ANNEX 1 - REPORT ON THE STUDY VISITS
ANNEX 2 - AGENDA
ANNEX 3 - LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Introduction
1. The Seminar on Environmentally Sound Forest Roads and Wood Transport was held in Sinaia, Romania, at the invitation of the Government of Romania. The Seminar was held from 17 to 22 June 1996. One hundred and four participants from the following 22 countries attended: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States of America.
Opening of the Seminar (Item 1)
2. On behalf of the Joint FAO/ECE/ILO Committee on Forest Technology, Management and Training, Mr Rudolf Heinrich (FAO) welcomed the participants. He expressed the Committee's appreciation to the Government of Romania for their support in organizing and acting as an exceptional host of this seminar. He also thanked the IUFRO Subject Group S3.06 which had actively contributed to bring together such a high-level audience. He informed the delegates about the role of the Joint Committee and about the organization of its activities. He also took the opportunity to inform the participants about two important events that FAO was organizing. The first event, namely the World Food Summit, would be held from 13 to 17 November 1996 at FAO Headquarters in Rome; it would be attended by heads of state, heads of governments and heads of delegations. The second event was the XI World Forestry Congress which would be held from 13 to 22 October 1997 in Antalya (Turkey). Finally, he wished all participants a stimulating and rewarding week.
3. A welcome address was given by Mrs Angela Voicila, Director-General in the Ministry of Research and Technology. The speaker underlined the importance of exchange of experience and knowledge in an international forum to improve road planning, design and construction techniques and systems supporting environmentally friendly forest practices.
4. On behalf of IUFRO Research Group S3.06 "Forest Operations under Mountainous Conditions", Mr Hans Rudolf Heinimann welcomed the participants. He gave a brief overview of the objectives and the activities of IUFRO which was a non-profit organization that sets out to promote international collaboration between forest researchers. He described the objectives of the seminar: (i) to exchange experience about environmentally sound activities; (ii) to discuss the state-of-the-art knowledge from the point of view of different experts, countries and socio-economic conditions; and perhaps most important (iii) to make conclusions and recommendations on future follow-up activities.
5. The Chairman of the Joint FAO/ECE/ILO Committee on Forest Technology, Management and Training, Prof. Paul Efthymiou explained that the theme of the seminar was most relevant for the Joint Committee. Forest management and utilization require good access to the forest in order to make rational use of the forest resources. He described the orientation of the Joint Committee's activities which should always integrate five criteria/dimensions: (1) technical perfection; (2) ergonomic performance and safety; (3) environmental features and protection; (4) economic efficiency and profit; and (5) social considerations for employment, cultural values, etc. He stressed the priorities of the parent bodies: European Forestry Commission (EFC) and Timber Committee (TC) and the need to support the countries in transition (CITs). Finally, he declared the seminar open.
6. On behalf of the Romanian Government, Mr Marian Ianculescu, State Secretary of Waters, Forest and Environment Protection welcomed the participants. He presented an opening lecture on Forestry strategy and forest legislation - A framework for forestry development in Romania. Mr Ianculescu mentioned that the Romanian Government had recently passed three important laws which set the foundation for sustainable forest management in the country: the Forest Code which would come into force in July 1996; the Wood Mass Law which regulated the volume of harvested timber; and the Wildlife Protection Law. There was a great need for forest road development in the country to support sustainable forest management. This would require substantial resources in terms of technical know-how and funds.
Adoption of the agenda (Item 2)
7. Chaired by Mr Efthymiou, the provisional agenda as set out in TIM/EFC/WP.1/SEM.43/1 was adopted (Annex 2).
Election of officers (Item 3)
8. After a proposal by the Chairman, Mr Efthymiou, the seminar elected Mr Marian Ianculescu, State Secretary of Waters, Ministry of Forests and Environment Protection (Romania) as Chairman and Messrs Ovidiu Cretu (Romania) and Hanns Höfle as Vice-Chairmen. The seminar agreed to the nomination of the following moderators:
· Item 4 Mr Walter Warkotsch (Germany)
· Item 5 Mr Hans Rudolf Heinimann (Switzerland)
· Item 6 Mr Bjorn Akre (Norway)
· Item 7 Mr Ed Aulerich (USA)
Environmentally oriented forest road planning, design, and location (Item 4)
Moderator: Walter Warkotsch
9. Mr Hans Heinimann (Switzerland) presented Opening-up planning taking into account environmental and. Social integrity. Public awareness of environmental issues had increased constantly in the last few years. The construction of forest access structures was presented as one of the main forest activities responsible for destroying the environment. Forest professionals therefore had to look for improved procedures for planning, designing and constructing forest transportation networks to improve public acceptance. A framework for the planning and design process for forest transportation networks based on a systems engineering approach was presented. The planning process must be transparent and ensure public involvement in the project process model. Public acceptance improved if (1) technical capability, (2) economic efficiency (3) environmental integrity and (4) social integrity were assessed using indicators that may be quantified. He introduced analysis methods to evaluate the different indicators and criteria, as well as a multicriteria decision-making procedure.
10. Mr Hubert Dürrstein (Switzerland) presented Opening up of a mountainous region, decision-making by integration of the parties concerned applying cost efficiency analysis. In the mountainous region of Central Switzerland, the forest transportation development alternatives were (1) roads, (2) railways and ropeways combined with roads. Alternatives were evaluated and compared by considering economic, technical, and environmental concerns. All relevant interests and needs must be addressed. An appropriate method for considering different needs, risks, and effects was cost efficiency analysis. This method was chosen because it could be used in a simple transparent way and the influence of investment costs remains distinguishable until the end of the evaluation. The most important elements allowing all sides to accept the decision-making procedure were an extensive goal system and the weighting of the criteria by the parties concerned from which a logical selection of the most desirable alternative could be made. To gain satisfactory compromises and solutions the parties concerned must directly participate in the decision-making procedure; for this. simple and understandable methods must be available.
11. Ms Renate-Susanna Spaeth (Germany) presented Environmentally Sound forest road construction in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Federal Republic of Germany. Growing pressure on forests for recreational activities resulted in increased involvement of the general public and demands for a forestry road network able to handle the multiple uses of forests in a highly industrialized and densely populated country. Research by the University of Göttingen resulted in several recommendations for forest roads. New road construction should be examined carefully with the view of favouring other technical means and avoiding altogether in particularly sensitive woodland areas. If the decision was made to proceed with new construction then alignment, design, and choice of materials should be determined according to ecological principles. If suitable construction material could not be extracted from the immediate vicinity then specific criteria should be observed when obtaining materials from extraneous sources. Recycled building materials and industrial by-products must be environmentally compatible.
12. Asked how the forest authorities managed to ensure that no harmful wastage material was used in road construction, Ms Spaeth replied that proper documentation and screening was a pre-condition for the use of recycled material in road construction. It was commented that the use of recycled material could have a great cost-cutting potential if applied in the right way.
13. Mr Igor Potocnik (Slovenia) presented The multiple use of the forest roads and their categorization. Fifteen of the most frequent uses of forest roads were analysed from a sample of 1/6 of all the forest roads in Slovenia. Forestry uses accounted for more than 40 percent of the total use of the roads. Hunting at 17 percent and farms at 13 percent were the next largest road uses. Forest roads could be classified in such a way that road maintenance standards, signs, markers, safety facilities, and road use rules could be defined by road category.
