would allow production 

 orchards to be bypassed 

 entirely and would hasten 

 the deployment of superior 

 stock. Mass vegetative 

 propagation of loblolly pines 

 by any means is not now 

 feasible, either biologically 

 or economically, but it is 

 likely to become a reality in 

 the next decade (Talbert 

 and others 1984). 



Harvesting and logging 

 research has included 

 building prototypes and 

 field testing many pieces of 

 equipment in cooperation 

 with various equipment 

 companies. One 

 cooperative project between 

 industry and the Forest 

 Service is the attempt to 

 develop a whole-tree chip 

 harvester to produce fuel 

 chips from the forest 

 biomass residual left after 

 commercial harvest of 

 merchantable stands. In 

 addition to this cooperative 

 effort, Georgia-Pacific has 

 been working individually 

 on a similar concept. 



To accomplish one of the 

 South's major silvicultural 

 jobs-pine stand 

 thinnings-International 

 Paper Company has been 

 working with Timberline 

 Equipment Company to 

 develop a thinner-harvester. 

 The machine has 

 successfully thinned 

 thousands of acres of 



southern pine stands but 

 has not been accepted in 

 the trade. Limiting factors 

 include its price, 

 interference in operation 

 caused by topography, and 

 the complexity of training 

 operators. 



The American Pulpwood 

 Association's Harvesting 

 Research Program, started 

 in 1968, is an outstanding 

 example of an industry 

 cooperative. The program 

 was originally funded by six 

 companies, pledging 

 $50,000 each per year for 5 

 years. The project continued 

 from July 1967 until 

 November 1 973, attracting 

 eight additional companies 

 as sponsors. 



Research was undertaken 

 in four major areas: 

 equipment development, 

 harvesting systems 

 evaluation, forest-stand 

 simulations, and 

 nonphysical factors 

 affecting harvesting 

 efficiency. This last subject 

 seems to have caused 

 divisiveness in the project 

 because it centered on the 

 difficult areas of human 

 behavior and motivation. It 

 pointed out the value of 

 operator training and safety 

 and led to training programs 

 by equipment 

 manufacturers and a Forest 

 Harvesting Training Center 

 at Long Beach, MS, 



33 



