Low-impact forestry: 6 pieces of machinery to lighten the environmental impact of your work

MALWA

560 SERIES

MALWA manufactures efficient, compact forest machines for modern, minimal-impact forest management. Capable of moving between the trees in standing woods without requiring dedicated tracks, these machines seldom or never cause environmental damage. The fourth-generation models, introduced in 2020, feature a new 2.8-litre CAT engine that meets the demands of Euro 5/Stage V.

560H HARVESTER

• Built for contractors, with a powerful CAT engine that meets the new, stricter environmental requirements (EU Step V).
• Excellent cab and ergonomics.
• Big machine-class drive train and work hydraulics.
• Crane tilt and bogie lifter.
• Cut capacity: 42 cm with Log Max 928.
• Perfect for stand-operative first and second thinning. Leaves few or no tracks in forests and fields.

560F FORWARDER

• Stand-operative forwarder with a load capacity of 5.5 tonnes or 9 tonnes when combined with a trailer.
• Powerful CAT engine that meets the new, stricter environmental requirements (EU Step V).
• Choose between the FC45 with 6.1 metre reach or the FC45DT with 8.2 metre reach – professional cranes with excellent motion geometry.
• HSP grip or tilt grip.
• Small turning radius and excellent tracking translate into peerless driving properties in demanding terrain.
• With caterpillar tracks, simply unbeatable on sensitive ground and wetland.

560C COMBI

• Proven reliable, high-performance harvester and forwarder in one machine.
• Powerful CAT engine that meets the new, stricter environmental requirements (EU Step V).
• As a harvester, provides 42 cm cut capacity with a Log Max 928 harvester head.
• As a forwarder, it has a 5.5-tonne load capacity and HSP grip.
• Switching from harvester to forwarder takes just 20 minutes.

For more information, please visit www.malwaforest.com.

JAS P WILSON

JAK 200 TREE SHEAR AND FAE PML/HY MULCHER

COMPACT excavators are becoming a popular choice for many, notable for their versatility derived through their ability to attach and utilise a wide array of attachments, but also due to the compact nature of some base units. This system offers an excellent balance of performance and low impact.

Jas P Wilson’s has a range of attachments to cover all sizes of excavators, with options to forestry guard them in-house too. When working on sites where low impact is a key concern, attachments for machines sub 3 tonnes are of real value.

One such tool, packing huge power for its size, is the JAK 200 tree shear. This quality Finnish-made shear has been imported by Wilson’s for some five years now. In this time, it has built up a long list of owners covering a large cross-section of professional businesses who trust the performance and aftersales support owning a JAK tree shear delivers. At its core, this unit has a fixed Hardox steel blade, and a powerful dual-ram system for cutting standing timber of up to 20 cm (8”) across in one clean cut. The position of this blade allows the operator to cut very close to ground level, leaving very minimal stumps, giving maximum timber harvesting. This creates worksites which are very clean – ideal for first thinnings, infrastructure management and arboriculture. The blade can also be quickly unbolted to allow the shear to perform as a standard timber grab for handling logs or feeding machinery such as a crane-feed woodchipper.

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A shear paired with a compact mulcher is an ideal combination to manage a site. One such mulcher which would work alongside a JAK 200 is the FAE PML/HY 90. This unit will run at optimum performance on small sub-3-tonne units.

The PML/HY 90 is FAE’s smallest excavator mulcher, and is designed for working in areas of brash, bushes and sticks left behind from shearing duties. This mulcher can be equipped with a standard 8 cc or optional 16 cc motor for mounting on excavators ranging from 1.3 to 3.5 tonnes. There are various working widths available and with oil flow requirements starting off as low as 16 l per minute, this unit is suited to the compact excavators required for low-impact work.

For full details, please call Wilson’s on 01556 612233, visit www.jaspwilson.co.uk or email info@jaspwilson.co.uk.

TREADLIGHT FORESTRY

PORTABLE CAPSTAN WINCHES

PORTABLE capstan winches are a key tool when undertaking low-impact forestry work. Lightweight and portable, these machines can be carried onto site and set up in places where there is no access for larger machinery.

Portable capstan winches can be used for a number of tasks when carrying out low-impact forestry work. They can be used in assisted felling to make sure the tree to be felled lands in the required place, even if this is against the natural lean of the tree. This is very useful when doing selected felling or continuous cover forestry. The accuracy of the felling means there is less damage to the retained trees.

Portable capstan winches can also be used for extraction of timber. They are powerful enough and fast enough to extract large logs within a reasonable timeframe. This means that sites deemed uneconomic due to poor access or difficult terrain can be successfully managed and timber can be extracted in sufficient quantities to make the sites viable.

The environmental impact of extracting the timber is also reduced as there are fewer ruts created when using a portable capstan winch.

The PWC4000 is a brand-new model from the Portable Winch Company in Canada. It has a 50 cc Honda four-stroke engine and can generate 1,000 kg of straight-line pull. All this and it weighs only 12 kg. It also has an innovative built-in brake and automatic throttle, meaning the rope can be tensioned up and then held by the brake. This is very useful for assisted felling or extracting on slopes.

