European forestry commission
Forest working techniques and training of forest workers
Silviculture modified by mechanization
In welcoming delegates to the Tenth Session of the European Forestry Commission at Rome in July, the Director-General of FAO said: "I am happy to note that you have scheduled a discussion on the impact on European forest policies of current trends towards economic integration. These developments, which are by no means confined to the six countries of the European Economic Community, nor even to the European continent, have aroused great hopes and expectations on the part of those countries participating. At the same they have raised some apprehension on the part of nonparticipating countries. It is right that these matters be discussed frankly and openly. So far as forest and forest industry policies are concerned, there is no more appropriate forum in Europe than your Commission. The central problem is how to ensure closer association without prejudicing the interests of others. So far as forest products are concerned, the neighbors are not only European, since Europe has close and important links through the forest products market with countries in every region of the world."
The Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Alberto M. Camaiti (Director-General of Forests, Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forests) expanded further on this theme, and the Commission heard a statement made by Mr. Herbignat (Director-General of Waters and Forests, Belgium) on behalf of the member nations of the European Economic Community (EEC). In this statement he stressed the desire of the Six to collaborate widely and openly - as has been done to date - in the study of the general problems undertaken under the auspices of FAO. But an exchange of views now on the possible repercussions of the initiatives of the Community on the present and future forest policies of all the European counties, would be premature. The conference of forestry experts held in Brussels earlier in the year had agreed on the need for a common study of certain forest policy problems, but the governments concerned were not yet committed, as the final report of the meeting had still to be approved by the Council of Ministers of the EEC. After this approval, the European Forestry Commission of FAO would be informed of the solutions envisaged for the problems which are of particular concern to the Six, within the general framework of the provisions of the Rome Treaty. The matter should therefore be a prominent feature of further sessions of the EFC.
This Tenth Session of the EFC was held at FAO Headquarters in Rome from 7 to 10 July 1959 and at the Italian Academy of Forestry Sciences in Florence on 13 July. A field trip was organized on 11 and 12 July by the Italian Forest Service to inspect afforestation and watershed management works on the Tuscan Apennines, and to enable members of the delegations to take part in the Festa della Montagna (Mountain Festival) for Central Italy, which was celebrated at Vallombrosa on 12 July.
Some 50 delegates from 21 member countries participated, representing: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey United Kingdom (Great Britain and Cyprus), and Yugoslavia. Mr. Egon Glesinger, Director of the Forestry and Forest Products Division, represented FAO.
The Commission had a very full agenda, including a review of the activities of its several subsidiary and technical bodies. The main feature of the session was the consideration of the national progress reports submitted by member countries, and the Commission felt that this year's reports were in general thorough, some giving very detailed information.
On the whole, forest policies had differed little in the period under review from those of previous years, but there had been a tendency for better co-ordination between agricultural and forestry interests, or rather for these factors to be better integrated with the general economic and social policies of the various countries.
Austria, Western Germany and Greece reported very good co-operation between farmers, foresters and forest economists, and France, Portugal and Spain emphasized the existence of a better integration of forest policy with the general economy. Austria, for instance, aims at achieving this integration with the farm regarded as the management unit. Norway has formed a working party of foresters, agronomists and economists, whose object is to devise a land-use pattern which is best from the social and economic points of view. In Sweden, foresters, in liaison with agronomists, are making a census of marginal crop land to be set aside for afforestation, and the investigation has provisionally revealed that conversions might affect an area of 530,000 hectares. Spain has started discussions between agronomists and foresters in order to decide on land-use improvements. France has established efficient collaboration between the forest services and those bodies concerned with agricultural development within the sociétés d'économie mixte which were created for the reclamation and development of certain regions. The new Turkish forest law enables land consolidation to be better planned. In Finland, a joint technical committee consisting of agriculturists, foresters and economists is studying what improvements can be made to the management of farms, which generally include fairly extensive forest areas.
