Operational performance of the selective cutting of trees with chainsaw

Abstract

The objective was to obtain a statistical model to estimate the operational performance of cutting trees with a chainsaw in the natural tropical forest north of Mato Grosso state. One-hundred-and-fifty-one operational cycles of selective logging for commercial purposes were registered. In each cycle, the effective time for cutting, the diameter of the trees, commercial height, the number of logs per tree, and the distance between trees was determined. A step-by-step regression analysis was performed to obtain the coefficients of the models and statistical parameters. The result of the analysis concluded that the most accurate model to estimate the operational performance is the one that transforms the diameter variable at breast height (DBH) squared and also includes the variables number of logs per tree and distance between logged trees.