Skidding (forestry)

In the rural and forestry world, the skidder is often an independent farmer who adapts his wagon and carriage to this type of activity in winter, on behalf of a timber merchant.

The itinerant galvachers or bouviers-charretiers of the Morvan region, who rented the pulling power of their ox teams, practiced this trade among other rural services, migrating north and west.

In the 20th century, this method was often replaced by mechanized skidding in forestry operations, which was sometimes considered to be responsible for considerable soil degradation (compaction affecting roots and the circulation of water and nutrients) and environmental damage (noise, pollution from engines, oils, etc., the need for a dense network of roads and tracks, destruction of country lanes and footpaths, etc.).

Cable logging limit the impact on the soil, but at a slightly higher cost, except in difficult environments (mountain ranges not easily accessible to machines).

To pull logs the horse is fitted with a harness for forestry/agricultural work (made up of lines), a bridle, a pair of guides (or a rope), a collar on the chest and neck, and a spreader bar to hang the wood with a chain consisting of a choke hook at each end.

On easier terrain, the fardier (or trinqueballe; a horse-drawn machine with 2 braked wheels, a drawbar and a winch) enables 2 or 3 horses to lift and pull logs weighing up to 5,000 kg (3 to 4m3).

The horse is more expensive per m³ exported, but it is easier to exploit steep slopes (in the downhill direction), and this extra cost is sometimes entirely offset by the lack of need for infrastructure and by the benefits (wood sold at a much higher price) ofeco-labels such as FSC, which are more easily acquired with this type of skidding.

This was true in Quebec in the early 20th century: around 1930, the first trucks appeared on building sites, and by 1950, lumber was being trucked on expanding road networks; floating was gradually abandoned; finally, all-season timber harvesting and transportation operations appeared in the decades that followed; winter harvesting and transportation activities remained, almost exclusively concentrated in areas such as thin, hydromorphic soils with low bearing capacity, etc.

Timber harvesting in Quebec is now often carried out in summer, with autumn spent building winter roads, and transportation taking place when the structure is sufficiently frozen, at the end of November.