BUNDLER’S IRISH EXPERIENCE Eoghan Daly reports on the use of a Fixteri bundler as a management tool to help turn infested plantations back into productive forests IMAGES EOGHAN DALY
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hen it comes to developing new and innovative methods of harvesting, our Scandinavian friends are among the best in the business. By developing the cut-to-length harvesting and extraction system, they made a massive contribution to the evolution of mechanised harvesting. This spirit of ingenuity lives on, as seen by their recent solutions for timber harvesting. When Coillte, the Irish forestry board,
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SPRING 2021 FORESTRY MACHINERY
sought a machine for a specialised application, Scandinavian manufacturers were an obvious choice. A number of second rotation sites across the Irish midlands were affected by naturally regenerating invasive species, including birch, which thrived on peat-based forest properties. The spruce’s growth was being heavily compromised, as their unwelcome neighbours literally closed in the canopy, leaving little chance of a productive stand of conifer species to develop.
With these sites subsequently written off, Coillte took the decision to revive the areas, starting with the removal of the competing species, for use as biomass for energy production – a first for the country of Ireland. Coillte required a machine capable of travelling through the stand and removing the invasive species while retaining the spruce material. A range of options were considered and one of the most impressive was a self-contained machine with felling capability and incorporating a Fixteri
