a site for the temporary storage and primary processing of round timber, for partially working the logs, and for shipping the product to consumers; one of the main units of a lumbering enterprise.

Primary processing of round timber includes removing twigs and small branches, crosscutting felled trees into different lots, and stripping the bark. Working the timber includes sawing and squaring the logs and sorting inferior timber for pulpwood, crates and cartons, chips, and other products. There are upper and lower woodyards.

Upper woodyards are set up at felling sites adjacent to primary timber-hauling roads. They usually serve as a platform for loading trees or logs onto timber carriers and function only for one or two months.

Most technological operations involved in woodworking are transferred to the lower yards, which are set up at the end of timber-hauling roads. Since they are in operation for extended periods and handle large volumes of timber, they are more likely to be mechanized and automated.

To increase the output of commercial timber and reduce unprofitable hauling, sawmills are built in lower yards to utilize inferior wood and wastes, as well as to handle primary processing. Rail lower woodyards are situated near broad-gauge railroad lines, and waterside woodyards are near waterways (rivers, canals, and lakes; formerly called riverside woodyards).

Lumber can be shipped to consumers from rail woodyards throughout the year, but shipping from waterside yards on boats and in rafts depends on the navigability of the waters.

The annual freight turnover plays an important role in determining the production process of a lower woodyard. The larger the yard, the longer the list of products it can handle. In the USSR more than 40 percent of the yards have freight turnovers of 50,000-200,000 cu m of wood a year, with good prospects for increasing the annual turnover to 400,000-600,000 cu m. All the labor-intensive and heavy work at lower yards, particularly rail yards, has been mechanized and automated.

Rail delivery of logs is widespread. Logs hauled from clearings are either temporarily stored on special platforms or immediately reloaded from trucks onto rolling stock. Woodyards handling this process are called timber-loading stations.