="wl">housing</a>, <a href="/en/Construction" title="Construction" class="wl">construction</a>, <a href="/en/Energy" title="Energy" class="wl">energy</a>, and consumer <a href="/en/Paper" title="Paper" class="wl">paper</a> products. Logging systems are also used to manage <a href="/en/Forest" title="Forest" class="wl">forests</a>, reduce the risk of <a href="/en/Wildfire" title="Wildfire" class="wl">wildfires</a>, and restore <a href="/en/Ecosystem" title="Ecosystem" class="wl">ecosystem</a> functions,<a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a> though their efficiency for these purposes has been challenged.<a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a>

Logging frequently has negative impacts. <a href="/en/Illegal_logging" title="Illegal logging" class="wl">Illegal logging</a> refers to the <a href="/en/Harvester_(forestry)" title="Harvester (forestry)" class="wl">harvesting</a>, transportation, purchase, or sale of <a href="/en/Timber" title="Timber" class="mw-redirect wl">timber</a> in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including the use of corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits.<a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;">[4]</a> It may involve the so-called "<a href="/en/Timber_mafia" title="Timber mafia" class="wl">timber mafia</a>".<a href="#cite_note-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;">[5]</a><a href="#cite_note-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 6;">[6]</a> Excess logging can lead to irreparable harm to ecosystems, such as <a href="/en/Deforestation" title="Deforestation" class="wl">deforestation</a> and <a href="/en/Biodiversity_loss" title="Biodiversity loss" class="wl">biodiversity loss</a>.<a href="#cite_note-:1-7" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 7;">[7]</a><a href="#cite_note-:0-8" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 8;">[8]</a> Infrastructure for logging can also lead to other <a href="/en/Environmental_degradation" title="Environmental degradation" class="wl">environmental degradation</a>. These negative environmental impacts can lead to <a href="/en/Environmental_conflict" title="Environmental conflict" class="wl">environmental conflict</a>.<a href="#cite_note-:1-7" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 7;">[7]</a><a href="#cite_note-:0-8" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 8;">[8]</a> Additionally, there is significant occupational injury risk involved in logging.

Logging can take many formats. <a href="/en/Clearcutting" title="Clearcutting" class="wl">Clearcutting</a> (or "block cutting") is not necessarily considered a type of logging but a harvesting or silviculture method. Cutting trees with the highest value and leaving those with lower value, often diseased or malformed trees, is referred to as <a href="/en/High_grading" title="High grading" class="wl">high grading</a>. It is sometimes called selective logging, and confused with <a href="/en/Selection_cutting" title="Selection cutting" class="wl">selection cutting</a>, the practice of managing stands by harvesting a proportion of trees.<a href="#cite_note-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;">[9]</a> Logging usually refers to above-ground forestry logging. Submerged forests exist on land that has been flooded by damming to create <a href="/en/Reservoir" title="Reservoir" class="wl">reservoirs</a>. Harvesting trees from forests submerged by flooding or dam creation is called <a href="/en/Underwater_logging" title="Underwater logging" class="wl">underwater logging</a>, a form of timber recovery.<a href="#cite_note-10" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 10;">[10]</a>

Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport.  It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used narrowly to describe the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard. In common usage, however, the term may cover a range of forestry or silviculture activities. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain that provides raw material for many products societies worldwide use for housing, construction, energy, and consumer paper products. Logging systems are also used to manage forests, reduce the risk of wildfires, and restore ecosystem functions, Logging frequently has negative impacts. Illegal logging refers to the harvesting, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including the use of corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits. Additionally, there is significant occupational injury risk involved in logging. 