The guideline was produced for British Columbia but contains useful information for all managers interested in harvesting of conventional roundwood and biomass
The manual begins with an explanation of what integrated harvesting is. An overview is then provided of the common end products from roadside residues, being hog fuel, chips, pellets and firewood. A discussion takes place on the different components of the residue, concentrating on tops, long butts and brush. Attention is then given to the machinery and transportation used to process, load and haul the biomass. This includes horizontal grinders, tub grinders, electric options, loaders, chippers and micro-chippers, and even runs comparisons of different machines. With the transport, the focus is on B-trains, walking floors and bins.
The remainder of the document focusses on best practice of the primary and secondary harvester. The best practice of the primary harvester deals with planning, roads and pile management. The pile management focus considers pile formation, best practices for piling, road grades and cut slope height. The best practice for the secondary harvester considers planning (communication, roads and legal aspects), techniques (grind to truck, grind to ground, residue chipping and unprocessed collection with off-site processing), contaminants (inorganics and moisture) and post-secondary harvest.
The publication is titled “Best Management Practices for Integrated Harvesting Practices in British Columbia”. It is published as Special Publication SP-531 and the authors are Stuart Spencer and Dominik Roser. It can be accessed at https://issuu.com/fpinnovations/docs/integrated_harvest_operations_in_bc