View from the harvesting machine as it enters the forest. Wesley guides the machine towards the first extraction line. See how small the trees look from up here.
The thinning at Inisconnell is progressing and as the trees are felled, the light is flooding into the forest. Wesley is an experienced machine driver and he does little or no damage to the remaining trees. This is so important as these trees will not only be used to bring in revenue for the forest owner but also will serve to nurse up the seedlings that will come into the forest over time.
View from behind. As the machine works its way through the forest, light begins to flood in to the trees.
Working with a harvesting machine as opposed to a chainsaw operator, change happens fast. As the harvested trees are felled, the machine strips off the side branches in one swift movement. These are then piled behind the machine to minimize damage when the heavy logs are collected. These tracks will become the permanent ‘extraction racks’ for future thinning operations.
Logs placed along the edge of the forest rack, waiting to be collected at the next stage of thinning.
You might be thinking to yourself that this method isn’t exactly ‘close-to-nature’. I’ll be writing more about this in future posts when the operations in the forest have finished and there is more time for sitting at the computer!
Harvesting machine at the end of the working day. There's not much 'close-to-nature' about this beast!
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