Woody biomass is a form of renewable energy that has been identified in NZ as offering great potential in terms of reducing our dependence on coal, oil or gas for heat and electricity production. Woody biomass can be found as residues at both processing areas (landings) as well as in the cut-over (harvest area), but thinning operations can also yield large volumes of quality biomass product. Research into the recovery of biomass focuses on integrating the biomass recovery systems into our active harvest operations to avoid impacts on both quality as well as quantity of biomass that can be recovered.

There are a large number of machines/systems that can be used to accomplish any given operational task in forestry. While our systems are normally very productive, they are also very expensive to run on an hourly or daily basis. New machines/equipment are being designed on a regular basis to help improve the cost-effectiveness of operations. Such machines/equipment need to be studied to see if the desired improvements can be realised in the field. Examples of current research projects include felling on steep terrain, as well as the use of radio-controlled chokers with cable yarders.

Poorly planned or executed harvesting operations can have unnecessary impacts on the environment. These can include excessive erosion and sedimentation anddestruction of streamside vegetation of aquatic habitat. Careful planning is the key first step to ensuring that potential impacts are minimised. We are working with modern planning tools. Studies on specific machine and system alternatives have also been carried out in the past to check on environmental performance. One specific study looks at the size and layout of the processing areas associated with harvesting operations.

Forest roads cost more than $100 per lineal metre to construct in difficult terrain. Poorly planned or constructed roads can have a significant and long-term impact on the environment. While there are many facets to successful road design, the current research programme focuses on un-bound pavement design, and specifically the pavement thickness requirements and how it varies with different techniques and parent material in the sub-base, as well as quarry materials for the base-course.