John Deere takes environmental responsibility seriously. Throughout the years, Deere has made it a priority to produce industry-leading equipment with a low-impact on the environment while meeting all the demands of logging.

John Deere considers overall forest health when designing a tough, woods-ready forest machine. On John Deere’s wheeled harvesters and forwarders, one feature that really stands out is how light on the ground they are.

When the average adult walks along the ground, his ground pressure usually falls in the range of 9 to 12 PSI (pounds per square inch). John Deere cut-to-length machines fall in this range as well, and often do better.

Take the largest of John Deere’s forwarders – the 1710D. With a loaded bunk and standard tires, it puts just 7.7 PSI on the ground on the front tires, and 15.2 on the rear. If you add optional Enviro Tracks, the frontal pressure decreases to 5.1 PSI, and the rear to 8.8 PSI. The smaller forwarders do even better, with results varying based on wheel configuration and whether tracks are used or not. Likewise, the wheeled harvesters achieve ground pressures of 9.6 PSI and less.

The numbers may sound good, but the real test is in the woods. These machines are not making much of an impression on the ground, but they are impressing loggers and other individuals working in the forest industry. Curtis Qual works for the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. He attended a biomass harvesting demonstration in 2007 in Oregon, involving a John Deere wheeled harvester, forwarder, and biomass energy harvester.

“The footprint that this machinery leaves on the ground appears to be pretty light on the land,” Qual said. “There is quite a bit of vegetation remaining in the skid trail, and with this being a demonstration trail, they’re going back over areas that they typically wouldn’t, so you’re seeing an increased impact in some of the areas that under a natural, normal operation, you wouldn’t have there.”

In addition to being light on the ground where they do tread, John Deere wheeled harvesters and forwarders protect the forest floor in other ways, particularly by high ground clearance under the machines.

Generous ground clearance not only benefits the forest by preserving ground vegetation, but also helps the logger by enabling the machine to move more smoothly over tough and uneven terrain, large stumps and rocks. The front of each John Deere wheeled harvester and forwarder has a wide approach angle to make the most of the ground clearance under the rest of the machine. A light impression on the ground and high ground clearance are good for the soil and general health of the forest. It is for reasons like these that John Deere forestry equipment is leading the way worldwide to maintain forest health.

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