14. Mr Tuomo Häyrinen (Finland) presented Forest road planning and landscaping. Landscape was partially formed by the law of nature and partially by the actions of human beings. How one interpreted a forest road within landscape was influenced by one's own personal experiences, objectives, hopes and attitudes. Landscaping was very much a matter of aesthetics. In forest road building a planner was faced with the task of how to optimize economics, ecology and aesthetics at the same time. The planning method and the tools used in forest road planning depended on each planning case and available resources. Very often a visual method with "multiprofessional insight" was the best method. Numerical methods for landscaping would come in the future, especially for some routine road planning cases. Some advantages of advanced methods and tools were discussed. The beauty of landscapes reflected the tones of each era. Cultural backgrounds and development phases of societies had a remarkable influence to landscape values. Landscaping in forestry and in road building was the mirror of the surrounding values in societies. When producing proper landscapes a forest road planner must use various skills besides technical know-how. Many constraints and public awareness required that conflict management and public participation came into the forest road planner's "tool-box".
15. Mr Ovidiu Cretu (Romania) presented Forest roads in Romania - Planning and design, co-authored by Constantin Rusnac (Romania). The Romanian forest lands extended over 6.3 million ha, representing 27 percent of the total area of the country. The distribution of forest lands was such that 90 percent of it was on landscapes classified as hills or mountains. Forest accessibility was low because of lack of adequate access roads. From a total of 6.3 million ha of forest land, only 4.1 million ha could be considered accessible, the rest of these forest lands were not connected to an existing transport system. At present the forest lands were served with a 39 186 km transport system (truck roads, narrow gauge railways, public roads, and servicing roads). The density index of the forest road network was 6.2 m/ha. According to detailed studies, which had considered the economic and environmental conditions and consequences, the optimum transportation system density averages about 13.3 m/ha. This density results in average collecting distances of 700-800 m. Approximately 42 260 km of road would have to be built to achieve this system density.
16. Mr Norocel-Valeriu Nicolescu (Romania) presented Aspects regarding the accessibility of mountainous stands subject to windfalls. The forces of nature could have very damaging effects on forests. When the phenomenon was spread over a large area a significant result was that a heavy workload of wood harvesting, transportation, and conservation activities must proceed immediately. Unfortunately, large-scale windthrow was quite common in Romania. There was good Romanian experience in coping with such situations but the major difficulty now faced was related to the forest road network. The road network was characterized by a low density of roads per hectare and poor road quality. The optimum technical solution to be put into practice in the Romanian mountainous stands subject to windfall seemed to be the use of cableways. Taking into account the complex peculiarities of wind-damaged stands, the possibilities of using various Romanian and foreign types of cableways in such conditions were discussed.
17. It was asked what the main causes to the large windthrows were in 1995. Mr Nicolescu explained that very strong winds, up to 200 km/h, in combination with the fragile conditions of the forest stands had contributed to large-scale damage. Until now, only 50 percent of the wood had been removed from the forest stand.
18. Mr Ján Tucek (Slovakia) presented Technological Requirements for Forest Roads Location in Slovakia Conditions. The importance of the technological requirements of road and landing location was presented in connection with economic, ecological, social, and management requirements. The possibilities of using computer techniques, digital terrain models and geographical information systems in the planning of forest roads were discussed. Forest operations planning and modelling were described with the possibilities for solutions. Some of the latest trends and solutions in this field, studied by the Department of Exploitation and Forest Mechanization of the Faculty of Forestry, Technical University, Zvolen, were presented.
19. Mr Mihallaq Kotro (Albania) presented Forest road network in mountainous forests -Ecological, technical, economil and social aspects. Albania had a forest land cover of 1 million ha with a standing wood volume of 80 million m3. Albanian forestry faced considerable problems with low forest accessibility, which was due to an inadequate distribution of forest roads. In addition only 50 percent of the roads were in usable condition. Forest studies showed that 70 percent of the forest area could be used for commercial wood harvesting providing the road network was improved. To achieve this, there was a substantial need for external technical and financial assistance.
20. Mr Tetsuhiko Yoshimura (Japan) presented Fuzzy expert system laying out forest roads based on the risk assessment (Voluntary paper). In most mountains in Japan, it was very difficult to construct forest roads because the topography was very steep and slope failures were often caused by constructing roads. Therefore, it was very important to locate forest roads on stable slopes. He discussed a quantitative risk assessment estimating the degree of slope failure potential using topographic maps. The objective of the presented study was to support decision-making of laying out forest roads in mountainous areas based upon a risk assessment. The study focused on the decision-making of selecting passing points of forest roads using the fuzzy set theory. The advantage of this method was that a computer could automatically suggest the layout of forest roads as if it were a human brain. It made it much easier to plan forest roads in mountainous areas avoiding the possible areas of failure.
21. Mr Roger Hay (United Kingdom) presented Forest road design. The construction of a forest road had the most potential of any forest harvesting operation to cause damage to the amenity and environment of the forest, yet was a most essential part of the strategic and tactical harvesting and other forest operations. Without road access most of the production of a forest would not be available. He examined the impact of road construction on the environment of the forest and suggested ways in which the effects could be reduced and environmental benefits could be obtained.
22. During the discussion, the importance of good drainage was stressed. Asked why the UK Forestry Commission only had one road standard, Mr Hay explained that this was because the vehicles that were used required only one road standard.
23. Mr Walter Wolf (Austria) presented Assessment of alternatives of forest roads with special emphasis on environmental protection. Future forest road construction (15 000 to 20 000 km in Austria) would face increasing difficulties regarding terrain and land ownership. This would require extensive studies and assessment of alternatives to forest roads. A new system of assessment based upon a valuation scheme was presented- Two groups of equally important criteria were defined. One group considered monetary benefits and costs. The other group included items that were difficult to value monetarily (non-monetary values). A system of value points was allocated according to the importance of the criterion. An example of the assessment together with the completed forms was given.
24. In the discussion that followed the presentation, several speakers underlined the need for less complicated evaluation models which could be used in the field. It was also stated that there was a need for a tool which would enable objective assessment of non-monetary values.
25. Mr Tibor Pentek (Croatia) presented The influence of building and maintenance expenses of forest roads on their optimal density in low-lying forests of Croatia. A theoretical model for the optimization of the density of a forest road network was described. A specific example was presented showing the use of locally collected data in the optimization. Detailed calculations, results, and useful graphics were displayed.
26. Summary of Discussions - Following the presentations under this item, the moderator, Mr W. Warkotsch, led the discussion on the following three topics:
(a) Improved planning procedures, including social, environmental and landscape aspects and the participation of the public and other parties concerned
During the discussion several speakers expressed concern over the problem of communication between environmentalists and foresters. Experience in some countries showed that there was often a vast polarization of parties involved which made it difficult to apply decision-making procedures. Messrs. Heinimann and Dürrstein stated that the chances for successful planning were greater if the stakeholders were involved at an early stage. In addition, procedural rules based on democratic principles would facilitate a solution that would be acceptable to all parties concerned.
In the United Kingdom, the local District Manager was obliged to consult with local interest groups. This was done on a regular basis and enabled informal and close contacts with the public.
Concerning the mediation it was found that, sometimes, it could be an advantage to appoint a neutral person acting as facilitator. In South Africa this concept had proved to be successful.
(b) The application of modern technology in forest road planning
It was pointed out that the use of modern technology could result in considerable time savings which would allow more investment in the planning and design process. However, basic knowledge was indispensable to ensure that sound forest engineering practices were applied.
It was stated that in order to make good use of advanced technology it must be accompanied by tools which would enable objective evaluation of non-quantifiable criteria.
(c) Improved road design, road standards, specifications and design criteria
The need for specifications concerning the gradients of the roads was discussed. Different opinions on the maximum road gradients were expressed. Besides technical issues, social and ecological ones had to be taken into consideration, as well. It was mentioned that the problems of the use of forest roads for recreational purposes could require special road standards. The question of compensation for public access to private forests was raised.
