All About Forestry

Full-Cycle Life of a Forest

Forest management and growing forest crops is a long-term program, often spanning 40 to 100 years in the life of an Oregon forest, having four basic steps in a life-cycle that repeats: 1) site preparation, 2) reforestation, 3) intermediate treatments, and 4) harvesting.

“Logging”- Stages of a Harvest

Harvesting timber and other forest management activities in Oregon forests are commonly referred to as “logging.” Logging is the profession of cutting trees, moving them from stump to the road, in-forest manufacturing trees into logs & chip products, and then transporting the log products to timber mills far from the forestland. There are 16 different stages of a logging harvest operation.

Logging Harvest Systems

Cutting trees, moving trees to a roadside landing, manufacturing logs, and loading logs for trucking to a timber mill are part of a timber harvest system. There are six general types of timber harvest systems utilized in Oregon forests. Each one has a different system to move trees to a roadside landing for processing into logs. Six logging harvest systems, and their advantages, are described in this chapter.

Forestry Methods

This page describes the different scientifically-proven methods applicable for cutting to manage Oregon forests. These are time-proven “silvicultural methods” accepted by the professional Society of American Foresters—and these are the range of methods suited for the many different forest types across Oregon’s geographic regions.