What is timber extraction & types of Timber Extraction?

What is Timber Extraction?

Wood used for engineering purposes like building houses, making furniture is called timber . The products derived from limber have been important to many civilizations, and thus it has acquired value within these civilizations. There has always existed a powerful incentive for individuals to capture the wood value of old growth timber.

Timber extraction results in deforestation and in the fragmentation of the last remaining forests. It harms valuable species of trees, birds and wild animals. In spite of this, it is sometimes necessary to extract timber, so as to meet the needs of a developing country. During the extraction of timber, cutting, felling and handling should be done selectively, carefully and in a planned manner, in order to save the remaining forests and biodiversity.

Types of Timber extraction:

(i)            Clear felling;

(ii)           Selective logging;

(iii)          Mechanized logging;

(iv)         Handlogging and

(v)          Reduced-impact logging.

Clear felling generally means the complete destruction of native forest, modifying it by harvesting commercial trees to create an even aged group and removing non-commercial trees, if required. Now, industrial timber logging is being done through clear felling all over the world.

In selective logging, only large individual trees of a few economically marketable species are harvested. The other trees are left untouched till the next harvesting. Although in selective logging only three to 10 of the tallest trees are targeted per hectare, the damage done may be as high as 50 per cent of the total forest areas because of the need to create access routes, dragging cut trees on the forest floor and lack of planning.

In mechanized logging, heavy machineries are used to pull, lift and transport the trees. This process can be used in clear felling or selective logging operations.

Hand-logging takes place in forests that are seasonally flooded or permanently water logged. In such conditions, heavy machinery cannot be used and commercial logging operations have to employ hand-logging.

Reduced-impact logging is now a common feature in industrialized nations where environmental damage can be minimized through the selection of site-sensitive techniques of harvesting and logging.

(Read about Effects of Timber Extraction)

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Case Study:

Chipko Movement: The world famous Chipko Movement, pioneered by Dasohli Gram Swarajya Mandal in Gopeshwar brought about a general awareness about conservation of forests. The first Chipko Movement dates back to 1731, when a village woman named Amrita Bai led the Bishnoi women against the Maharajas men to prevent them from cutting trees. In this attempt to save the trees, she sacrificed her life along with the lives of her husband, three daughters and 363 people. The movement was given this name because the village women embraced or hugged the trees to stop them from being cut. In 1972, in Uttar Pradesh, the Chipko Movement was led by Bachnoi Devi of Advani who protected the hill forests from the contractors axe men.

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