A representative of the Romanian delegation emphasized the importance of striking a balance between technical, economical and ecological interests in opening up forests. It was stressed that foresters certainly had the capacity of being good ecologists.
Environmentally sound forest road construction and maintenance (Item 5)
Moderator: Hans Rudolf Heinimann
27. Mr Bjorn Akre (Norway) presented Forest road construction policies, guidelines and code of practice. National measures, regulations, and guidelines for the construction of forest roads were a part of the national forest policy programme of Norway. He referred to a national grant programme for forest road construction that was initiated in 1934 in Norway. Change of harvesting/transportation methods and equipment, increasing environmental consideration, and public multiple use had all resulted in regularly updating governmental measures to promote and ascertain proper construction procedures. He provided specific Norwegian examples of forest road planning and approval regulations, forest road standards, and forest road construction practices code.
28. Mr Otto Sedlak (Austria) presented Forest road construction policies in Austria. A problem of the forestry sector on the political and practical level worldwide was environmental concern about forest development and utilization. Instead of a permanent confrontation, pragmatic and integral solutions must be found that were well adapted to the socio-economic and environmental conditions of a country. He discussed Austrian and international experience in policies and regulations of planning and building forest roads in the context of multi-purpose management and environmentally friendly techniques. Specific practical Austrian experiences were presented.
29. Mr Raffaele Spinelli (Italy) presented A Review of the environmental impact of forest road construction. A comprehensive compilation of world-wide references on the environmental consequences of forest operations was done. A computer analysis of the collected data mapped the characteristics of the available information. It defined the "pillars" of environmentally sound road building and pointed out the most urgent research needs.
30. A question was raised whether the bibliography was going to be continuously updated. Mr Spinelli replied that this was the intention but the question of financing had to be solved. Users of the database were invited to make suggestions and comments on how the database could be improved.
31. Mr Stanislav Sever (Croatia) presented Problems of forest opening in Croatia. About 80 percent of Croatian forests and forest land were state forests. During the last five years road density had increased from 6.6 m/ha to 7.0 m/ha. Until the year 2025 the programme of the state enterprise, Hrvatske šume, included further strengthening on these efforts. The target was a road density of 15-20 m/ha. Forest road construction had accounted for between 24-62 percent of the total investments in the enterprise.
32. Mr Ed Aulerich (USA) presented Better engineering and control of the construction of forest. roads. The concern for the environment and for rising costs had increased the importance of engineering for all levels of forest roads. It was no longer feasible to "eye-ball" design and construct a forest road that may not meet the needs of the users or had a higher probability of failure with the resulting costs and environmental degradation. Of the four major activities (Location, Design, Construction, Maintenance) that dictated the success or failure of a road structure, the construction phase was often the least controlled. In many parts of the world, roads were temporarily located, and then the equipment operator attempted to design and construct a road that would meet all of the criteria specified. In many cases the result was that the road was over or underbuilt, thus increasing the cost, or it was not structurally sound, thus increasing the probability of a failure. He stressed the importance of construction control and presented some of the basic ways to achieve such control.
33. In response to the question why they had selected the centreline method with slope staking in the field, Mr Aulerich responded that the method was efficient, easily understood by the contractor and allowed the road construction to be monitored during and after the completion of the work. In Europe, generally, the grade line method was applied.
34. Mr Ion Cazan (Romania) presented Construction and maintenance of forest roads -Technologies and equipment. General national demands, especially the scope of wood-working and civil works, required more wood. The national development programme focused on the utilization of Romanian natural resources and raw materials. It was necessary to enlarge the logging operations for the woodworking industries. Forests had to become more accessible. The best way was the extension of the forest road network. Between 1956 and 1961 forest roads building was at a very low rate (70-120 km/a) and costs were high. Lack of equipment and materiel was such that forest road building was carried out with hand tools. Such conditions did not allow progress in this field. Productivity was very low and the number of workers was very large. After 1962 large numbers of workers were replaced by machines. Beginning with 1966 the rate of forest roads building was between 900 and 1 570 km/a until 1987. Maintenance of forest roads had become a very important matter due to the large network of existing forest roads.
35. Mr Katsuhiro Kitagawa (Japan) presented Development of a forest road with a newly designed sub-base structure. A newly designed sub-base structure was described and its advantages discussed. The surface of roadbed (subgrade) soil was formed by a gentle slope of about 3 to 7 percent down towards the valley side from the mountain side. A waterproof polyvinyl-cholide mat for separating the roadbed soil and sub-base ballast covered the entire surface of the roadbed. The ballast was scattered on the mat and the road surface was made level. The sub-base itself had the function of a drainage facility and rainwater passed through the ballast and was drained onto the valley-side slope. No erosion occurred on the side slope and the forest land below the forest road was irrigated. Long-term observation of actual forest roads constructed by this method had shown that this new type forest road was still usable years after construction.
36. Mr Paul Efthymiou (Greece) presented a paper Alternative stabilization methods of forest roads for an efficient and gentle mechanisation of wood harvesting systems, co-authored with Mr P. Eskioglou. The stabilization of forest roads could substantially improve the efficiency and the quality of wood harvesting systems with respect to their detrimental impacts. Three alternative methods of stabilizing forest roads (limestone, cement and ash) were discussed from technical and economic viewpoints.
37. Concern was raised that the ban of forest machines in the forest stand would lead to other adverse impacts due to the increased need for secondary roads. It was questioned whether lime and cement on road surfacing could be considered as natural materials, Mr Efthymiou answered that experience showed that the risk for runoff of the lime or cement was very small. Furthermore, only limited quantities of cement were used in road stabilization and all stabilizers, after curing, were fully incorporated into the pavement of the forest road.
38. Mr Randy Foltz (USA) presented Traffic and no traffic on an aggregate surfaced road: sediment production differences. Aggregate was placed on forest roads in wet climates to provide structural support for traffic and in dry climates to reduce sediment production caused by precipitation. In both climates good quality aggregate was often not available. To measure the difference in sedimentation rates, the US Forest Service conducted a sediment study using two aggregate qualities, one exceeding all specifications, the other marginally failing to meet two of the specifications. The results showed that the quality of the aggregate made a notable difference in sediment production. When subjected to heavy logging truck traffic, the marginal quality aggregate produced from 2.9 to 12.8 times as much sediment as from a similar section surfaced with the good-quality aggregate. Sections with traffic produced 2 to 25 times as much sediment compared to sections with no traffic.
39. Mr Randy Foltz presented Measuring and modelling impacts of tyre pressure on road erosion. Unpaved forest roads used to transport forest products could be operated in an environmentally sound manner by the use of variable tyre pressure on logging trucks. Variable tyre pressure could be implemented in two ways. Central Tyre Inflation Systems (CTIS) allowed a vehicle driver to reduce tyre pressure while in motion. A three-year study was performed on the effect of using variable tyre pressure trucks on the sediment production from aggregate surfaced forest roads. The average sediment reduction from the use of CTIS was 80 percent compared to highway tyre pressures. When using CRP tyre pressures, the average sediment reduction was 45 percent. The results of this test were used to calibrate a physical process based erosion model, WEPP (Water Erosion Prediction Project). The calibrated model was used to estimate the sediment reduction expected at two locations in the United States, one in Brazil, and one in Romania.
40. A question was raised whether they measured the actual volume of sediments from the road. Mr Foltz responded that they had measured sediment losses averaging 30 000 kg/ha/a from the highway tyre section. He urged, however, caution when applying this figure to other road sections.
