Discovering cable hauling

Felling operators in France have been obliged to protect the forest soils for several years now. Good, healthy soil is the basis of a healthy forest with high environmental and economic value. The cable hauling technique sets out to limit impact on the soil. Used in highland forests, it is now being developed in sensitive environments or those with no tracks.

It’s not so easy for felling operators to extricate logs without damaging or partly destroying the forest soil. When forest tracks cannot be negotiated, the cable hauling technique enables large tree trunks to be carried long distances along the span of a cable. A taut metal cable is suspended above the ground between two pylons, at the top and bottom of the slope to be bridged. A mobile trolley driven along the cable by a winch is then attached to the logs. It’s worth noting that the main branches are quite often left behind to decompose at the place they were cut, thereby enriching the soil. The logs are thence transported to a flatbed lorry that takes them away.

The main advantage of this technique is of course its protection of the soil, indispensable to the preservation of the forest as an asset. When a heavy trunk is scraped across the soil it causes it a lot of surface damage as well as destroying flora and fauna over considerable areas. But the technique has other advantages too. It is more discreet than traditional methods because it makes less noise. It is less costly in fuel terms. And last but not least, although the equipment is quite costly, it turns out to be faster (100m³/day) and can be used in all kinds of weather, meaning weather conditions have less impact and felling campaigns have less trouble meeting their deadlines.

Watch this video for further information :

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^{*Vidéo Crédit : Commune forestière}

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