Logging companies in the European mountains: an example from the Italian Alps

In a total survey of logging companies in Northern Italy, data were collected from six regions (from west to east: Piemonte, Val d'Aosta, Lombardia, Trentino, Veneto, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia). The total number of surveyed companies amounts to 1206. These companies have a total workforce of 3563 operators and harvest an estimated 3.3 million m3 of wood per year. The North Italian logging industry is dominated by small-scale companies, largely equipped with obsolete, tractor-based technology. Modified farm tractors, winches, and forestry trailers account for over half of the total value of the fleet, which estimated at about EUR130 million. Twenty percent of this capital is used for cable yarding equipment, which amounts to 350 units. One logging company out of four has both the skills and the equipment for cable yarding. Companies equipped with a yarder harvest almost twice as much wood as the other companies. Seventy companies are equipped with mechanized cut-to-length equipment. They represent 6% of the total number, but harvest about 30% of the recorded annual cut. Companies equipped with mechanized cut-to-length equipment harvest almost four times as much wood as the other companies.