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Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving to a location for transport. It may include skidder, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto logging truck Society of American Foresters, 1998. Dictionary of Forestry. 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 , reduce the risk of , and restore ecosystem functions, though their efficiency for these purposes has been challenged.'Logging emits three times as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per acre as wildfire alone. Most of the tree parts unusable for lumber – the branches, tops, bark and sawdust from milling – are burned for energy, sending large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. In contrast, wildfire releases a surprisingly small amount of the carbon in trees, less than 2 percent. Logging in U.S. forests is now responsible for as much annual greenhouse gas emissions as burning coal.' Chad Hanson, Michael Dorsey, 'The Case Against Commercial Logging in Wildfire-Prone Forests,' New York Times 30 July 2022.
Logging frequently has negative impacts. The harvesting procedure itself Illegal logging, 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. It may involve the so-called "timber mafia". Virginia Tech: Dealing with Timber Theft msnbc.com – Guilty pleas in cedar tree theft September 23, 2008 Excess logging can lead to irreparable harm to ecosystems, such as deforestation and biodiversity loss. Infrastructure for logging can also lead to other environmental degradation. These negative environmental impacts can lead to environmental conflict. Additionally, there is significant occupational injury risk involved in logging.
Logging can take many formats. Clearcutting (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 high grading. It is sometimes called selective logging, and confused with selection cutting, the practice of managing stands by harvesting a proportion of trees. Forest Matters: Just Say No to High Grading page 8 Logging usually refers to above-ground forestry logging. Submerged forests exist on land that has been flooded by damming to create . Harvesting trees from forests submerged by flooding or dam creation is called underwater logging, a form of timber recovery.
Today, heavy machinery such as and skyline logging systems are used to gather logs from steep terrain, while helicopters are used for heli-logging to minimize environmental impact. Helicopter logging or Heli-logging , Forestry.com Less common forms of logging, like horse logging and the use of oxen, still exist but are mostly superseded.
In 2008, the logging industry employed 86,000 workers and accounted for 93 deaths. This resulted in a fatality rate of 108.1 deaths per 100,000 workers that year. This rate is over 30 times higher than the overall fatality rate. Forestry/logging-related injuries (fatal and non-fatal) are often difficult to track through formal reporting mechanisms. Thus, some programs have begun to monitor injuries through publicly available reports such as news media. The logging industry experiences the highest fatality rate of 23.2 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers and a non-fatal incident rate of 8.5 per 100 FTE workers. The most common type of injuries or illnesses at work include musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), which include an extensive list of "inflammatory and degenerative conditions affecting the , , , , peripheral nerves, and supporting ." Loggers work with heavy, moving weights, and use tools such as and heavy equipment on uneven and sometimes steep or unstable terrain. Loggers also deal with severe environmental conditions, such as inclement weather and severe heat or cold. An injured logger is often far from professional emergency treatment.
Traditionally, the cry of "Timber!" developed as a warning alerting fellow workers in an area that a tree is being felled, so they should be alert to avoid being struck. The term "widowmaker" for timber, typically a limb or branch that is no longer attached to a tree, but is still in the canopy either wedged in a crotch, tangled in other limbs, or miraculously balanced on another limb demonstrates another emphasis on situational awareness as a safety principle.
In British Columbia, Canada, the BC Forest Safety Council was created in September 2004 as a not-for-profit society dedicated to promoting safety in the forest sector. It works with employers, workers, contractors, and government agencies to implement fundamental changes necessary to make it safer to earn a living in forestry. BC Forest Safety Council
The risks experienced in logging operations can be somewhat reduced, where conditions permit, by the use of mechanical tree harvesters, skidders, and forwarders.
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