Cable yarding systems are widely used in mountainous forests of Austria. The goal of this paper is to determine optimal road spacing (ORS) of yarding operations by tower yarder in Styria to help logging planners minimize logging costs. A total of 591 working cycles were used to develop the multiple regression model using stepwise method to predict yarding time per cycle. The production and cost in whole tree uphill yarding were 6.70 m 3 / PSH and 27.60 Euro/m 3 , respectively. The roading, yarding and installation cost per cubic meter were computed for different yarding distances and graphed as a function of road spacing. The minimum total cost and ORS were 42.88 Euro/m 3 and 261 m, respectively for one-way yarding. For two-way yarding, the minimum estimated total cost, ORS and optimal road density would be 38.48 Euro/ m 3 , 373 m and 26.8 m/ha, respectively. The results showed increasing harvested volume decreases ORS and that increased roading cost increases ORS. The load volume has a significant effect on ORS.
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