Reducing harvest damage in hardwoods

It is not quite rare to do some damage to hardwoods. This is because damage can come from both soil disturbance and compaction and from direct injury to trees. Severe cases involve disturbance of merchantability, particularly where the butt log is concerned. There are damages that are more fatal, like knockdown, bending, main stem breakage and this results in great economic loss. As such, proper care for hardwoods must be taken. Meanwhile, one of the biggest factors that affects the amount of wounding to residual trees during selective harvest is the competency and care of the logger. The hardwood can be protected by means of avoiding harvesting during late winter through mid-summer and installing bumpers to keep skid loads away from valuable timber.