A Wide Variety of Experiences
July 15, 2014 4:11 pm Leave your thoughts
One of the greatest parts about this internship has been the range of different parts of the forestry sector that I have had the opportunity to gain experience in. For the most part I have been spending time in the silviculture department, which handles the task of returning the log site to the way it once was. It is essentially the end stage of the logging process. Last week I had the opportunity to work in the log yard weighing in trucks, helping with stratification of the logs coming across the scale, and learning about the scaling process.
Stratification is essentially the categorization of each individual loads of timber that come across the scales. The logs are analyzed and then put into the appropriate stratum depending on many different factors including species, dryness, and quality. The stratification process is done in order to more accurately assess the volume and quality of wood that is being held in the log yard at any given time, and allows Weyerhaeuser to evaluate the appropriate stumpage to pay for the timber that is entering its log yard.
Scaling is a process that more closely evaluates each piece of timber from a given sample load. Sample loads are selected more, or less often depending on the stratum. When a sample load is chosen it is marked and separated from the rest of the timber to be examined by the scalers . The scaling process determines the amount of stumpage that must be paid for that particular stratum, which is why it is critical to stratify properly as too not pay too much or to little in stumpage for the wood that is being harvested.
I also had the opportunity to ride in one of the log hauling trucks to an active logging site to gain understanding of the logging process itself. The skill of the drivers, who have to drive enormous trucks on sometimes treacherously narrow and soft roads astounded me.
The truck I rode along in.
This past week I was also invited by Trenna Macleod, and Chris Pemberton to go kayaking on the Similkameen River near their house. If you work hard its okay to play hard to! The link attached is a Youtube video of kayaking footage taken on my GoPro.