41. Mr Sjur Haanshus (Norway) presented Environmentally sound construction methods and use of appropriate equipment. Construction of new forest roads was often criticized from an environmental point of view, in Norway as in other parts of the world. He discussed construction methods and equipment to be used under the assumption that all terms and conditions permitting road construction had been met. The challenge for the road planning officer and the road contractor was to take all environmental aspects into consideration when choosing methods and equipment for the different jobs. He referred to the methods and equipment used in Norway under varying conditions in geology, topography and climate. He also discussed by what means the authorities may influence the choice of construction methods, and what environmental issues were particularly significant in road planning and construction.
42. Mr Serghie Varjoghe (Romania) presented Forest road engineering. Road construction under Romanian conditions often resulted in a large number of river crossings, drainage problems and measures for protection and consolidation of road beds. A number of different technical solutions had been tested and applied during the previous 40-50 years with varying results. Some new culvert and bridge constructions were discussed: the introduction of pipe culverts of prefab components of square section with better drainage and reduced risk of clogging; and prefab components for bridges with larger widths to shorten construction time.
43. Mr Miklos Kosztka (Hungary) presented Maintenance management system of forest roads. Pavement design realizing cheap and up-to-date principles for material usage of forest roads could only be accomplished by well-considered pavement management strategies. Using a model of changes in bearing capacity he examined different pavement management strategies. With the comparison of these strategies, appropriate rules for pavement management of forest roads could be formulated.
44. Summary of discussions - Following the presentations under this item the moderator, Mr Hans Rudolf Heinimann focused the discussion around four themes which reflected the 13 papers presented under this item.
(a) How to design forest roads
The question of maximum gradient on forest roads created a lively discussion. In this context it was mentioned that erosion problems already occurred on gradients over 7 percent. Several speakers were of the opinion that gradients on forest roads should generally not exceed 12 percent because of drainage and environmental reasons. The maximum gradient could be increased, if an overall evaluation 10 of alternatives demonstrated that this had the least impact. The need for an adequate drainage system in steep terrain was emphasized. Furthermore it was important to define the use and category of a road network at an early stage in the planning process. This minimized the risk for more costly and complicated up-grading work which could be the result of an inadequate design.
There were different opinions on whether increasing inclination of culverts was an advisable method to prevent clogging. Some speakers thought that the waterflow, if not slowed down, would increase the sediment runoff and had an adverse effect on fish. There was a consensus that the gradient in any case should not be more than the slope of the stream bed.
(b) The transfer of good engineering methods to field practitioners
It was a unanimous recognition of the importance of a well-trained forest workforce to ensure that good engineering practices were carried out in the field. Considering the key role of machine operators, it was noted that far too little was invested in training of operators. The need of training on other levels such as supervisors was also emphasized. Austrian studies showed that substantial productivity gains could be made through increased training. It was stressed that good design planning could not be called sufficient until the planner had put his foot on the ground.
(c) Appropriate road construction practices
During the discussion the Norwegian model of enhancing good local knowledge of the conditions was recognized. It was stated that medium and small-scale contractors should be promoted. Asked what the Norwegian safety requirement for forest workers were, Mr Haanshus replied that there were no special regulations for forestry. Forest operations were covered by the same regulations as for other occupations. He added that it was compulsory that the contractor was insured.
As an alternative to geotextiles used in road construction on wetland, it was suggested that surplus wood material such as stumps could be used to stabilize the sub-base of the road. However, in some cases when this timber rots there may be difficulties. The mobile rock crusher was highlighted as a machine that merited more attention for its potential to make use of local road material and thus reduce transport distance.
On ground with low bearing capacity, lime or cement stabilization was a good option to save aggregate material. However, it was stressed that mechanical stabilization technologies remained the principal method.
(d) Road maintenance considerations
Central Tyre Inflation System (CTIS) was in use quite extensively in the United Stated and had given good results in reducing the impact on the road. The costs for fitting the system to a truck were in the range of US$ 10 000-15 000. It was noted that it might be hard for the contractor to see the benefit if he was not compensated in some way. Experience from the United States showed that contractors often managed to recover the cost in the negotiation of the contract. In addition, the use of CTIS had some direct positive effect for the driver, such as smoother running and less vibration.
Forest engineering structures and protection works (Item 6)
Moderator: Bjorn Akre
45. Mr Christoph Gerstgraser (Austria) presented Soil bioengineering measures for hill and slope stabilization works with plants. For centuries wood and living plants were the only material for hill and slope stabilization works. Today, some of these old techniques had been modified and applied again. New methods had been created which mainly used living material such as willow branches, willow cuttings and rooted deciduous trees. There were numerous different hillside and slope stabilization methods which utilized plants in combination with constructions of wood, stone and wire such as planted pole walls, live slope grids, live wooden cribwalls, vegetated stone walls and vegetated gabions. Choosing the right method depended on various factors such as the position of slope, ground and available material. All the described soil bioengineering measures were being used for hill and slope stabilization in South Tyrol (Italy) and Austria.
46. A question was raised concerning the cost share of soil vegetation measures in road construction. Mr Gerstgraser could not give a figure but stated that it was not more expensive than other mechanical engineering methods for soil stabilization in steep terrain. He added that soil bioengineering measures had the advantage of reducing the visual impact of civil engineering works and that they were labour intensive. It could, therefore, have a potential for employment creation in the future. It was commented that the paper provided practical guidelines on the stabilization and rehabilitation of eroded soils using soil bioengineering methods.
47. Mr Octavian Popescu (Romania) presented Consolidation of road slopes by means of forest vegetation. The research and experiments performed in Romania concerning road embankment stabilization by means of forest vegetation had had good results. This was especially true for preventing soil erosion and, to some extent, landslip. The most efficient techniques in different conditions had proven to be terraces supported by small fences, stone benches, and vegetatively reinforced terraces. A variety of techniques in an assortment of situations was presented with associated results.
48. Mr Miroslav Hrib (Slovakia) presented Research and design of erosion control and sanitation methods on forest roads and slopes. He presented a study which had been carried out to identify and design simple erosion methods which could be applied on slopes and skidding tracks. It had been observed that applying erosion control measures, the erosion was drastically reduced, up to 95 percent in some cases. Vegetative methods such as vegetation of slopes or soil beds of forest skidding roads had also been practised with encouraging results.
49. Mr Zeljko Tomašic (Croatia) presented Soil erosion on several slopes of experimental skid trail in the four-year period (1992-96). Soil loss on skid trails was measured over a four-year period. Total and annual losses were estimated and correlated with site characteristics and skid trail characteristics. Results on various trail gradients were displayed.
Wood transport (Item 7)
Moderators: Bjorn Akre and Ed Aulerich
50. Mr Rudolf Heinrich (FAO) presented Recent developments on environmentally friendly forest road construction and wood transport in mountainous forests. The importance of recognizing a wider range of forest products comprising wood and non-wood forest products including the service functions of forests was emphasized as a prerequisite for sustainable forestry. New surveying and construction methods bearing on environmentally friendly forest road planning and construction were discussed. Different modes of transport in steep terrain, especially low impact systems such as tracked skidders and cable logging systems were emphasized. Recent innovations such as the use of mobile cable systems in combination with wood processors and the research efforts searching for solutions to wood harvesting operations in steep terrain were noted. Aerial systems such as helicopters, balloons and cyclocraft were also discussed briefly. Recent FAO initiatives aimed at promoting environmentally sound forest harvesting practices worldwide were described.
51. Mr Anton Trzesniowski (Austria) presented Wood transport in steep terrain. Transport methods suitable for steep terrain were emphasized. The use of various cable logging systems was described. One, two, three, and four cable systems were outlined in sketches. Planning and organization of work in operating cable cranes were very important and were the deciding factor for the success of the work.
