Planning and implementing forest operations to achieve ... - Woodweb

FOREWORD
The Council On Forest Engineering (COFE) is a professional organization based in North
America that is interested in matters related to forest engineering. Through an annual meeting
with technical sessions, field sessions, and publication of a proceedings, and through regional
activities, COFE encourages the exchange of information and technologies relating to forest
operations (harvesting, site preparation, road building, wood procurement, etc.). The
International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Subject Group $3.04-00 is an
international network of researchers interested in the development of methods and systems used
to plan and control forest operations. Subject Group meetings are held somewhere in the world
on an as-needed basis.
The theme forthis years joint COFEflUFRO meeting is "Planning and Implementing Forest
Operations to Achieve Sustainable Forests." The meeting is composed of five half-day technical
sessions focusing in the implementation of sustainable forest practices, forest operations and the
environment, improving the efficiency of forest operations, and planning and controlling forest
operations. The full-day field tour highlights sustainable forest practices under upper midwest
forest conditions. Other highlights include a keynote speaker from a prominent forest products
company in the midwest, a COFE International Achievement Awards Ceremony, and COFE and
IUFRO business meetings. Participants are from all around the world.
We would like to thank the sponsors of this meeting: USDA Forest Service, North Central
Station; University of Minnesota; SISU-Valmet, Inc.; Mead Paper Company; Stone Container
Corporation; Champion International Corporation; USDA Forest Service, Hiawatha National
Forest; Michigan Department of Natural Resources; Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources; Timberline Equipment, A Division of Lake Shore, Inc.; Quadco Equipment, Inc.;
Timbco Equipment, Inc.; and Harvest Systems, Inc. Without their assistance, this meeting
would not have been possible. We would also like to thank all the many individuals that helped
set up the meeting, but will not name them due to space limitations (you know who you are).
Special thanks go to Mary Ann Hellman of the University of Minnesota and Mary Peterson from
the North Central Forest Experiment Station for their assistance in the production of this
proceedings.
Charles R. Blinn
Michael A. Thompson
University of Minnesota
USDA Forest Service
1996 COFE Co-Chair 1996COFE Co-Chair
DISCLAIMER: The papers in this proceedings have received only a cursory edit by the Editors
before being published; the content and views expressed are the responsibility of the individual
authors and their publication should not be construed as official endorsement by the University
of Minnesota or the USDA Forest service.