Forestry mechanization: a driving force for active forest management

Italy's vast forest wealth is definitely undervalued economically. This is why the country imports large quantities of wood from abroad every year. Technology, forestry and training are needed to take advantage of this precious resource

In Italy, more than a third of the territory, something like 11 million hectares, is covered by forests that in most cases are considered of little value compared to the enormous potential they possess to produce income, protect the environment and preserve biodiversity. In short, here, unlike many other countries nearby, it is problematic to quantify and monetize that set of positive elements linked to forest management, today widely recognized as ecosystem services. These services include, in addition to the production of a wide range of renewable raw materials (primarily wood), a wide range of positive environmental (CO₂ storage, biodiversity, landscape, etc.) and social (sport, tourism and relaxation) impacts. Focusing on the wood economy, presently in Italy wood harvesting accounts for approximately 18-37% of the annual growth of forest biomass compared to a Southern European average of around 62-67% and, as a direct consequence, a significant percentage of the quantities of wood used for domestic heating (net of firewood from self-supply outside of commercial circuits) and collective heating (district heating), and for the production of electricity from imports from abroad.

What we have described here above is defined among industry experts as the “biomass paradox”. In short, we have a vast wealth of forest that we place little value on, and we import large quantities of wood from abroad. Suffice it to say that the national production of biomass, from logging operations and, to a much lesser extent, from special tree crops (poplar) is estimated at around 4-5 million t/year. Whereas estimated consumption is along the order of 20 million t/year, and "official" imports amount to around 2.5-3 million t/year.

There is thus a huge discrepancy (along the order of 10 million t/year) between real and theoretical consumption due to unreported imports from other European Union countries, forestry uses that escape statistical detection, as well as from the recycling of used wood and waste from the wood industry.

The are multiple reasons for this serious Italian delay in the forest-wood-energy production chains and they have to do mainly with cultivation issues (these could be overcome with efficient practices) and structural issues (could be resolved with investments in technologies). It is known that the Italian forestry industry is complicated by the morphology of the wooded areas (mainly spread in mountainous zones), by the insufficient forest road network, by the lack of processing centers and by the limited use of modern mechanization.

For example, speaking with Raffaele Spinelli (researcher at CNR IBE) - an expert in woodland mechanization and construction techniques - it appears that "the conversion of the Apennine coppice woods into uneven-aged forests began at least 50 years ago, driven by the economic, social and cultural changes that accompanied the industrialization of the country". However, such a large-scale push has not been matched by sufficient adaptation in the expected products and in forestry practices. "Coppicing still represents a form of management widely practiced in the Apennines, but – explains the CNR researcher – it no longer dominates the forestry landscape of central-southern Italy as in the past and unevenly aged forests are now a very widespread situation". Among the benefits that can be obtained through conversion to tall trees, one of the most important is the one related to a better development of the wood product, which reaches sizes that allow its transformation into high-quality assortments, possibly also suitable for structural use. In this case the benefit is twofold: a better price than firewood and a much more durable carbon immobilization. Yet, another paradox, much of the wood obtained from our unevenly aged forests today ends up as firewood or wood chips. This is partly due to a positive search for renewable energy sources that are less polluting and expensive than fossil fuels, but especially because the technologies used for wood harvesting and the professionalism of the operators are still closely linked to the firewood supply chain. In fact, many of our lumberjacks do not know how to work with long material, and in any case do not have the equipment to do so. Thus: wood is cut to a meter length, mules and tractors drag cages and when the pieces are too long and heavy, they are split in two with a chainsaw. With such dynamics, 50 years of work on conversions sadly fades away, ultimately yielding the same old firewood, but obtained through more complicated and exhausting procedures.

Spinelli again comforts us by reminding us that “technological solutions exist and in great abundance”. To put companies and professionals from central and southern Italy to a practical test, the PEI For Invicta Operational Group (Resilient Forest), the CNR IBE, the University of Tuscia and the La Foresta Cooperative organized a demonstration day last August in Abruzzo on the Altopiano delle Cinquemiglia, in the Municipality of Rocca Pia (L'Aquila). The demonstration was conducted on one of the numerous unevenly aged beech forests that surround the plateau, forming a spectacular wooded crown. The steep slope of the land and the absence of roads at the top or along the hillside require that logging be done downhill, which in these conditions is normally carried out by pack animals with mules, cutting all the wood into one-meter pieces. Hence the interest in promoting the use of forestry cableways, represented in this specific case by a Greifenberg Mediterranea 3t, a machine that is both light and high-performance with a 500 m load-bearing cable (20 mm diameter) and a 100 horsepower VM engine. The cableway was equipped with a 2-ton capacity “Transporter” motorized trolley and a lifting winch powered by a reliable 38 horsepower Yanmar engine. As expected, the motorized trolley and 3-cable cableway worked very smoothly and quickly, quickly filling the delivery area, which was served by a Neuson 9000 processor equipped with a Logmax header.

Extremely special work options were also used: the demonstration also included helicopter logging, performed by the Eliabruzzo company with their Aérospatiale AS 350 Ecureuil. During the morning, the helicopter made about twenty trips, carrying approximately 700 kg of wood per trip, attached to the central hook. All the loads had been prepared the day before, already tied with synthetic fiber straps, in order to speed up the work cycles and reduce the cost of logging to a minimum. The beech trunks were cut into lengths of 3 or 4 m so that they could be transformed into structural timber. This work was performed out by a Woodmizer LT40 Wide mobile sawmill, which produced enough lumber during the day to fill a three-axle truck. Mounted on a road trailer and equipped with a 38 horsepower petrol engine, this sawmill can be quickly moved between different industrial or in-forest location worksites. This is one way to overcome the lack of industrial sawmills capable of handling the logs coming from the new unevenly aged forests. Moreover, one of the major obstacles to the advantageous use of the valuable wood in Italy is precisely the lack of such sawmills. The globalization of markets and the disconnect between forestry and the wood industry have in fact led to the closure of the vast majority of large and small facilitiess that once populated the valleys in Italy, creating income and jobs. "This problem can be solved by providing small entrepreneurs with modern, light and inexpensive machines, which can start the right-minded path conceived many years ago, yet never undertaken. We now have tall forests – concludes Raffaele Spinelli: to take advantage of the magnificent opportunity that these offer us, however, we must work on technology, forestry and training".

EIMA International plays a very important role in this contaxt, by providing information, spreading the use of good practices and promoting the most innovative forestry technologies currently available, which are now indispensable for the active and eco-compatible management of Italian forests.