52. Mr Torstein Lisland (Norway) presented Use of cable systems on soft ground in Norway. Logging on soft ground could successfully be done during winter time where and when there was stable frost. But as industry demanded a constant flow of wood, soft ground areas also had to be logged all year. It was necessary to search for more environmentally friendly logging methods. A series of pilot operations had been carried out by the Norwegian Forest Research Institute. Technology from steep country logging had been modified and certain improvements had been achieved. Damage and costs for different harvesting methods were compared. Full tree, tree length, and short-wood loads were tried. Bundles and single tree loads were tested. Automatic releasing chokers were evaluated.
53. Mr Hubertus Prange (Germany) presented Road Development as a basis for sound forest management practices under Central European conditions. A short overview of the historical use of woodland and forests in Central Europe was presented. Sound forest management practice must reflect forest ecosystems and forest functions. Guidelines were discussed using a forest in the Bavarian Alps as an example. Road development was a guarantee for a sustainable and rationalized forest management system on a sound ecological base.
54. Mr Dubravko Horvat (Croatia) presented Tractive performances of four vehicles used for wood transportation in mountain forest thinning. The paper described a comparative study which was carried out on four skidders used in forest thinning in Croatia. The skidders were evaluated on their dynamic performance. The results showed that in mountainous conditions the medium sized-skidders showed significantly better performances than the adapted agriculture tractors. A representative of the Romanian delegation emphasized the importance of striking a balance between technical, economic and ecological interests in opening up forests. It was stressed that foresters certainly had the capacity of being good ecologists.
55. Mr Sanzio Baldini (Italy) presented Harvesting operations and sustainable forest management. In Italy, mechanization of harvesting operations was increasing, even though at a slow pace. The special topographical conditions favoured the use of small and medium-sized machines and cable systems.
56. Summary of discussions - Following the presentation under this item, the moderator Mr Akre organized the discussion around the papers presented:
It was stated that excavators with a well-trained operator often proved to be a cheaper and much more environmentally sound alternative than bulldozers on forest road construction work. Asked what skyline system he preferred, Mr Trzesniowski responded that his preferences depended on the intended user. In Austria, there were a large number of self-employed forest owners with small land holdings and harvesting volumes; their possibility to invest in machinery was thus limited. However, the agriculture-tractor mounted skyline was suggested as a possible option for farmers. For contractors, mobile skyline systems were often used. The well-developed network of forest roads in Austria (45 m/ha) had led to relative short yarding distances with an optimal distance between 300 and 400 m. The skylines used were, therefore, mostly small to middle-sized yarders with a capacity of 9-12 m3/hour.
Since labour was expensive, Mr Trzesniowski saw an advantage with systems which required minimum man-power. There was a trend towards combined yarding systems with loaders and processors fitted to the machine. He emphasized that operators had to be adequately trained and that the operations required careful planning in the extraction area and at the landing.
Mr Lisland explained that lack of work for the skyline was often the limiting factor in skyline operations in Norway. He expected the productivity to increase if this was somehow remedied.
Mr Sedlak stated that the primary issue for a country, in its initial phase of establishing an adequate road network, was to clarify how the forest network should be designed. This consideration should take into account the forest operations practised in the country and the systems to be used,
57. Mr David Mills (Canada) presented Software applications in forest road design - "Softtree". He discussed computer software as a forest road design tool. The Softree product ROADENG was used as an example to explain the process. He firstly described how to convert field survey data into a model representing topography, and secondly how to build a model of a forest road by defining an alignment on the model. Cross-section templates, cut and fill material properties, grades, vertical and horizontal curves could be defined in the location design. Volumes slope stakes and road specifications could be generated from the design.
58. Mr Petru Boghean (Romania) presented Interconnection of forest road network, harvesting and wood transport. The wide variety of forest lands in Romania resulted in a relatively rich level of experience concerning forest technologies, machines, equipment used, and transport technology. The variants and influences of forest road networks upon harvesting technologies and consequences were analysed and presented.
59. Mr Panajot Koci (Albania) presented a paper Road network development in mountain forests, ecological, technical, economic and social aspects in Albania, co-authored with Messrs. Mihallaq Kotro and Avram Haxhi. Reference was made that 36 percent of the country was covered by forests. The forests covered 1 million ha with a standing wood volume of 82 million m3 and the majority was located in the North, North East and South East of the country in mountainous terrain. Presently, the forest road network had an extension of 3.500 km, which corresponded to an average road density of 3.4 m/ha. In addition to the low road net density, often the absence of sufficient mechanization caused considerable difficulties to carry out silvicultural treatment operations, as well as wood harvesting in old growth forests. Recent studies suggested that 70 percent of the forests in Albania could be managed sustainably with a road net density of 15-20 m/ha permitting wood extraction distances of 100-200 m manually, 250-300 m by ground dependent machines and 400-600 m by cable systems. The extension of the forest road network would permit to make best use of the ecological, economic and social functions of the forests.
60. Mr W. Warkotsch (Germany) presented A configuration selection procedure to optimize the cost of longhaul pulpwood transport in the South African forestry industry. The long distance road transport (longhaul) of pulpwood was typically the single largest cost associated with delivering pulpwood to a mill. The costs of owning and operating large truck-tractor trailer configurations, in turn, comprised the largest portion of this cost. To optimize the costs associated with longhaul pulpwood transport, therefore, it was necessary to select the truck configuration that would minimize costs. Varying pulpwood lengths and density, and forest road conditions negated the selection of a single truck configuration ideally suited to all operations. This paper placed longhaul pulpwood transport in the South Africa forest industry into perspective.
61. A question was raised whether the model put too much attention to the maximization of profits of the end user at the expense of the contractors. Mr Warkotsch responded that the optimization of the whole chain of operations, from stump to end users, had to be considered. Furthermore, an optimized transport system which resulted in cost cuts would be to the benefit of all parties involved.
62. Mr Rudolf Heinimann (Switzerland) on behalf of Mr John Sessions (USA) presented Variable tyre pressures for forest roads: A synthesis of concepts and applications. The relatively slow speed of vehicles on forest roads permitted the possibility of using reduced tyre inflation pressure which may bring the benefits of reduced surfacing requirements, longer transport seasons, and reduced road and vehicle maintenance. He presented a synthesis of the concepts and applications of variable tyre pressures for forest transport vehicles and provided a framework for estimating the costs and benefits of using such a system.
63. Mr Rudolf Heinrich on behalf of Mr Oscar Bustos (Chile) presented Optimization of load distribution on forest trucks. Many forest industries had problems with a deficient load distribution on their trucks. The effect on the soil produced changes in its structure and increased maintenance costs. He presented an approach using a physics model to find an optimal position for a load of logs.
64. Mr Jozef Bartoska (Slovakia) presented Some ecological problems of timber transportation by trucks in Slovakia. Existing problems and possible solutions in various areas of timber transportation in the forestry management of the Slovak Republic were presented. He addressed the areas of environmental emissions; pollution of the environment by fuels, lubricants, and hydraulic fluids; and damage to carriageways of forest roads caused by excessive axle loads. He presented the research programme of the Research Station of the Forest Research Institute Zvolen in Oraveky Podzamok.
65. Mr Joachim Wippermann (Germany) presented Long-distance transport of timber by trucks. In Germany, the yearly transported volume of timber ranged from 22 to 30 million tons, the smallest part of it (3%) was carried by inland navigation, 20 percent by the railway system and 77 percent on roads. The long-distance transport on the roads managed by independent companies, usually ran over 10-100 km (maximum distance 300 km), mostly by short truck and semi-trailer up to 27 m truck-lengths, with maximum weight of 40 tons. Additionally, there was a fleet of trucks on public roads for transport of about 8 million m3 chips for the board industry, as well as for the pulp and paper industry.
