RayNAiken wrote:
I always thought a helicopter like that was way expensive to operate.
I don't see the cost benefit of using one for logging especially with one or two logs at a time.
If I remember correctly I was told in 1968 it cost about $800 an hour to operate a Huey.
There isn't that much of a profit margin in timber for lumber.
Part economics at first and now almost a necessity .... at one time we used to clear-cut our forests and hauled everything away by truck ... or floated it downriver to the mill
Then the govt only allowed logging in certain areas and it was too expensive to build miles of roads thru the forest to haul the logs out so they tried helicopters and it was a bit cheaper than all those trucks and drivers and roads
Now only "certain select trees" can be cut ... and no equipment allowed except a chainsaw and a helicopter to winch them out .... a lot of that came about to appease the tree huggers from years gone by ... but in the end everyone realized it is beneficial not to kill ten smaller trees to get one big one .
But most of all it is the widespread use of Oriented Strand board that has changed the industry ... we can use all types of plentiful smaller trees for building houses instead of 300 year old Douglas firs .... even floor joists are made from OSB now.
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