Calculation of Skid Trail Spacing (STS) is an important option to minimize the total costs of skidding. Construction of many skid trails increases the construction cost, it also results in more degradation on different levels in forests. On the other hand, by constructing less skid trails, winching cost will increase, and in many cases, the skidders will exit from skid trails. This research was carried out in four districts under management of Mazandaran Wood and Paper Industry Company with the aim of determination of Optimum Skid Trail Spacing (OSTS) for an HSM skidder. In this study, a continuous time study method to the nearest second with stop watch was used. The results indicated that the time modelling of winching was mainly affected by load volume and winching distance. By using the time modelling of winching, the winching cost is estimated and then by combining that with the skid trail cost graph, the OSTS graph is calculated. Finally, 95 meters is calculated as optimum skid trail density in this study.
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