66. In the United Kingdom, the cross loading of short timber (about 2 m) on trucks was no longer allowed because of the risk of sliding logs. Asked whether they in Germany had managed to tackle this problem, Mr Wippermann answered that the machine he had referred to in the presentation was only a prototype and that they were only in the initial stage of evaluating this method. He added that the modern standards for long-distance transport in Germany should either be 5 x 3 m, 4 x 4 or 3 x 5 m.
67. Mr David Lieberman (Israel) presented The importance of forest roads in Israel for the existing forest patrimony and its next extension. This paper dealt with the problems concerning the need of forest roads in the forest plantations in Israel. The Israeli forestry patrimony was about 85.000 ha out of which 45.000 ha were forest plantations of Pinus halepensis, Pinus brutia and natural forests, with shrubs and maquis covering 42000 ha. Presently, some 5.500 km of forest roads existed representing 64 m/ha. Forest roads were required for the establishment of forest plantations, for soil preparation, wood harvesting and fire fighting in the forest. The roads were designed to take into account requirements of environmentally sound practices.
Conclusions and recommendations (Item 8)
68. Recommendations to member countries:
· In order to guarantee sustainable forestry, as part of a long-term forest strategy, countries should support the planning, construction and maintenance of forest road networks. While satisfying production needs, consideration should be given to environmental, social and recreational requirements. Fire prevention and control play an important role.· In order to meet the above-mentioned recommendation, governments should encourage the preparation of suitable codes of practice and support the training of all professionals in forest technology, in environmentally sound planning and in road construction methods. It was especially important that suitable training for forest contractors and operators was available.
· The forest authorities should ensure that there was a balance between the needs of the forest industry and the environmental and social groups.
69. Recommendations to the Joint Committee:
· An interdisciplinary framework to consider ecological, technical, social and economical needs should be developed.· Promote research work on evaluation criteria and indicators on sound decision-making on forest road design, construction and maintenance.
· Promote frequent seminars and workshops on environmentally sound forest operations and wood transport.
· Develop an efficient information-exchange programme, i.e.:
· proceedings;
· special reports; and a
· permanent computer network.
The proceedings of this seminar should be published. If possible this publication should be in the FAO Forestry Papers Series.
70. Recommendations to IUFRO
IUFRO should:
(a) Encourage the establishment of common research programmes in the following problem fields:
· road network planning methods;· project evaluation and ranking methods considering impact assessment; multi-objectives and multi-criteria decision-making;
· process models explaining environmental impacts;
· re-engineering of existing road networks;
· the use of environmentally friendly vehicles for wood extraction and wood transport.
(b) Organize additional seminars and workshops on:
· practical aspects of road construction;
· road network planning based on case studies;
· planning, design and operation of cable systems.
(c) Establish adequate networking activities to support the above listed efforts.
71. Conclusions
The meeting concluded:
(a) Environmental pressures are now such that forest engineers must acknowledge them and, while in many countries this has already been taken into account, we must improve the standards of work done in the forest to attempt to meet these needs. It is necessary to involve the public in assessing these standards. We must, by concentrating on water quality and using biotechnology to revegetate slopes, improve our practice of road construction. We believe that gradients should be restricted to that which meets sensible drainage needs, and to ensure that good quality surfacing material is used. Overall, there is a need to consider the public aspirations for improvements in the environmental considerations of forest operators.(b) The use of computer aided road planning and design is a major improvement, but is not a substitute for careful survey and location on the ground.
(c) In many countries there will be a continuing demand for additional access roading for forest management, and the maintenance of existing roads continues to be a problem. The use of roads for fire prevention and control is an important factor.
(d) Technical education of forest professionals should include environmental, ecological, economic and social factors.
Any other business (Item 9)
72. No other business.
Adoption of the report of the seminar (Item 10)
73. The draft report, prepared by the Secretariat, was adopted with some modifications which have been incorporated in the present document.
74. The Chairman, Mr Marian Ianculescu, thanked the participants and the organizers for their active contribution to the successful outcome of the seminar. He expressed the hope that the recommendations formulated by the seminar could be followed up for the benefit of the industry and its employees and declared the meeting officially closed.
75. Messrs Efthymiou, Heinimann and Heinrich expressed deep appreciation and thanks to the Romanian hosts for the excellent organization of the seminar, as well as for the generous hospitality in their country.
Friday, 21 June 1996
Seminar participants visited the Craiului forest in the forest ranger district Zarnesti, Piatra located within the Forestry Branch of Brasov. Information was provided on forest tree composition, forest regeneration and forest engineering and harvesting operations. In particular, reference was made that wood harvesting was undertaken on an area of about 100 ha covered by mixed beech and spruce forest stands, as well as pure spruce forest stands.
Wood was harvested by applying selective cuts in mixed forest stands and clearcuts in pure spruce forest stands. Both natural regeneration and afforestation were applied in selective as well as clearcut areas. In areas with no suitable and sufficient natural regeneration, afforestation was carried out in the first 2-3 years.
In the forest area visited, there existed several valley roads often built close to rivers. For extracting the wood, forests had been opened up by skid trails to permit wood transport by agricultural tractors or other specialized ground-based vehicles. Before 1990, also cable systems had been used for wood transport.
The area was a main tourist and recreation resort, particularly in winter for skiing. Due to the social functions of the forests in this holiday resort, special care must be taken in forest regeneration, silvicultural treatment and sanitary felling operations in order to maintain the protection and recreational functions of the forests. Clearcuts were prohibited in this area.
It was noted that there were high productive forest stands (medium annual increment of 8 m3/ha/a in old oak forest stands located above 1 100 m a.s.l.
The participants had also the opportunity to make a visit to the Transylvania University of Brasov, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, where the Dean, Professor Gheorghita Ionascu, provided information on the history and curricula of the Faculty. The University was established in 1883 near Bucharest and had been moved to Brasov in 1953. The Faculty consists of three Departments, namely Silviculture, Forest Engineering and Forest Management and offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Finally, participants had a chance to see the old city of the town of Brasov, including a visit to the Black Church where an organ concert was performed, a visit to a museum consisting of a primary school and printing facilities, as well as to the St. Nicolas Church and to the Bran Castle.
Saturday, 22 June 1996
The Seminar participants visited in the vicinity of Sinaia in the Forest Branch of Ploiesti, the Bogdan Valley, a watershed catchment area of 507 ha with a torrential stream.
At the beginning of the twentieth century the area was reforested and torrential protection works were carried out along the stream over a distance of 15 km. Different forest engineering and biological stabilization works were observed, such as stone made retaining walls and check dams, gabions, ditches and terraces, as well as wicker work fences to protect the soil from erosion and reduce the amount of debris material. Some of the engineering works showed minor damage caused by bigger stones and debris material transported by high floods. The torrent control stabilization works were necessary in order to protect the national road and railway Bucharest-Brasov, as well as the forest road Floresti - Valea Prahovei and others from destruction caused by high floods and debris material.
In the Urlato area the participants visited an area with natural regenerated mixed forest stands of 140 year-old fir and beech. The forests were located at an altitude of 880 m. The forest growth was very good. The average wood volume was 722 m3/ha, the average bhd 50 cm for beech and 56 cm for fir with tree heights of 32 m and 35 m. For regeneration purposes selective cutting was applied cutting primarily dead and damaged trees.
At Poiana Stanii, located at 1300 m a.s.l., fir and beech forest stands were observed. The beech forests reached their upper vegetation limit. An average increment of 4.8 m3/ha/a was reported in 100-150 year-old beech forests.
