Research Paper Assessing the cost of stump-site debarking in eucalypt plantations Natascia Magagnotti a , Carla Nati b , Luigi Pari c , Raffaele Spinelli b, *, Rien Visser d a CNR, Timber and Tree Institute, Via Biasi 75, I-38010 San Michele all’Adige (TN), Italy b CNR, Timber and Tree Institute, Via Madonna del Piano, Pal. F, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy c CRA ING, Via della Pascolare 16, Monterotondo Scalo (Roma), Italy d Forest Engineering, Canterbury University, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand article info Article history: Received 9 May 2011 Received in revised form 30 August 2011 Accepted 21 September 2011 Published online 22 October 2011 Mechanised cut-to-length (CTL) harvesting is commonly deployed in eucalypt plantations and is based on the application of specialised machinery for felling, delimbing, debarking and crosscutting trees directly at the stump site. Debarked logs are then moved to the roadside with dedicated forwarders for loading onto transportation vehicles. This study determined the cost of stump-site debarking, which was calculated between 1.7 and 6.7 V m 3 , depending mainly on tree size. Avoiding stump-site debarking would allow reducing the overall stump-to-road harvesting cost between 11 and 17%, while making bark biomass available for energy or biochemical conversion. The figures obtained from this study are specifically valid for European pulpwood plantations and winter harvest conditions, but the underlying principles may hold a general significance. Further studies should determine the cost of off-site debarking, and the effects of bark removal on soil fertility. ª 2011 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The world-wide total area of eucalypt plantations has expanded to 19 million ha (Flynn, 2010), fulfilling predictions made over 10 years earlier (Brown, 2000). Large plantations have been established in South America, China and South East Asia, and their importance to total wood supply is likely to keep increasing (Whiteman & Brown, 1999). Most foresta- tion projects are the result of industrial endeavour, spear- headed by large private companies, but their results may go beyond pure financial profit and touch the spheres of nature conservation (Sedjo & Botkin, 1997) and rural development (Lockie, 2003). Plantation forestry is stemming the trend towards net deforestation (Mather, 2007), and may even play a significant role in promoting regeneration of the native tree species, thus facilitating natural forest succession (Selwyn & Ganesan, 2009). At the same time, plantation forestry can be a suitable solution for many small family farms, unable to cope with the high labour requirement of traditional land tenure systems (Riveiro, Alvarez, Pereira, & Miranda, 2005). Growing competition in commercial wood supply creates demands for increased management efficiency, particularly in harvesting, which accounts for a large proportion of the total financial and energy inputs of plantation forestry (Romanelli & Milan, 2010). Mechanised cut-to-length (CTL) harvesting is * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 055 5225641; fax: þ39 055 5225643. E-mail addresses: magagnotti@ivalsa.cnr.it (N. Magagnotti), nati@ivalsa.cnr.it (C. Nati), luigi.pari@entecra.it (L. Pari), spinelli@ivalsa. cnr.it (R. Spinelli), rien.visser@canterbury.ac.nz (R. Visser). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/15375110 biosystems engineering 110 (2011) 443 e449 1537-5110/$ e see front matter ª 2011 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2011.09.009