Paradise found?: well, not for most loggers fighting with mixed woods, but Abitibi-Consolidated's private land operation in central Quebec and its new mechanized contractor Rejean Paradis are using a mixed bag of tricks to handle this tricky resource

Canadian Forest Industries, Sep/Oct 2003 by Jamieson, Scott

"There's been good support from Valmet - I have no complaints at all. This is the first 380 head in Quebec, so Federal is learning, too, but the support has been good. I've had a good relationship with Daniel since I launched into the commercial thinning business back in 1998 - he helped me find the right system then, and he was a big help this time, too. It's a tough business, so you can be sure I've given him a hard time now and then, but we can still smile, so it can't have been that bad," he says, slapping Lahaie on the back.

Walking back to the harvester, Rejean stops to look at a few freshly cut stumps showing a wide range in tree size and species separated by just a few feet.

"It's a challenge, that's certain. But there's nothing wrong with that. As long as you find a way to make it work, that's what makes this business so interesting."

CFI'S BOTTOM LINE?

It's still early in the learning curve, but this rugged head, tracked carrier and mix of CTL logging with full-tree slasher is helping to mechanize a central Quebec mixed wood operation.