At the end of the excursion a farewell dinner was offered by the Romanian hosts in a spectacular mountainous forest surrounding.
|
Item 1 |
Adoption of the agenda | |
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Item 2 |
Election of officers | |
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Item 3 |
General introduction of the seminar | |
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Item 4 |
Environmentally oriented forest road planning, design and location | |
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i) Multiple use of forest roads |
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ii) Public participation in road planning |
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iii) Forest road planning integrating environmental concerns |
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iv) Economic and environmental evaluation of alternative road designs and locations |
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Item 5 |
Environmentally sound forest road construction and maintenance | |
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i) Forest road construction policies, guidelines and codes of practice |
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ii) Environmentally sound construction methods and use of appropriate equipment |
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iii) Road maintenance, organization, methods and equipment |
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Item 6 |
Forest engineering structures and protection works | |
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i) Temporary and permanent engineering structures |
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ii) Biological and structural slope stabilization and protection works |
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Item 7 |
Wood transport | |
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i) Vehicle design for road and terrain transport |
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ii) Interrelation of forest roads and harvesting systems |
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iii) Transport on soft ground conditions and in steep terrain |
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iv) Ecology and timber transport |
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Item 8 |
Conclusions and recommendations | |
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Item 9 |
Any other business | |
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Item 10 |
Adoption of the report of the seminar | |
Albania
Haxhi, Avram
Université d'Agriculture
Faculté des Forêts
Tirana
Tel. +355 42 25506
Fax +355 42 27804
Koci, Panajot
- same address as above -
Kotro, Mihallaq
- same address as above -
Austria
Gerstgraser, Christoph
Research Engineer, Universität Für Bodenkultur
Institute of Soil Bioengineering
Hasenauerstr. 42
A-1190 Wien
Tel. +43 1 310 63 40 0
Fax +43 1 310 63 40 24
e-mail: [email protected]
Sedlak, Otto
Forest Director, Austria Forest Service
Amt der oö Landesregierung
Anzengruberstr. 21
A - 4020 4660Linz
Tel. +43 732 7720
Fax +43 732 7720 4698
Trzesniowski, A.
Professor, Institute of Forest Engineering
Head of Dean, Universitat für Bodenkultur
Wien
Faculty of Forestry & Wood Sciences
Peter Jordan Str. 70/2 Stock
A - 1190 Vienna
Tel. +431 47654 4300
Fax +431 47654 4342
Wolf, Walter
Forest Department, Amt der o.Ö
Landesregierung
Anzengruberstr.21
A - 4020 Linz
Tel. +43 732 7720 4668
Fax +43 732 7720 4698
Belgium
Bemelmans, D.
Université de Louvain
Les Villettes 32
B - 4990 LIERNEUX
Tel. +32 80 31 96 81
Fax +32 80 31 92 31
Canada
Mills, David
Softree Technical Systems Inc.
#8-650 Clyde Avenue
CDN - West Vancouver, B.C. V7T 1E2
Tel. + 1 604-664-7708
Fax + 1 604-926-3075
[email protected]
Croatia
Horvat, Dubravko
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering in Forestry
Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb
Svetosimunska 25
10000 Zagreb
Tel. +385 1 218 288
Fax +385 1 218 616
Pentek, Tibor
Assistant, Dept. of Forest Transportation
Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb
Svetosimunska 25
10000 Zagreb
Tel. +385 1 218 288
Fax + 385 1 218 616
Sever, Stanislav
Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering in Forestry
Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb
Svetosimunska 25
10000 Zagreb
Tel. +385 1218 288
Fax +385 1218 616
Sunjic, Slavko
Head, Dept. of Road Buildings, Hrvatske
Sume
Vukotinoviceva 2
10000 Zagreb
Tel. +385 1 448 611
Fax +385 1 4551 138
Tomaši, Zeljko
Chief, Transport & Mechanization Nasice
Uprava Suma Nasice, Zoljan
34500 Nasice
Tel. +34 313 269
Fax +34 313 589
Finland
Häyrinen, Tuomo
Finnish Forest and Park Service/Mikkeli
P.O. Box 9
FIN-50101 Mikkeli
Tel. +358 55 191 2544
Fax +358 55 150 080
France
Martinez, François
Engineer, AFOCEL/ARMEF
98, route de Tournefeuille
F-31270 Cugnaux
Tel. +33 61 92 44 75
Fax +33 61 92 40 88
Germany
Höfle, Hanns
Professor, State Forest District Bovenden
University of Göttingen
Auf dem Thie 4
D-37120 Bovenden
Tel. +49 551 81 143
Fax +49 55183 185
Prange, Hubertus
Professor, Fachhochschule Weihenstephan
Weihenstephan 1
D - 85 350 Freising
Tel. +49 8161 71 3692
Fax +49 8161 71 4526
Spaeth, Renate-Susanna
Ministry for Environment
Regional Planning and Agriculture of Land Nordrhein-Westfalen
Schwannstrasse 3
D - 40476 Düsseldorf
Tel. +49 211 4566 276
Fax +49 211 4566 388
Warkotsch, W.
University of Munich, Faculty of Forestry
Hohenbachernstr. 22
D - 85354 Freising
Tel. +49 81 61 71 4760
Fax +49 81 81 71 4767
Wippermann, Jochen
Bundesforschungsanstalt für Forst- und Holzwirtschaft
Institut für Okonomie
FG Arbeitswissenschaft - IFFA
Am Vorwerksbusch 1
D - 21465 Reinbek/Hamburg
Tel. +49 40 722 30 20
Fax +49 40 739 62 480
Greece
Efthymiou, Paul
Professor, Faculty of Forestry & Natural
Environment
Aristofle University
P.O. Box 227
GR - 54006 Thessaloniki
Tel. +30 31 99 88 73
Fax +30 31 99 89 46
Vakalis, Dimitrios
Ministry of Agriculture
Directorate General of Forests & Natural
Environment
Ippokratus Str. 3-5
GR- 10164 Athens
Tel. +30 1 36 01 778
Fax +30 1 36 03 755
Zande-Sagia, Maria
Section Head, Dept. of Forest Roads & Transport
Ministry of Agriculture
Ippokratus Str. 3-5
GR-10164 Athens
Tel. +30 1 36 01 778
Fax +30 1 36 03 755
Hungary
Kosztka, Miklos
Head of Department
University of Forestry and Wood Sciences
P.O. Box 132
H-9401 Sopron
Tel. +36 99 311 100
Fax +36 99 311 103
Ireland
Ryan, Thomas
Chief Civil Engineer, Irish Forestry Board
Coilute Teo, Hynes Building
IRL - Galway
Tel. +91 562 129
Fax +91 678 40
Israel
Lieberman, David
M.Sc. Forest, Forest Roads & Surveying
Jewish National Found (J.N.F.)
5, Haprahim Str.
