Copter Logged : Taking Timber by Air Cuts Need for Roads, Chance for Damage

SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. — As logging goes, this is a pretty dainty affair.

The burly guys with the suspenders, spiked boots and chain saws are still on hand. But in Sequoia National Forest, they are using a massive helicopter--capable of lifting 10,000 pounds if the weather is right--as a key part in the logging of 556 acres. It is used to fly logs cut on the steep slopes across from Camp Wishon to loading zones.

Using the helicopter means they do not have to cut a new road into the area or drag the logs with a bulldozer, the most common method.

And if you look at the helicopter-logged area from a nearby hillside, it is tough to see any evidence of logging.

“All we’re doing is picking and plucking,” said Del Pengilly, district ranger in the forest’s Tule River Ranger District. Cutting a road into the steep slope would have meant using a bulldozer to make some deep switchbacks into a hillside across from a popular campground, thereby increasing the chance of erosion.

‘Proper Logging Method’

“This is the proper logging method for this hillside,” said Paul Miller, Forest Service sale administrator.

But using a helicopter costs about five times as much as using a bulldozer.

“The only way that operation washes (makes a profit) is due to the fact of the quality of the pine,” said Larry Duysen, logging superintendent for Sierra Forest Products in Terra Bella, which bought the timber.

It is old-growth pine with few knots that can be made into top-quality products. It is the type of wood used for window frames, door jambs and molding, he said.

And the steep slopes are most likely to be home of that old growth. “The more easily accessible areas have been harvested over the years,” Duysen said.

Younger Trees Left

Said Miller: “We’re taking some 300-year-old trees, but we’re leaving some 150- to 200-year-old ones.”

Carla Cloer of the Kern-Kaweah chapter of the Sierra Club said she would like to see more use of helicopters in logging but is concerned about logging debris, replanting and seeing the old-growth trees cut.

“It’s possible to do a lot of damage with helicopter logging,” she said. “It depends on how you do it. It’s not a panacea. We’re going to be really watching this (timber) sale to see how they carry it out.”

Once the trees are cut, they are cleaned up, their weight is calculated, and cables are attached to the logs so they can be lifted out.

The ground crews use mirrors and radios to guide the helicopter trailing a 200-foot cable with an electrically controlled hook to the right location.

“The biggest thing is being conscious of the rate of descent,” said Sean Gavin, command pilot for Columbia Helicopters.

If the helicopter moves down too fast, it may not be able to stop. The helicopter sometimes dumps loads. Speed is also critical. To be economical, the helicopter needs to keep up a good pace in bring the logs out.

The logs are flown to a small clearing beside a road, lowered to the ground and dropped. A front-end loader moves the logs out of the drop zone and stacks them for trucks to pick up.