Heli-logging

[2] After years of study by multiple helicopter manufacturers, in cooperation with the Forest Service, the first opening of timber for sale cut exclusively helicopter logging in April of 1971 on the Plumas National Forest in California.

The selected trees are then partially cut at the stem and supported by wooden wedges.

The stem is then grappled by the helicopter and pulled until the wood breaks at the partial cut.

The logged trees are then brought by helicopter to a predetermined roadside location or dropped into open water where they are collected.

[7] Heli-logging is efficient: a single S-64 Skycrane can extract 20,000 cubic metres (710,000 cu ft) of clean, undamaged timber per month.

[8] Research by Roberts, Ward and Rollerson done in 2004 shows that post-logging landslides are more common after conventional cable-based logging than heli-logging.

The use of a helicopter to transport the stems limits the size and weight of the selected trees more than equipment would using conventional logging.