A felling
damage happens by the felling and processing of a tree to the tree itself and
to neighboring trees and values.
With
motor-manual felling (a), the tree falls down forming a quadrant.
The axis of
this movement originates at the aptly, called “hinge”. As it falls, the tree
develops a high dynamic force.Any obstacle in its way is in serious danger.
If another tree is hit, it will be broken or wounded. If that occurs, a damage
has been inflicted on the environment - not to the human being itself. Very
often, this devaluation is not important: yet, if the injured tree is
particularly valuable, then an important financial damage has also occurred.
With
machine felling (b) – using a feller or a harvester – , the tree is cut from
its root, lifted a little bit and pulled towards the machine position. As a
result, the wide tree crown falls mostly in the void left by the cut tree – where
now there is little that could be damaged.
Experience
shows that by this procedure, the risk of inflicting felling damage to the
remaining stand has turned nearly to zero.
If the
machine is strong enough to lift the tree upright (c), it can move it out of
the stand and lay it down where there is no risk of damaging anything. This
procedure is applied when the driver wants to spare clumps of regeneration
developing under the cut tree.
This proves
that machines are able to reduce site damage, opposite to the common feeling of
public, provided that the driver is sufficiently competent and careful.
