1,720,966 research outputs found
Ambiti applicativi della Precision Forestry
No full textPrecision Forestry is not yet well-known and spread in Italy By similarity with the Precision Agriculture, tools and aims of Precison Forestry are explained. Through some actual examples the limits in which the methodologies of the new discipline should be applied are analysed
Firewood cable yarding on steep terrain in alpine conditions
No full textThe utilization of coppice in the Alpine area is slowly but constantly raising, in order to satisfy the firewood requirements of the populations, both for individual and co-operative heating plants. To exploit also the coppice growing on steep terrain cable crane extraction should be envisaged. In order to evaluate the productivity and the operating costs of firewood cable yarding, a cable crane based on a sledge yarder has been tested in a beech coppice.
The length of the line was 650 m and the average slope was about 60%. The full tree system, in which the stems were felled, only partially delimbed and yarded, was adopted (the stems being processed at the landing site).
All the working operations (from survey to dismounting the line, including also manual felling) were considered and different times were measured. For each run the load was assessed in order to calculate the productivity of the system. The total and unit operating costs were estimated.
Total and unit costs were compared to market costs: when firewood has to be cut only for inhabitants requirements, the value is too low and the only way to operate economically is using European grant
Pianificazione delle utilizzazioni in boschi abbandonati
No full textThe creation of a new road with a prevalent feature of forest fire fighting in a valley in Trentino area has created the opportunity to reactivate, with sufficient levels of rationality and efficiency, the silvicultural operations required for the active management of coppice woods. In order to achieve this result it was necessary to plan interventions in order to maximize productivity, reducing costs and achieving the intended purposes (such as the annual quota of firewood for civic uses).
In this study, after defining the cable crane as the only means for the logging, simple GIS tools were used to define objective criteria for the location, the number of lines and the system design
Planning logging systems through site analysis
No full textStrategic planning for defining forest operations and for supporting decision on the
most appropriate forest equipments requires deep spatial analyses, especially in
mountains condition where the terrain and the forest stand characteristics change
in space and in time.
In order to evaluate the feasibility of forest logging systems and consequently the
estimation of their costs, a rough quantitative analysis was carried out by GIS
models. Since these GIS models, previously developed, have evidenced different
drawbacks associated to the low quality of digital data representing forest stand
volume, forest road network and terrain characteristics, topographic surveys were
used in order to reduce the gap of the quality of the digital data. In fact, it was
evidenced that spatial methods for enhancing the resolution and accuracy of the
model must require the support of global positioning analysis, in order to reduce so
inappropriate rough results and consequently to improve the quality of the spatial
investigation. Topographic surveys with global positioning equipments were tested
as primary investigations to link field site data to the digital spatial model. With the
aim to define a Decision Support System apt to be an useful tool for planning
forest operations, a methodology based on the integration between a GIS model
and field surveys was developed in a northern Italian alpine district
Un metodo tecnico-economico come ausilio alla determinazione della ripresa
Full text linkForest planning has always considered only ecological and sylvicultural criteria. The proposed yield determination method is based on which forest system (both cutting and skidding) fits better when working inside a specific forest stand. Two types of working costs are defined: financial ones, linked to economical investments, and administrative/forest ones due to yard characteristics and daily use of machines. The difference between costs and gain gives as result the «minimum yield» which is the wood amount that allows forest operations to be economical. Using technical and economical criteria when planning forest yield should help improve the Italian wood supply chain and make it more efficient
Different approaches on skidding operation and wood transport investigation:integrate two different approaches in one model
No full textIn order to support an international cooperation in forestry operation, the Forest department of University of Ljubljana and the department of Land, Agriculture and Forestry of University of Padua are validating together a DSS model on forest operation in alpine condition. The project consists on first into verify partial models, independently developed, on valuating skidding operations and transportation of wood,. Models validation consists in exchanging independent approaches and consequently evaluates the results according to individual previous investigations. Once differences have been highlighted, a common DSS model will be developed and consequently apply in a common border productive forest area. The aim of the project is to aid a road map in forest operations in an area where wood raw material is becoming more and more attractive for both wood industry sectors. As a consequent it is becoming fundamental the optimization on wood allocation in terms of wood quality, assortments and supply cost
Estimating forest harvesting operations to achieve sustainable rural development in Samarina (Greece)
Full text linkMountainous areas, with altitude over 700 m, intense relief and slopes between 16-20%, cover 43% of Greece and they are usually characterized by low population density and long-term unemployment. The Greeks have a dependent connection among environment, economy and society as the history illustrates. Many of Greece's historic, cultural landscapes and native ecosystems have been degraded or isolated over the years. There is scientific evidence that Greece's natural/semi-natural forested areas cannot be sustained without watersheds, ridges and other natural corridors that connect its native landscapes and ecosystems. Logging systems are really ancient by using often only mules or horses. The aim of the work is to estimate how harvesting systems should be technologically upgraded improving forest work and social wellness maintaining at the same time ecological sustainability. Approach: The study area is held at Samarina region, a mountainous area of Northern Pindos in Greece. Social data were collected with questionnaires and local visits for better understanding of human resources for forest authorities and other administrative information's. DTM, Forest Inventory data and other GIS data have been derived by paper maps and previous studies. A registration of road-net and human resources within the protected area of Valia Kyrna and their contribution as factors for the sustainable development was used. The development of a Spatial Decision Support System that can concern all the conditions that are need in order to make an estimation of the optimal way of harvest a stand is really a challenge. Expected results: A GIS program is a powerful decision support tool in order to give the opportunity to the offices of Forestry to choose the optimal way of harvesting a stand and also to realize visually the effect's of such a kind of work; that is going to be held to the inhabitants and to the tourists of the area. Conclusion: The potential of social and ecological factors is examined as it concerns the promotion of the protected area within sustainable rural development. Advantages of registration in the form of aspatial tool, especially when many types of information participate, are presente
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Comparison of biomass feedstock supply and demand in Northeast Italy
Full text linkThis study uses Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to estimate woody biomass supply
and demand in Northeast Italy. Demand is estimated using census data on boilers and
supply calculations are derived from data on timber harvests and mill operations. The
analysis is done with GIS using Large Scale Analysis at a broader resolution (for the entire
region) and Small Scale Analysis at a finer resolution (for the Primiero valley only), with
added information on tree species, road networks and logging systems. From large scale
analysis demand results to be about 163 000 MWh, corresponding to about 71 000 tonnes
per year of fuel, with a moisture content of 50 percent. As shown by results from a small
scale analysis, the Primiero valley has a deficit of 21 400 MWh. A more thorough analysis
shows that 93 percent of logging operations can be performed with cable cranes and that
high quality chips derived from forest biomass amount to only 335 MWh of energy (20
percent of the total). The deficit calculated at a small scale confirms the value obtained in
the large scale calculation.
Analysis of the demand-supply balance will be helpful for decision makers and politicians
and should be taken into account when allocating subsidies for new boilers or district
heatin
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