Cable-skidding operations in mountainous selective logging pose significant risks to residual stands due to the extraction of heavy and long stems/logs along steep skid trails. While the influence of trail design variables such as traffic intensity and slope gradient has been extensively studied, the impact of management practices, specifically operational layout and the expertise of forest workers, on residual stand damage remains less understood. This study examined the effects of management practices and skid trail design variables on the severity and healing of wounds inflicted on residual trees over a five-year period. Three decommissioned harvest units with similar characteristics but differing in trail variables and management practices were analyzed: university-managed operations (short-length logs handled by professional operators), mill-managed operations (long-length logs handled by semi-professional operators), and privately-managed operations (mixed-length logs handled by less-experienced operators). A two-stage inventory was conducted, beginning in 2016 with an assessment of mechanical injuries caused by a cut-to-length harvesting system involving multiple log lengths, followed by postharvest wound healing evaluation in 2021. Results revealed that damages rates ranged from 37% in university-managed blocks to 49% in mill-managed blocks. Gentle slopes accounted for 43% of the damage, while steep slopes contributed 53%. Traffic intensity further played a role, with damage rates of 40% in low-traffic areas, 46% in medium-traffic areas, and 51% in high-traffic areas. Over the five-year postharvest period, healing rates varied significantly: stands managed under university supervision showed a healing rate of 56%, compared to a lower rate of 35% for mill-management stands. Treatments on gentle slopes and in low-traffic areas showed an annual healing rate of 12% higher than those on steep slopes and in high traffic areas. These findings highlight the importance of management practices, particularly the use of short-length harvesting methods in mountainous mixedwood stands and the effective supervision of harvesting crews. Implementing such practices not only reduce the severity of damage to residual stands but also enhance more efficient wound healing over time.

Animal logging is one of the most ancient wood extraction methods and it is still applied in different parts of the world, including industrialised countries. Animal logging is often imagined as a low-impact method and sometimes, or rather often, it is recommended as a best-management practice. However, the literature findings depict a more complex scenario, and the goal of the present review is to shed light on the topic of environmental sustainability of logging operations performed by animals. Usually, animal logging causes less pollutant emissions and less damage to the residual stand in comparison to ground-based mechanised extraction methods. However, when applied in commercial forestry interventions such as coppicing, animal logging showed levels of soil compaction in line with those of ground-based machinery like tractors, skidders and forwarders. Specifically developed trials revealed that in the animal skid trails a strong disturbance to the soil microarthropod community occurred. Furthermore, the soil features in the animal trails seemed to get worse over time after logging, thus suggesting the possible presence of strong localised erosion along these trails. Despite the strong need to further investigate this topic, concerning the ecological aspects of forest soil which were generally neglected by the literature, the use of animal logging can be recommended in the case of small-scale forestry with wooden material sparsely located throughout the logging site. In the case of commercial logging on steep slopes instead it is recommended to replace animal logging with cable-based extraction systems.