Table 2. — Yearly halloon logging statistics 



Year 



Timber 

 removed 

 M bd.ft, 

 (m3) 



Percent 

 productive 

 hoursl/ 



Turns per 

 productive 

 hour 



Pieces per 

 productive 

 hour 



Balloon 

 yarding cost 

 $/M bd.ft.^ 



Total cost 

 to get logs 



to deck 

 $/M bd.ft.^ 



1971 



3,533 



67 







5 



30 



14 



99 



47 



44 



62 



78 





(15,986) 















(10 



48) 



(13 



87) 



1972 



6,290 



67 



3 



6 



08 



17 



59 



42 



44 



58 



33 





(28,462) 















■ (9 



38) 



(12 



89) 



1973 



3,233 



70 



6 



5 



27 



20 



75 



54 



49 



72 



37 





(14,629) 















(12 



04) 



(15 



99) 



Total yarding hours including delays divided by total hours logged by yarder times 

 100. 



■^Balloon yarding cost including landing and road change costs. 



^Total cost to get the logs to the deck (this includes cutting, yarding, road changes, 

 landings, slashing, mobilization, administration, and bedding costs, but does not include 

 stumpage .costs) . 



The helicopter system of logging is a high consumer of fuel compared to balloon 

 logging. This could lead to a relative change in the economics of helicopter logging, 

 if fuel prices continue to rise or if fuel shortages occur. 



At present, the balloon system would appear to have applications in areas of the 

 Rocky Mountains where the terrain is not as dissected as Anderson Creek and timber 

 volumes per acre and average piece size are sufficiently large to justify this system 

 economically. The use of clearcutting harvesting techniques would help raise volume 

 per acre when environmentally sound. However, for this sale, the need for an overstory 

 removal harvesting technique made the economics of balloon logging marginal when compared 

 to prices received for finished timber products. 



PUBLICATIONS CITED 



Gardner, R. B. , G. L. Jacobsen, and W. S. Hartsog. 



1973. Balloon logging. Agric. Eng. 54(2): 14-17. 

 Mcintosh, J. A. 



1968. Production analysis of balloon logging. For. Prod. J. 18 (10) : 35-41 . 



■ir U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE:1978— 777-095 / 4 



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