POV: date=October 2008

Logging has provable benefits for forest conservation. The inherent economic value of logging encourages forest conservation and in developing countries, forest tracts designated for logging are at least 8-10 times larger than those limited areas set aside as nature reserves.. Logged forests hare much better for wildlife conservation, carbon storage, and other ecosystem services than alternative land uses such as cattle ranching or conventional agriculture .

Use of the term logging in forestry

In forestry the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a mill. In common usage however the term may be used to indicate a range of forestry or silviculture activities. For example the practice of the removal of valuable trees from the forest has been called selective logging sometimes confused with selection cut. Illegal logging refers to what in forestry might be called timber theft. An example of illegal logging is cedar theft, which is most common in the American Pacific Northwest.Fact: date=October 2008 Timber theft in all forms is quite rare in the United States.Fact: date=September 2008 In common usage what is sometimes called clearcut logging is not is necessarily considered a type of logging but a harvest or silviculture method and is simply called clearcutting or block cutting. In the forest products industry logging companies may be referred as logging contractors.

Logging usually refers to above-ground forestry logging. Submerged forests exist on land that has been flooded to create artificial dams and reservoirs. Such trees are logged using underwater logging) or by the lowering of the reservoirs in question. Ootsa Lake and Williston Lake in British Columbia, Canada, are notable examples where timber recovery has been needed to remove vast inundated forests.

Logging methods

Tree-length logging

Trees are felled and then delimbed and topped at the stump. The log is then transported to the landing, where it is bucked and loaded on a truck. This leaves the slash (and the nutrients it contains) in the cut area where it must be further treated if wildland fires are of concern.

Full-tree logging

Trees are felled and transported to the roadside with top and limbs intact. The trees are then delimbed, topped, and bucked at the landing. This method requires that slash be treated at the landing. In areas with access to cogeneration facilities, the slash can be chipped and used for the production of clean electricity or heat. Full-tree harvesting also refers to utilization of the entire tree including branches and tops. This technique removes both nutrients and soil cover from the site and so can be harmful to the long term health of the area if no further action is taken, however, depending on the species, many of the limbs are often broken off in handling so the end result may not be as different from tree-length logging as it might seem.