Supervisor: Professor J. H. G. Smith The economic accessibility of the forest depends on the value of forest products in the market place and the total of all costs involved in getting them there. Where these costs equal the value of the products, the margin of economic operation occurs. At any point in time, a certain set of technological, social, and economic conditions prevail, which serves to define this boundary. However, it is not always clear just what the effect on the economic margin will be if a change in any of these factors takes place. This in turn increases the difficulty experienced by those who seek to plan for the most efficient and beneficial long term use of the forest, since neither the physical amount nor the monetary value of the forest resource can be adequately determined in economic terms. This thesis has examined the nature of technological change in the logging sector of the forest industry, taking particular notice of both the rate of change and of its effect upon economic accessibility of the forest. The resulting need for more factual information for resource planning was discussed, with the emphasis being placed upon the area of logging costs. A mathematical model of the highlead logging system, suitable for simulation on electronic computers, was developed to illustrate the type of information required, and how it may be used in the determination of forest accessibility. Also, economic analysis was applied to the problem of logging layout and road spacing, where it was shown that the value of the marginal return from each input activity must be equal for the optimum, or least cost condition, to exist. The usefulness of the cost analysis techniques was demonstrated in an example comparing the performance of the highlead and skyline logging systems on a standardized setting. This demonstrated that the latter system was competitive at a road construction cost of about $6 per lineal foot and over, while the former was the more economical below that value. Also, it brought out the fact that skyline systems can contribute in the future to an extension of the margin of operations in coastal British Columbia, and especially so if various technical improvements can be anticipated. A method for combining inventory data, logging productivity and cost relationships, and log market prices through the use of logging models was described, using an example from the University of British Columbia Research Forest. It was observed that refinements of this method could lead to a satisfactorily accurate and flexible definition of the economically accessible timber resource. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

This thesis deals with a comparative economic analysis of the truck, rail and water modes of transporting raw wood in the British Columbia Forest Industry. The thesis is directed toward establishing general guidelines for the determination of the optimal mode or combination of modes for transporting wood from the forest to consuming plants. Companies holding large tracts of timber find it necessary to do a comparative analysis of each transportation mode for their own specific situation before designing a transportation network. Since the location of wood-using plants has considerable effect upon transportation networks, this topic is also included in the thesis. The first part of the thesis shows the importance and the variety of transportation methods employed in the British Columbia Forest Industry. The largest portion of logging costs is directly attributable to transportation. Improved technology has led to several important changes in forest transportation in recent years. These are mainly the change-over from private logging railways to truck transport, and the complete change from Davis rafts to self-loading and self-dumping barges. A large portion of the thesis is concerned with a graphical comparison of transfer rates for raw forest products over distance for each of the transportation modes. Break-even distances between modes were calculated graphically. This portion of the study was accomplished by gathering province-wide transfer rates for raw wood from the Canadian National Railways, the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, the Motor Carriers Branch of the Public Utilities Commission, various trucking firms, tugboat companies, forestry firms, and the British Columbia Forest Service. Rates for various distances were plotted for each mode and forest product. Curves and intersections were analyzed. In the transfer of logs, it was found that water rates are the lowest even at short distances. This is unlike transfer rates for other commodities where at short distances, water transfer rates are higher than both truck and railway rates. The buoyancy and ruggedness of wood make it naturally suited to low cost forms of water transport, especially by flat raft where investment in vessels is minimal . Average log transfer rates for truck and rail indicate a break-even distance between these modes of about 15 miles. When considering that most log hauls originate by truck, the cost of transshipping to rail cars causes the actual break-even to occur at about 70 miles. A similar analysis was carried out for chip and lumber transfer rates. A comparison on a common per hundredweight basis is made of transfer rates for logs, chips, and lumber by all modes. A comparison of average transfer rates indicates an economic line-haul distance for logs of about 90 miles by truck, 270 miles by rail, and 1,000 miles by barge when $12 hauling allowance remains after gathering logs at transportation terminals. Actual hauls throughout the province rarely exceed the above distances. Many other economic aspects of the above modes besides rates, are of considerable importance and are considered in some detail in three separate chapters. For example, the construction of private roads or roads of higher standard may favorably affect costs, depending upon the volume of timber to be hauled. Since timber is heavy and bulky, and experiences a large weight loss upon conversion, mills have tended to be raw-material oriented rather than market oriented. However, on coastal British Columbia, mills tend to be more centralized, with the resource being gathered over a wide area by using cheap water transportation. Future technological developments may result in the use of pipelines, helicopters, and conveyor belts in the transfer of raw forest products. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate