The US Forest Service provides Excel and web-based tools for various forest engineering operations.
The tools are all free-for-download from the website of US Forest Services Southern Research Station. The tools are as follows:
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Forest Residues Transportation Costing Model – This is a spreadsheet tool to help compare alternative methods of moving biomass from the forest to a wood processing facility.
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General Ground-Based Harvesting System Analysis – An Excel spreadsheet is used to estimate total system cost based on stand characteristics, felling, skidding, processing, loading, roads, hauling and operational factors.
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Green Ton Converter – This web-based application allows conversion between the cost per green ton of material and the cost of dry tons.
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Machine rate calculator – a spreadsheet template is used to analyse logging system balancing, production rates and costs.
The tools can be accessed at http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/forestops/tools.html