Characterization of elements of the wood exploitation of Pinus maestrensis Bisse in "El Franco", Guisa

Abstract

The study was carried out in the area of "El Franco", Guisa municipality, Granma province, Cuba. The objective of the research was to characterize elements of the operations in the forest exploitation of the species Pinus maestrensis Bisse. Information from the database of the forest management project of the Empresa Agroforestal Granma, a Digital Terrain Model and an Integrated Geographic Information System for Forest Management were used to calculate the density of the road network. Through field observation, the organizational collection system was classified and extraction, collection and loading activities were described. The result was that the area has a road network composed of 23,3 km of 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd category roads distributed in 35,7 %, 17,9 % and 46,4 % respectively with a total density of 41 m/ha^-1 and trails that do not fully comply with the geometric characteristics established for forest roads. The logging areas have a ring pattern, with the abandonment of commercial-sized logs and the use of wood handling techniques that cause health and safety problems, showing an insufficiently planned harvesting system.