Potency, Type, and Quality of Wood Waste Harvesting Timber of Lowland Natural Forest in Two Forest Concessions in South Papua

Abstract

Papua Province has a natural production forest reaching 13.541 million ha, with log production achieving an average of 8.78% of the total national log production of 5.835 million m 3 /year. The logs were obtained from selective logging activities using reduced-impact logging techniques. This paper aimed to determine the potency, type, and quality of wood harvesting waste in the two forest concessions lowland natural forests in the province of Papua. The average potential of wood harvesting waste is 4.012 m 3 /ha or 16.25%. This figure comprises felling waste, which amounts to 2.529 m 3 /ha or 10.24%, and waste due to skidding and grading scaling, which amounts to 1.483 m 3 /ha or 6.01%. The types of logging waste consist of stump, end, and base waste with an average volume of 1.014 m 3 /ha (40.88%), 0.825 m 3 /ha (30.72%), and 0.690 m 3 /ha (28.40%), respectively. The quality of logging waste is dominated by defects, with an average of 2.733 m 3 /ha (69.10%). The waste broken due to the harvesting process averages 0.756 m 3 /ha (18.84%), while that of good quality averages 0.484 m 3 /ha (12.07%). The following measures should be taken to mitigate logging waste; (a) company management needs to train on reduced impact logging techniques for both chainsaw and tractor operators, (b) the piece rate system has to be reviewed, and (c) the monitoring function of logging activities in the field has to be improved.