The book brings together information on harvest methods, system productivity, and methods for conducting safe, efficient, and environmentally acceptable operations in tropical forests. It highlights the challenges of harvest operations in the tropics, includes techniques that have been shown to be successful, and discusses newer technologies. The book is a reference for those interested in planning and management of tropical forests. Numerical examples are provided to provide clarity for interpreting graphs, procedures, and formulas. The book covers harvest systems from planning for felling to log transport from the forest, and concludes with considerations in selecting the appropriate harvesting technology.
John Sessions is University Distinguished Professor and Stewart Professor of Forest Engineering at Oregon State University. His forestry career spans five decades, forest operations on five continents, including experience in each of the main tropical forest regions. He has demonstrated logging methods in Jamaica, was harvesting manager in the Amazon, conducted reduced impact logging evaluations in Malaysia, transportation planning workshops in Africa and logging feasibility studies throughout tropical Latin America from Costa Rica and Colombia to northwest Argentina. He is joined by coauthors who have a combined experience in more than 60 countries.