Logging is Logging in Russia

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Forest is one of the richest resources in Russia, which is confirmed by the high volumes of its exports. By the way, products manufactured on the basis of this raw material ranks seventh in the industrial sector. The process of manufacturing products of this kind begins with logging - this is a key branch of the national economy, providing for an extensive range of technological and organizational measures.

Preparing for the organization of logging

At the first stage of organizing logging, a project is developed with tasks and resources that can be spent at the stage of its implementation. Further, in accordance with the tasks, a territory for deforestation is selected. Logging sites are called lumberjacks, allotments, plots, and logging sites. In essence, this is a section of the forest where, at a minimum, trees should be cut down. If we are talking specifically about industrial harvesting, then the siteselected at a distance from populated areas. In some cases, conditions are also set for choosing a site of an ecological nature - for example, by distance from polluting enterprises, landfills or landfills with household waste. But in this context, it should be taken into account that logging is not necessarily a site for cutting down trees for further production needs. These may also be territories cleared for economic reasons. For example, if you need to thin out the array from young and dead wood.

Industrial logging technology

Infrastructure for full-fledged logging is organized on the selected site for the plot. What does it include? As a minimum, special areas for the storage of materials and free ways for their transportation should be provided. On modern lumberjacks, conditions are also provided for the basic processing of logs. These are machines on which trees get rid of knots, sawn into pieces of the desired length and, in some cases, cleaned of bark. Further, the logging technology provides for the storage, drying and rejection of the material. Depending on the conditions and logistics requirements, sometimes it is more appropriate to transport raw logs. The cost of moving a heavier resource can justify itself, since the quality of processing in specialized conditions at the target enterprise, as a rule, exceeds the level of technological support for similar tasks directly at logging.

Applied equipment

Timber harvesting with technicalpoint of view, the process is time-consuming and resource-intensive. If earlier felling trees was carried out with an ordinary saw and an ax, today the simplest arsenal of a lumberjack consists of gasoline and electric chain saws, and high-tech enterprises use computerized harvesters and machines for stacking logs. In both cases, the human role remains significant as the organizer of the entire felling process. The foreman determines the parameters of the cut, its direction and the rate of harvesting. The forest falls in the direction opposite to the side where the main equipment is placed. This point is determined before the start of the cut, since the choice of the place of fall should also be based on the requirements for the conditions for further processing of the tree. At the next stage, a group of delimbers is involved, which clean the log. In this operation, chain saws can also be used, and for mechanized processing, harvesters (harvesters). The movement of logs on the working platform is carried out by a forwarder (tractor-loader).

Use of logging materials

Harvested logs can be used for a variety of purposes. As a rule, even at the stage of the logging project, the possibilities for the future use of raw materials are taken into account. The nature of the primary processing at logging in accordance with the requirements of the customer will also depend on this. Among the main types of products, in the manufacture of which raw materials from logging sites are used, the following can be distinguished:

• Building lumber. logs,boards, beams, beams, veneer, lamellas, etc. Materials undergo not only mechanical molding to certain parameters, but also thermal and sometimes chemical processing processes in order to give the product the necessary performance.
• Pulp and paper products. One of the largest segments of the timber industry, requiring more precise and fine processing of blanks to produce paper, cardboard, pulp, etc.
• Furniture industry. Another major area in which logging products from different stages of processing are used. As technology develops, so do the requirements for the raw materials used.
• Production of pellets. Relatively new and just emerging industry in Russia, which uses mostly logging waste. Pellets are a sustainable biofuel that is made by pressing and molding recycled sawdust and bark.

Logging as a type of business

The process of logging should be considered as a line of business activity associated with felling, skidding and processing of the forest. Such activities can only be carried out within their own possessions - in the economic zone. Moreover, it is not always possible to obtain ownership of such plots due to existing restrictions on the part of regulatory documents on the protection of natural resources. The fact is that logging is not only an activity aimed at making a profit, but alsoreduction of one of the country's natural resources. On the other hand, this industry also has advantages for the state of forestry as a whole. For example, spot-cutting stimulates a natural process of renewal and reforestation with economically beneficial use of trees.

Forest Fund of Russia

In this case, the fund means the entire set of forest resources, as well as industrial facilities, one way or another connected with the harvesting and processing of trees. About 1/4 of the world's forest reserves are concentrated in Russia, which in terms of area corresponds to 45% of the country's territory. As for the composition of forest-forming species, which in principle are suitable for harvesting, they mainly include conifers - cedar, pine, spruce, etc. The composition of the fund is heterogeneous in terms of purpose. In Russia, forestry and logging are mainly focused on the needs of industrial harvesting and further chemical and mechanical processing. However, the general structure of the fund is also made up of field-protective, protected, recreational and water-protective forests. Such massifs are not used for the needs of industry, but technological methods of logging can also be applied to them, only for other purposes of maintaining the economy.

Logging regions in Russia

Most of the operating enterprises are located in the Siberian and North-Western parts of the country. Recently, there has been a displacement of small companies due to a decrease in the share of usable wood, so the points of new production are already in the projects.are guided by the development of the array in the productive areas of the North-East. Selective logging based on traditional methods with non-motorized tools dominates in the Southern and North Caucasian districts. A number of projects are also planned at the facilities of existing enterprises in the Irkutsk region. As part of the pilot campaigns, it is planned to increase the intensification of the reproduction of the forest area, which should increase the volume of harvesting of wood raw materials in the future.

Timber harvesting in Russia

Indicators of production volumes of timber processing enterprises are heterogeneous and depend on many factors - from the level of local infrastructure to the technological nuances of the organization of work. Nevertheless, thanks to investment projects, the total figure has been increasing in recent years. In particular, the annual average volume of logging is about 200 million m3. The share of over 80% of this timber comes from production facilities located on leased territories. The annual increase in volume is explained by the fact that most of the investment projects are aimed at modernizing the capacities of the technical base, which steadily increases the efficiency of enterprises.

Problems of logging in Russia

Low rationalization of the processing of raw materials is considered one of the key problems of the forest industry. Suffice it to say that only a quarter of the total volume of blanks is eventually sent to the target production. The finished product is obtained from 10-15% of the material. However, as alreadyIt was noted that logging is not only felling in order to obtain certain products. In addition, waste in the form of knots, needles and bark also find application - in the same fuel pellets.

Development of logging in Russia

In the development of investment projects and business plans for the organization of timber processing enterprises, the questions of increasing the energy efficiency of production and optimizing technological processes are increasingly being raised. On the basis of timber harvesting, a transition to more intensive models of use and reproduction of plantations is systematically carried out. These and other measures in the future will help to achieve sufficient optimization of the production sector, which will allow, with minimal power and energy costs, to produce the established estimated volume of raw materials and at the same time ensure stable reproduction of working arrays.

Conclusion

High volumes of logging products and a steady demand for wood raw materials make this industry attractive for entrepreneurs of various levels. At the same time, logging in Russia is still not able to demonstrate the ability to rational production and multi-cycle processing. This is partly due to underdeveloped infrastructure and technological backwardness, but in most cases, the transition to more efficient production models in this sector does not justify itself economically. That is why in recent years innovative projects have been launched to change the current situation, both in the environmentmanufacturers and the sawn timber market as a whole.