In Great Britain, a statement of Government policy was recently made indicating that the new planting program of the Forestry Commission will henceforth be fixed for periods of ten years at a time (that envisaged for the next ten years will cover 536,000 acres, (216,600 hectares), of which 300,000 acres will be planted from 1959 to 1963 and 235,000 from 1964 to 1968); in addition, the regulations controlling the Dedication Scheme will be revised and the system of felling licences will be somewhat relaxed. In Cyprus, after a policy of protection, attention is being directed to the productive potential of mountain forests and the establishment of plantations of quick-growing trees in the plains. In the Netherlands, a new forestry law to replace the Forestry Act of 1922, has been put before Parliament. This law seeks to maintain a minimum wooded area for timber production.
Efforts towards expanding forest production have been directed mainly to private forestry and particularly to plantations established by private owners, without altogether neglecting the betterment or even the readjustment of the management plans for public or privately-owned forests. Subsidies for planting are on the increase, notably in Austria and Ireland, where they have been doubled.
The consolidation of forest holdings or the setting up of co-operatives or associations of different kinds were being encouraged, with a view to facilitating marketing, management, administration, logging or execution of improvement works. In Western Germany, funds were earmarked in 1959 for the formation of forestry cooperatives for the planting of marginal land and each State has a forest owners association. The establishment of co-operatives in Poland aims at remedying the difficult situation of small private woodlands, which are extremely fragmented in this country. Sweden reported a new form of association: forestry management regions. Switzerland also supplied details on a number of possible forms of land consolidation, which was carried out on 1,500 hectares in 1957 and on an equal area in 1958. Great Britain soon hoped to set up an association of woodland owners on a national scale, to be the official organ in discussion between the owners, users of wood and the Forestry Commission. In Northern Ireland, efforts are being made to form a Northern Ireland Woodland Owners' Association. The establishment of afforestation co-operatives is encouraged in Turkey and particularly for the planting of poplars. A special section has been set up for the development of private forestry in Yugoslavia (1958), and the creation of co-operatives of private forest owners is also promoted. The establishment of groupements forestiers is becoming of increasing importance in France; there are at present 666, covering a forest area of 226,000 hectares.
Total roundwood production in Europe in 1968 was only slightly lower than that of 1967. But a heavy fall in production and trade in the two categories of small-sized roundwood (pitprops and pulpwood) was very clearly evident in the main exporting countries. Total production of pitprops fell by more than 1 million cubic meters, a feature by no means entirely accounted for by the heavy reduction in demand due to restriction on the production of coal in the coal-producing countries of Western Europe. Production of pulpwood suffered from the effects of restrictions on the production of woodpulp, and also from the fact that the pulp mills in several countries already maintained relatively large stocks of timber.
Specific recommendations
Other details reported to the Commission are fully set out in the final report of the session, which among other points recommends that:
1. FAO should pursue, in co-operation with ECE, studies on market trends and especially on the development possibilities and methods of exploitation and utilization of small-sized hardwoods of all species, giving particular attention to beechwood of all dimensions, and keeping in mind the possible impact of the results of these studies on the silvicultural methods and forest policy applied to hardwood stands.2. Member Governments should examine the steps which could be taken to establish or strengthen the strictest possible control of the quality, and above all of the origin of the forest seed and plants sold on the open market, and particularly of those intended for export. FAO should organize, within the framework of the World Seed Campaign, an ad hoc meeting of representatives of research institutions and forest administrations to study the means to be applied, particularly at the international level, to strengthen the guarantees which should be given to the buyers and users of forest tree seed and plants.
3. The next session of the FAO Conference should define FAO's responsibilities in regard to problems related to wildlife management as affecting forest management.
The Commission elected Mr. J. Jungo, Inspecteur général des forêts of Switzerland, as its new Chairman until the end of its Eleventh Session, and Mr. Salvador Sanchez-Herrera, Director General de Montes of Spain, and Mr. A. Herbignat, Directeur général des eaux et forêts of Belgium, as First and Second Vice-Chairman for the same term of office.
The Joint FAO/ECE Committee on Forest Working Techniques and Training of Forest Workers which operates in collaboration with the International Labour Office (ILO), held its third session in Oslo, Norway, from 1-5 June 1959, followed by a field tour from 8-13 June. Mr. E. G. Richards (United Kingdom) was Chairman of the session, and in the absence of Mr. S. Jackson (United States), elected rapporteur at the Committee's second session, Mr. X. de Mégille (France) was appointed to act in this capacity.
