ProBefahr - Forecast model for the navigability of forest sites
- Contact:
- Funding:
Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) über die Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. (FNR)
- Partner:
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Fakultät für Forstwissenschaften und Waldökologie, Abteilung Arbeitswissenschaft und Verfahrenstechnologie
Motivation:
Climate change is one of the key challenges of our time and makes it necessary to develop new solutions, particularly in the management of our forests. In order to achieve greater resilience to the ever shorter intervals between storm events and longer periods of drought, forest management is increasingly focussing on age-structured mixed forests and (at the same time) the use of tree species that are better adapted to the climate.
In addition to the resulting more demanding operating conditions, a key challenge for the provision of timber in the context of climate change is that the time window with optimal conditions for the necessary management measures is becoming ever smaller. The consequences of driving on forest soils under less than optimal operating conditions can be soil compaction and the associated reduction in site productivity as well as deformation of the topsoil (rutting) and the resulting increase in erosion and loss of the technical accessibility of logging roads.
In some federal states, there are now specifications for the use of machinery, such as a certain track depth that may not be exceeded on a certain percentage of the skid trails and/or that certain (additional) machine equipment, such as minimum tyre width or bogie belts, must be used. In addition to such technical measures, organisational measures in particular also offer potential for optimising the use of the access network. It is in this area, in which innovative sensor technology will open up a multitude of new possibilities in the future, that the planned joint project will focus.
Goal:
The aim of this research project is to develop a prediction model for the trafficability of different forest sites depending on the machine equipment, the characteristics of use as well as current and predicted climatic and site conditions. The focus here is on fully mechanised timber harvesting with harvesters and forwarders for the provision of short timber using the cut-to-length (CTL) method. In contrast to previous approaches, the aim is to develop and evaluate solutions that can be used to determine a suitable time for the forwarder to harvest the timber while the harvester is still in operation, taking into account the condition of the skid trail.
Funding:
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) via the Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR) under the funding codes 2222NR017A/2222NR017B.