The EDER 1800 is Treadlight Forestry’s bestselling two-stroke model and is manufactured in Germany. It has a 65 cc 2 stroke engine and generates 1,800 kg of straight-line pull, making it the most powerful portable capstan winch Treadlight sells. It weighs 14 kg and also has a built-in brake and automatic throttle.

If you would like to learn more about portable capstan winches and how they can be used in low-impact forestry, contact Sion Jinkinson on 01824 538638, email contact@treadlightforestry.co.uk or visit www.treadlightforestry.co.uk.

FUELWOOD

UNIFOREST RANGE

FUELWOOD has recently added to its extensive range of forestry and firewood machinery by becoming UK agents for Uniforest.

Within the Uniforest range are its impressive forestry winches, available from 3.5-tonne to 10-tonne capacity, and its Skyline system, enabling low-impact extraction from the most inhospitable terrain. The Skyline system was designed for transporting timber by cable from steep, inaccessible slopes and can easily be adapted to suit, and be installed upon, any terrain. This method of extraction can span long distances, leaving little to no impact on the remaining forest. There is also the Mini-Skyline or Cableway system, a smaller-scale version based around the 85HS forestry winch with an additional front-mounted drum. This variant of cable extraction system can still be used to extract timber from smaller sites where minimal impact to the remaining environment is essential. All essential accessories are available through Fuelwood, including cables, pulleys, chains, sliders, etc.

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Also within the range of machines offered by Fuelwood are the FTG Forest and the Avesta Vagnen timber trailers and cranes. These smaller forwarding trailers enable access into areas where larger units can’t go. As these trailers only require smaller tractors on the front end, while still being able to carry decent loads of timber out of the woods, impact to the forest is minimised. Optional accessories that can be specified onto these smaller trailers include: crane-mounted winches, brakes and road lights, additional bunks, bed extensions, insert plates for brash transportation, LED working lamps, chainsaw holders, and operator platforms. The full selection of timber trailers offered by Fuelwood ranges from 1 tonne to 15 tonnes in capacity.

For more information on Fuelwood’s range of forestry and firewood machinery, visit www.fuelwood.co.uk or call the team on 01926 484673.

FORS MW

FARMA T 17

THE recently launched T 17 from Farma is the latest addition to its market-leading range of forestry trailers.

The T 17 was designed on the back of market and customer demands for a longer and lighter trailer. Due to its unique flexible bunk, the T 17 can be set to carry various wood lengths, from bays of 1-metre firewood seen in Europe to bays of 3-metre firewood now demanded in many markets. There is also a choice of bolsters; the traditional bended post design comes as standard with the the forwarder-type bolster available as an option.

Due to a bed length of 5,400 mm, a loading area of 3.2 m3, and with a ground clearance of 630 mm, this trailer works efficiently in the forest environment. The steering drawbar gives a good 40-degree steering angle.

The T 17 offers a broad variety of tyre options, from the standard width of 500 mm up to a low-compaction width of 710 mm. The trailer is available with options for a drive system such as Robson or Hydro drive, and various control systems have also been added.

Many other options are available on request, such as air brakes, toolboxes, extra lighting, and chainsaw holders.

For more information, please contact tom.belton@forsmw.com or visit www.forsmw.com.

BOBCAT

FRC150ST forestry cutter attachment

BOBCAT has extended the company’s new range of forestry cutter attachments with a third model – the FRC150ST – for use on the smaller Bobcat S630/H and S650/H skid-steer loaders and T590/H and T650/H compact tracked loaders.

The FRC150ST complements Bobcat’s FRC150HT and FRC200HT high-torque forestry cutter attachments, which are compatible with the larger Bobcat T770H and T870H compact track loaders and S770H and S850H skid-steer loaders, providing cutting widths of 1.5 and 2.0 m, respectively.

Based on feedback from the field, the 1.5 m wide FRC150ST incorporates many improvements over the previous FRC150 model. Among the improvements, the FRC150ST is manufactured almost entirely from Hardox, with a specially designed new fixed motor offering greater output and efficiency. The enhanced design also offers a new, lighter drum, with carbide teeth, new hose routing and greater performance and manoeuvrability.

The FRC150ST forestry cutter mulches trees and underbrush in minutes − leaving a carpet of mulch behind when clearing trees and bushes for any kind of application. The variable front gate can be adjusted to provide the coarseness or fineness of mulch that the finishing requires.

Providing a cutting width of 1.5 m, the FRC150ST forestry cutter is designed for continuous work on bushes and trees 100 to 120 mm in diameter, intermittent use for trees with a diameter from 150 to 200 mm and occasional use on trees 220 to 260 mm in diameter.

Powered by a new high-performance motor, the 1.5 m drum on the FRC150ST forestry cutter is equipped with 30 fixed long-life carbide teeth. Other new features include three rows of counter cutters, a new adjustable push bar configuration, a new reinforced chain protection system at the back; a new HD belt cover, new adjustable skid shoes, a debris and seal application kit, an automatic drum brake system, an ACD control system and a patented fixed-knife rotor with tungsten carbide tips.

For more information on Bobcat and Bobcat products, visit www.bobcat.com.

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