The specialized reports tabled for the meeting and the technical discussions showed the trends that had developed since the Committee's last session in Moscow in 1957, in working methods and techniques, mechanization, forest workers' training and safety.
Methods for the study of forest operations and time studies of each phase of operations, in use for many years in some countries and particularly in Scandinavia, are being developed more and more. The elaboration of performance tables is a natural corollary of time studies and it helps in the rationalization of forest work.
The problem of mechanization appears to be assuming ever greater importance in all countries. The development of power saws, especially, has been considerable over the last two years but delegates listed a number of negative such as noise and vibration, as well as the position of the worker when operating the saw. In one country, a detailed study of the handle positions was made.
Alongside power saws used for felling only, portable brushcutters have been tried out in almost all the countries represented on the Committee. The results obtained 80 far differ widely and in some cases have been considered inferior, or at best equal to manual work. This emphasizes the need for comparative studies of brush-cutting operations. The problem of barking has also been under close consideration in many countries. In some areas where mechanization has been well advanced for quite some time, the techniques of barking have apparently been solved at the industrial level, but in others, trials are still being made both on methods of work and on machines.
Regarding the use of tractors in forest operations, a new development has been the use of mono-axial tractors with wheel-drive-trailers. Their use appears to be spreading and is said to be economically justified in skidding and transport of small size timber where hitherto the costs of horse-drawn units have been generally lower than those of tractors. As far as larger tractors are concerned, preference seems to be for tractors with four-wheel drive, as being machines better adapted to conditions that prevail in European forests. They may be used for skidding and transport to the point of utilization. Nevertheless, for work of a particular type, some specialists still prefer crawler tractors. Tractors are increasingly being used for soil preparation in afforestation and reforestation and even for the maintenance of tree nurseries. Mechanization of such traditionally manual operations seems to have been proved to be economic.
Apart from transport proper, there is an increasing trend towards mechanization of handling operations. In bundling of loads, in the development of small tractor-mounted cranes and even in short-distance sky ways, there is evidence that technicians are showing increasing interest in organizing operations on the basis of specifically designed equipment rather than by adapting equipment already available to the specific working requirements. Working procedures are all aimed at getting maximum efficiency.
As a consequence of these changes in the organization of forest operations it is becoming more than ever necessary to train forest workers and foremen thoroughly and the development of training must be kept in step with mechanization. Since the last session of the Committee, new schools have been created in many countries, or special courses are arranged to suit local conditions. Light equipment, such as protective helmets for workers, plastic wedges, etc., are coming to be much more familiar, easing the job of forest workers and giving increased safety.
After a thorough discussion of the functions and program of the Joint Committee, it was decided to streamline future work and enquiries. The following study groups, each having a membership of 8 to 10 countries, were agreed:
Methods and Organization of Forest Work (Mr. J. Jindra, Czechoslovakia)
Manual and Mechanized Forest Operations (Mr. I. Samset, Norway)
Forest Machinery Development (Mr. X. de Mégille, France)
Vocational Training and Prevention of Accidents (Mr. H. Frølund, Denmark)
Multilingual Glossary of Forest Work Science (Mr. U. Sundberg, Sweden).
It was further agreed that it might be necessary to convene from time to time ad hoc working parties, comprising all participating countries, in order to deal with specific projects of particular importance, such as the elaboration of agreed criteria for the testing of forest machinery.
The Committee noted the elaboration of a definite version of a Protocol for the Testing of Forest Tractors which was being published. This should not require review for a considerable period after tests on a comparable basis had been carried out in the various countries.
Provisional protocols have also been issued in regard to the testing of winches, power saws, and barking machines. Preparation of a testing protocol for chipping machines has been started and preliminary work done on a scheme for brush-cutting machines. The Committee recommended action also in regard to the testing of limbing machines and machines for soil preparation and planting.
