Cut-to-length logging

Cut-to-length logging (CTL) is a mechanized harvesting system in which trees are delimbed and cut to length directly at the stump.[1] CTL is typically a two-man, two-machine operation with a harvester felling, delimbing, and bucking trees and a forwarder transporting the logs from the felling to a landing area close to a road accessible by trucks.[2][3]

Tree harvester doing cut-to-length logging
(Click for video)
Forwarder

The capital costs for a typical CTL operation, with one harvester and one forwarder, are quite high. The price of a pair of machines alone are approx. US$1,000,000.

CTL is the primary logging method in European countries,[4] while full-tree logging and the even older technique of tree-length logging are more popular in North America and less developed countries, where tree sizes can exceed the capacity of the harvester's felling head, i.e., tree stems with a butt diameter of over 90 centimeters.[citation needed] CTL lends itself to timber harvesting in plantation forestry where stems are often harvested before they reach large dimensions.[4]

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