Quality of bark beetle infested wood
Abstract
Dramatic events causing significant damage, such as bark beetle infestations, are making timber logistics and crisis management increasingly important. Regional disasters often result in a large quantity of damaged timber being produced in a short period of time. Despite extensive efforts, this timber cannot be transported from the forest to the processors at short notice. Therefore, all timber storage options must be utilised to relieve pressure on the timber market and maintain the quality of high-quality round timber assortments. The Mantra project dealt with wet storage in detail, but experience and knowledge of the various dry storage options is still very limited. One form of dry storage involves leaving dead trees standing in the forest (known as dry stands or dry saplings), which no longer pose a phytosanitary risk. These trees were not harvested in time due to factors such as location, increased harvesting costs, insufficient harvesting capacity and the poor timber market situation. This raises the question of how long this timber can be stored in the forest before it deteriorates, and how this deterioration will be affected by factors such as location and altitude. It is also necessary to determine how long this wood can be stored in the forest and what quality losses can be expected depending on the location, altitude, etc. For this reason, the following question will be addressed in the damaged wood quality project: What deterioration in the quality of round timber can be expected after several years of standing storage, and how suitable is this timber for sawn timber products in terms of quality and yield?
Project staff
Michael Grabner
Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing.Dr.nat.techn. Michael Grabner
michael.grabner@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-89128
Project Leader
01.01.2025 - 31.12.2027
Tobias Nenning
Dipl.-Ing. Tobias Nenning
tobias.nenning@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-89118
Project Staff
01.01.2025 - 31.12.2027
BOKU partners
External partners
Rauch & Partner KG Forest Based Industry Consulting
Peter Rauch
partner
Unternehmensberatung Forstwirtschaft Dr Herbert Kohlross
Herbert Kohlross
partner
Waldgenossenschaft Iseltal
Mario Sinn
partner