The Committee noted with appreciation the publication of the following studies:
The Mechanical Loading of Timber on Trucks, M. Kantola (Finland)
The Use of Power Saws in Forest Operations (3rd report), Jindra (Czechoslovakia)
Timber Skidding by Tractor in the U.S.S.R., K. I. Voronitsin, P. A. Lepentsov and M. A. Perfilov (U.S.S.R.)
It received progress reports on a number of other technical studies still in course of preparation.
The Committee approved the holding of an international course for the training of forest personnel and instructors in mechanized forest operations, under FAO/ECE/ILO auspices, in Sweden in the autumn of 1959. It expressed the highest appreciation of the ILO fellowship scheme for forest personnel to study abroad and the international courses organized jointly by FAO, ECE and ILO. ILO was invited to extend its fellowship scheme to cover the study of accident prevention, and to consider the possibilities of organizing an international training course on vocational education in forestry. ILO and the World Health Organization (WHO) were asked to give attention to questions concerning the health and welfare of forest workers, and in particular the physiological problems relating to forest work.
As regards accidents to forest workers, the Committee noted that forest accident rates are among the highest of all occupations. It is essential that these rates be reduced in order to prevent suffering of workers and their dependents; introducing safer and more efficient methods will also reduce loss of production. Greater uniformity in accident prevention terminology would expedite collection and analysis of statistics, and prevention programs can be best prepared where adequate accident statistics designed for this purpose are available. A practical system of reporting and analyzing forest accident statistics was recommended by the Committee.
Representatives from the following countries participating in the Timber Committee of ECE and the European Forestry Commission of FAO attended the session-Austria, the Byelorussian SSR, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia.
In building up and maintaining forest productivity, silviculturists and forest administrators must consider taking advantage of such developments as mechanized equipment. This makes possible more intensive silviculture on a given area at lower per-unit costs. It can, in some situations, make extensive silvicultural treatments practicable over larger areas with the labor force available. In such phases of forest management as combatting insects, diseases, and fire, modern equipment permits quick and complete action which has heretofore been impossible by hand labor.
Fortunately for the purposes of this study tour, the Joint FAO/ECE/ILO Committee on Forest Working Techniques and Training of Forest Workers, in which all member countries of the European Forestry Commission participate, has been conducting important studies and tests of machinery and in methods of training forest workers to meet the needs of forest managers and operating foresters. The reports of that Committee have been available to member countries. Thus the study tour was able to concentrate on modification of silvicultural practices, and not on the details of the machinery employed.
The discussions led to agreement that the early fears and misgivings of silviculturists towards widespread mechanization were unjustified. Instead of leading to "standardized silviculture" and clear-cutting on large areas, or to the disappearance of mountain protection forests, mechanization properly applied can bring about exactly opposite results. A more "individual" silviculture has been made possible through better road networks constructed by machinery and through a rational combination of the mechanization of felling, hauling and transport. Control of weed species can be carried out effectively through powered brushcutters, and even by chemical spraying from airplanes where conditions are suitable.
Among the factors favoring mechanization are lack of manpower or its loss to competing industries, higher wages and contractors' charges, general technical evolution towards higher living standards which causes workers to shun heavy labor, the impossibility of deep plowing or skidding of heavy logs by handwork, and the more consistent quality of work performed by machines than by man. On the other hand, mechanization is not favored where there is a surplus of forest workers, where wages in agriculture or forestry are low, where capital for the purchase of machinery is lacking (as with forest woodlot owners although this is being solved in some countries by means of co-operatives), where there are patterns of small or scattered forest ownerships, where forests are on steen or rocky terrain or where there is a lack of properly designed and tested machines of home manufacture.
Further work is needed to develop efficient techniques of using machinery in certain forests, particularly those with a large mixture of species and where selection of individual trees for felling with small regeneration areas, is the prescribed silvicultural system.
The advantages of mechanization can be better exploited where owners of small forest holdings group their woodlands into larger units for operation and management purposes, where tending and other silvicultural operations are carried out over concentrated units, and through the careful planning of the use of machines and man-power in relation to road construction, hauling of wood, and harvesting operations.
A report on the Study Tour has been issued.
