Cut-to-length logging

File:Tree harvester.jpg doing cut-to-length logging
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Image:Log forwarder.jpg

Cut-to-length logging (CTL) is a mechanized harvesting system in which trees are delimbed and cut to length directly at the stump.{{cite web |title=Tennessee Logging Family Sticks with Change to Cut-to-Length |url=https://timberlinemag.com/2023/10/tennessee-logging-family-sticks-with-change-to-cut-to-length/ |website=Timberline Magazine |access-date=5 February 2024 |date=30 October 2023}} CTL is typically a two-man, two-machine operation with a harvester felling, delimbing, and bucking trees and a forwarder transporting the logs from the felling to a landing area close to a road accessible by trucks.{{cite web |title=The cut-to-length method |url=https://www.ponsse.com/cut-to-length#/ |website=Ponsse |access-date=5 February 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Kotrba |first1=Ron |title=Workhorses of the Woods |url=https://biomassmagazine.com/articles/workhorses-of-the-woods-13266 |website= Biomass Magazine |access-date=5 February 2024}}

CTL is the primary logging method in European countries, while full-tree logging and the even older technique of tree-length logging are more popular in North America and less developed countries, where tree sizes can exceed the capacity of the harvester's felling head, i.e., tree stems with a butt diameter of over 90 centimeters.{{cn|date=February 2024}} CTL lends itself to timber harvesting in plantation forestry where stems are often harvested before they reach large dimensions.{{cite journal |last1=Spinelli |first1=Raffaele |last2=Magagnotti |first2=Natascia |last3=De Francesco |first3=Fabio |last4=Kováč |first4=Barnabáš |last5=Heger |first5=Patrik |last6=Heilig |first6=Dávid |last7=Heil |first7=Bálint |last8=Kovács |first8=Gábor |last9=Zemánek |first9=Tomáš |title=Cut-to-Length Harvesting Options for the Integrated Harvesting of the European Industrial Poplar Plantations |journal=Forests |date=14 September 2022 |volume=13 |issue=9 |pages=1478 |doi=10.3390/f13091478 |doi-access=free}}