Romema
Haifa
Tel./Fax +972 4 824 1570
Italy
Baldini, Sanzio
Professor, Di.S.A.F.RI.-Universita Tuscia
Via C. De Lellis
I-01100 Viterbo
Tel. +39 761 357403
Fax +39 761 357389
Marchi, Enrico
Researcher
Istituto di Assestamento e Tecnologia Forestale
via S. Bonaventura 13
I-50145 Firenze
Tel. +39 55 31 5497
Fax +39 55 31 9179
Pollini, Claudio
Head, Dept. of Forest Technology
CNR - Istituto per la Tecnologia del Legno
I - 38010 S.Michele all' Adige
Tel. +39 461 660 206
Fax +39 461 650 045
Spinelli, Raffaele
Researcher, CNR/Istituto per la Ricera sul Legno
Via A. Barazzuoli 23
I-50136 Firenze
Tel. +39 55 661886
Fax +39 55 670624
Japan
Kitagawa, Katsuhiro
Associate Professor
Nagoya University
Forest Resources Utilization Laboratory
Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-01
Tel. +81 52 789 4057
Fax +81 52 789 5052
Yoshimura, Tetsuhiko
Forest Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture
Kyoto University
Kyoto, 606-01
Tel. +81 75 753 6096
Fax +81 75 753 6129
Norway
Akre, Bjorn
Senior Executive Officer, Forestry Department
c/o Ministry of Agriculture
P.B.8007 Dep
N - OO30 Oslo 7
Tel. +47 22 24 93 74
Fax +47 22 24 27 54
Haanshus, Sjur
Advisor Forestry Dep.
Ministry of Agriculture
P.O. Box 8007
N - 0030 Oslo
Tel. +47 22 249365
Fax +47 22 242754
Lisland, Torstein
Chief Engineer, Norwegian Forest Research
Institute
Högskolevelen 12
N - 1432 Äs
Tel. +47 64 94 90 00
Fax +47 64 94 29 80
Portugal
Rebelo, Jose
SOBRINCA
Lugar do Balteiro,123
P - 4750 Martim - Barcelos
Tel. +351.53.912607
Fax. +351.56.911399
Romania
Asmarandei, M.
Conforest SA.
Str. Valentin Wagner Nr. 5
RO - 2200 Brasov
Tel. +40 6 81 41 861
Fax +40 6 81 53 817
Boghean, Petru
National Institute of Wood
Sos. Fabrica de Glucosa, nr. 7
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 12 40 76 35
Fax +40 12 40 79 85
Borza, Romulus
Silviculture Branch ROMSILVA
RO - 2200 Brasov
Tel. +40 68 415 770
Fax +40 68 415 770
Cazan, Ion
National Institute of Wood
Branch Brasov
RO - 2200 Brasov
Tel. +40 6 84 48 61
Fax +40 6 81 504 17
Ciurea, Ioan
General Director, National Institute of Wood
National Institute of Wood
Sos. Fabrica de Glucosa, nr. 7
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 1 240 46 60
Fax +40 1 240 79 85
Cretu, Ovidiu
National Institute of Wood
Sos. Fabrica de Glucosa, nr. 7
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 1 240 76 35
Fax +40 1 240 79 85
Daia, Mihai
ROMSILVA
Bld. Magheru Nr. 31
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 1 659 20 20
Fax +40 1 312 84 28
Ianculescu, Marian
Ministry of Waters, Forest & Environmental Protection
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 1 410 02 18
Fax +40 1 312 04 03
Ionascu, Gheorghita
Professor, University Transylvania
Sirul Beethoven Nr. 1
RO - 2200 Brasov
Tel. +40 6 81 52 430
Fax +40 6 81 52 430
Kruch, Johann
Consultant Louis Berger
B-dul Decebal Nr. 23
RO - 2900 Arad
Tel. +40 57 28 0464
Fax +40 57 25 00 55
Istratescu, Constance
National Institute of Wood
Sos. Fabrica de Glucosa, nr. 7
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 1 240 79 23
Fax +40 1 240 79 85
Milescu, Ioan
University "Stephan the Great"
University Str. Nr. 4
RO - 5800 Suceava
Tel. +40 30 21 61 47
Fax +40 3 052 00 80
Nicolescu, Norocel-Valeriu
Lecturer, University Transylvania
Sinul Beethoven. Nr. 1
RO - 2200 Brasov
Tel. +40 68 14 37 35
Fax +40 68 15 24 30
Nitescu, Constantin
Institute for Research & Forest Management
Sos Stefanesti No. 128
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 1 240 6845
Fax +40 1 240 6845
Pavel, Alexandru
National Institute of Wood
Sos. Fabrica de Glucosa, nr. 7
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 1 240 7635
Fax +40 1 240 7985
Popescu, Octavian
Institute for Research & Forest Management
Sos Stefanisti No. 128
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 1 240 6845
Fax +40 1 240 6845
Rusnac, Constantin
ROMSILVA
Bvld. Margheru Nr. 31
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 1 659 20 20
Fax +40 1 312 84 28
Varjoghe, Serghie
National Institute of Wood
Sos. Fabrica de Glucosa, nr. 7
RO - 7000 Bucharest
Tel. +40 1 240 7635
Fax +40 1 240 7985
Slovakia
Bartoska, Jozef
Forest Research Institute, Research Station
027 41 Oravsky Podzamok
Tel. +42 9845 89 31 91
Fax +42 0845 89 31 95
Hrib, Miroslav
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Forestry
Technical University in Zvolen
T. G. Masaryka 24
960 53 Zvolen
Tel. +42 855 635
Fax +42 855 22654
Suchomel, Jozef
Assistant Professor, Technical University
Dept. of Exploitation & Forest Mechanization
T. G. Masaryka 25
961 53 Zvolen
Tel. +42 855 635 ext. 471
Fax +42 855 22654
Tucek, Ján
Vice Dean, Technical University
Dept. of Exploitation & Forest Mechanization
T.G. Masaryka 24
960 53 Zvolen
Tel. +42 855 635 ext. 641
Fax +42 855 22654
Slovenia
Begus, Jurij
Head of Dept., Forest Technology
Slovenian Forest Service, Zavod za gozdove
Slovenije
Vecna pot 2
1000 Ljubljana
Tel. +386 61 123 54 32
Fax +386 61 123 53 61
Potocnik, Igor
Biotechnical Faculty, Dept. of Forestry
University of Ljubljana
Vecna pot 83
1000 Ljubljana
Tel. +386 61 123 11 61
Fax +386 61 27 11 69
Switzerland
Brunner, Markus
Assistant of Forest Engineering
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Eth Zentrum HG G224
CH - 8092 Zurich
Tel. +41 1 632 31 25
Fax +41 1 632 11 46
Durrstein, Hubert
Buendenweg 23
CH - 3286 Muntelier
Tel. +41 37 71 36 26
Fax +41 37 71 14 22
United Kingdom
Hay, Roger
Forest Engineering Consultant
18 Cluny Place
UK - Edinburgh EH10 4RL
Tel. +44 31 447 0499
United States of America
Aulerich, Ed
President, Forest Engineering Inc.
620 SW 4th Street
USA - 97333 Corvallis OR
Tel. +1 541 754 7558
Fax +1 541 754 7559
Foltz, Randy B.
Research Engineer, USDA Forest Service
1221 S. Main
USA-Moscow ID 83842
Tel. +1 208 882 3557
Fax +1 208 883 2318
IUFRO
Heinimann, Hans R.
Professor of Forest Engineering
Dept. of Forest & Wood Sciences, Forest
Engineering
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
(ETH)
CH - 8092 Zurich
Tel. +41 1 632 32 35
Fax +41 1 632 11 46
FAO/ECE/ILO Secretariat
Heinrich, Rudolf
Chief, Forest Harvesting, Trade & Marketing, FAO
Via delle Terme di Caracalla
I-00100 Rome, Italy
Tel. +39 6 5225 4724
Fax +39 6 5225 5618
[email protected]
Hababou-Zamperini, Josiane
- same address as above -
Tel. +39 6 5225 2724
[email protected]
Blömback, Peter
Industrial Activities Branch
International Labour Office (ILO)
4 Route des Morillons
CH - 1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland
Tel. +41 22 799 7778
Fax +41 22 799 7967
Kind, Christiane
Timber Section, UN-ECE Trade Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel. +41 22 917 2870
Fax +41 22 917 0041
