Logs take wing at Yatawatta

By Carl Muller

I was not at this James Finlay's-owned estate to discuss the soil, although this becomes very much a part of this story. I wished to see the application of a technique that had been promoted by the GTZ and the Estate Forest & Water Resources Development Project (EFWRDP), Kandy, over several years. It is a technique that protects the soil cover and veritably makes logs fly!

Turning into the forest plantation of Yatawatta Estate, the red road plunges downslope. All around are huge kapok and, in the valley, over-matured rubber that, as the manager said, is now totally unproductive. Some of these trees have stood for over 50 years. On the road, beside a dip that takes the tree-line coursing down to a far-off gully to meet a towering tree-clad peak, stands a bright red Igland Alp - a cable logging system with cable crane; a tough, stalwart machine which, I am told, is the only one of its kind in Sri Lanka. Also, a smaller yellow and black loading trailer with a hydraulic crane mounted on it. Together, the machines are hauling and loading logs - logs that are up to 20 feet in length.

The significance of such an operation needs to be considered, since what was taking place at Yatawatta was of absolute relevance to the timber trade in this country. The old harvesting method was wasteful and inadequate when it came to the supply of timber. It was also disastrous to the soil. Trees would be felled, allowed to crash down, bringing down other, younger trees with the impetus of their fall. The fallen trees would then be chopped into "manageable lengths" - no more than six feet - and these lengths dragged upslope by elephants or manoeuvred downslope by lever or manually. A long, laborious process and, furthermore, a considerable destruction of soil cover, especially in the haulage. What is more, the "manageable" 6-ft lengths did not give the timber mills the required lengths of board. It has always meant that this country has had to import wood of 10 ft, 15 ft and 20 ft lengths from other countries even though we could cut these necessary log-lengths here. But the problem was in the haulage.

All this can be solved, obviously, with the correct technology. The EFWRDP has been actively promoting such technology and, as the project's Team Leader said, he was delighted that Udapussellawa Plantations Ltd., of which Yatawatta Estate is a part, had brought in the machines. "What you see is a demonstration," he said, "the men are being now trained to handle the crane, the winches, etc., and you will see how simple it all is."

Simple as ABC, actually. James Finlay's forester, John Corrieri, an Italian-born Scot with a wealth of experience, directed operations. With him was Priya Gunawardena, Forestry Co-ordinator of James Finlay's Plantation Holdings Ltd. John is the picture of the tough, outdoors man. He has worked in Kenya, Bangladesh and for the Forestry Commission of Scotland. "This system is ideal for this country," he said. "In the Central Province, estate forests don't occupy level land. Often they run down the steepest slopes, skip ravines and big gullies. In felling and hauling logs there is a lot of destruction of terrain."

What the Igland Alp represents is a stout tower with cables drawn to higher-elevation trees to take the strain, and with radiating cables downslope. The winch cable, with its haul-in and haul-back lines has its own flexibility, being moored to a point where felling takes place. "The trees are first cut to desired lengths by chain saw," Gunawardena said. "As the felled tree is sheared, the hoist hauls up each length clear off the ground and high into the air, drawing it all the way upslope to the road. Soil cover is protected and damage is reduced to a minimal strip under the cable corridor." Each sawn length simply flies up and along the cable. Truly, the flying logs of Yatawatta!

Logs continued to travel, up and over, for up to a range of 350 metres, and John said that this could be extended to 600 metres. "Also, the machine can draw in a maximum load of two tons."

Once brought to the road, the smaller machine uses its mounted crane to grab each log length, pile it into the cribbed platform and take each load away. What I witnessed was a swift, environmentally friendly technique that made certain that the soil cover remained intact. Also, it was an amazingly swift operation and conducted at an expected cost of below Rs. 500 per cu.m. of timber.

James Finlay's have invited planters of other plantation companies and staff of the Forest Department to view a demonstration of this technique, and, as the EFWRDP Team Leader said, the deployment of such machines among the plantation companies would be a tremendous boost to private forestry.

Of significant importance is the fact that kapok timber can now be peeled for plywood. "Both the overmature rubber and the kapok we are now felling are to be peeled for plywood," the manager said. "We are delivering the logs to a plywood processing factory."

"And what about transportation? Are you permitted to carry such timber?"

"No problem," he smiled, "there is no licence needed for the moving of rubber wood or kapok."

Real value of kapok

"And what will you do after felling?"

"We will replant with coconut. The plan is to put 15 to 20 hectares under coconut per year. The CRI has already given us its report which says that the soil is very favourable for coconut. Since the rubber and kapok now being felled has no incidence of fungus or root disease, the stumps will remain in the ground. This will become necessary organic matter too, while the kapok-based compost gives added fertiliser content. When the levels of soil carbon are raised, there is very little fertiliser necessary, so we save on imported fertiliser too."

Green - tech in action

"This Alp winch concept meets every functional requirement and, what is more, the operator has a choice of winches and equipment. As you can see, there is a skyline winch, a main line winch and the security guys. Just two men are required for the set-up operation, one at the winch and the other in the forest."

"And what about the working distances?"

"That is limited by drum capacity. The normal maximum, as you know, is 600 metres. Loads depend on site conditions and tree length loads between 500 to 1500 kilos can be handled."

The EFWRDP is now assisting plantation companies in identifying European suppliers of such equipment. James Finlay's Plantation Holdings has set the pace and it will not be long, one hopes, that other plantation companies will follow suit.

Make the logs fly! Keep them off the earth, which needs to be protected at all costs! 

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