Forestry and logging glossary
The jargon you hear on your first day on a cutblock and quietly look up that night. Plain definitions, no assumed background.
These are standard, widely-used terms in Canadian forestry and logging, not company-specific or disputed claims. Checked 2026-09-08.
The one-page jargon sheet
The compiled artifact for this cluster: every term below in one printable table, alphabetical.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Barber chair | A dangerous vertical split that runs up a tree while it's being felled, leaving part of the tree standing upright while the rest falls away -- usually caused by improper facing or backcutting. See /tickets/ for the faller certification that trains against this. |
| Brushing | Cutting back competing brush and vegetation around planted seedlings so they get enough light and water to establish -- a silviculture task, often done by hand crews after a block is planted. |
| Bucker | The worker (or the act) of cutting a felled tree into shorter logs of specified lengths at the stump or landing, after a faller has brought the tree down. |
| Cat face | A scar or deformed, often hollow-looking, section at the base of a standing tree, caused by old fire damage, rot, or mechanical injury -- a red flag a faller checks for before cutting. |
| Cruise (timber cruising) | The field survey used to estimate, to a set degree of accuracy, the volume of standing timber on a block before it's harvested. Per BC's own Ministry of Forests and Range glossary, an operational cruise is "an estimate, to a specified degree of accuracy, of the volume of timber on an area to be harvested," done by measuring and recording sample plots. |
| Cutblock | A defined, mapped area of forest approved and scheduled for harvesting -- the basic unit loggers, planners, and government approvals are all organized around. |
| Danger tree | A standing tree that could kill, injure, or cause property damage if it fails -- signs include visible decay, cracking, embedded bark at forks, conks, or woodpecker cavities. WorkSafeBC's regulation requires a danger tree a worker will be exposed to be either felled or assessed by someone trained under the Wildlife Danger Tree Assessor's Course. |
| Faller | The certified worker who fells (cuts down) standing trees. In BC, felling anything over 6 inches in diameter legally requires BC Faller Training Standard (BCFTS) certification -- see /tickets/ for the full path and cost. |
| Feller buncher | A self-propelled machine that cuts standing trees and gathers ('bunches') several of them before setting them down, letting one operator fell and stack multiple trees per cycle instead of cutting one at a time by hand. |
| Grapple yarder | A cable-yarding machine that uses a powered grapple, instead of a chokerman setting hand chokers, to grab and haul logs in to the landing -- a mechanized alternative on steep ground where a skidder can't operate. |
| High-lead (logging) | A cable-yarding system where logs are dragged (partially or fully suspended) toward a spar or tower using an elevated main cable, letting logs be pulled uphill or over obstacles that ground-based equipment like a skidder can't cross. |
| Hoe chucking | Also called shovel logging: using a log loader or modified excavator with a grapple to swing logs toward the road in a series of passes, rather than dragging them (skidding) or hauling them on a cable system (high-lead). |
| Landing | The cleared area at roadside (or at the base of a cable system) where felled and bucked logs are gathered, sorted, and loaded onto trucks. |
| Processor | A machine (often mounted on an excavator base) that delimbs, bucks, and sorts a felled tree into logs of set lengths in one continuous pass -- the mechanized equivalent of a hand bucker. |
| Scaling | Officially measuring harvested logs -- length, diameter, volume, and grade/quality -- to determine stumpage fees owed and what a load is worth. Distinct from cruising, which estimates standing timber before it's cut; scaling measures what's actually been cut. |
| Silviculture | The practice of establishing, tending, and regenerating a forest stand -- planting, brushing, spacing, and site preparation all fall under it. Per BC's own forestry glossary, it draws on "silvics," the study of tree and stand life history and requirements in relation to their environment. |
| Skidder | A wheeled or tracked machine that drags (skids) felled logs from the stump to the landing, either dragging them on the ground or partially lifting the leading end with a grapple or cable. |
| Spacing | A silviculture treatment that thins a young, densely regenerating stand down to a target number of stems per hectare, so the remaining trees grow faster with less competition for light, water, and nutrients. |
Sources
- WorkSafeBC -- Dangerous tree risk assessment training — accessed 2026-09-08. Source for the danger tree definition and the Wildlife Danger Tree Assessor's Course.
- Wiktionary -- barber chair — accessed 2026-09-08.
- Wikipedia -- Shovel logging — accessed 2026-09-08. Source for the hoe chucking / shovel logging definition.
- BC Ministry of Forests and Range -- Glossary of Forestry Terms in British Columbia — accessed 2026-09-08. Source for the cruise/cruising and silvics/silviculture wording.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a faller and a bucker?
A faller cuts down the standing tree; a bucker cuts the tree, once it's down, into shorter logs of specified lengths. On many crews the same person does both, but they're distinct skills and, in BC, felling itself requires its own certification (BCFTS) that bucking alone doesn't -- see /tickets/.
What's the difference between a skidder, a feller buncher, and a processor?
A feller buncher cuts standing trees and gathers several before setting them down. A skidder then drags those felled logs from the stump to the landing. A processor delimbs, bucks, and sorts a felled tree into set log lengths in one pass, doing mechanically what a hand bucker does manually. All three are common on a mechanized harvesting crew, often working in sequence.
What's the difference between cruising and scaling?
Cruising happens before harvest: it's a field survey estimating how much timber volume stands on a block. Scaling happens after harvest: it's the official measurement of the logs actually cut, used to work out stumpage fees and load value. One estimates what's standing; the other measures what's been cut.
What does a cat face on a tree actually mean for a faller?
It's a warning sign, not just cosmetic damage. A cat face -- a scarred, often hollow section at the base of a tree from old fire or mechanical injury -- can mean the tree's structural integrity is compromised, which changes how (or whether) it should be felled. It's one of several visual indicators, alongside signs covered under WorkSafeBC's danger-tree rules, that a faller is trained to check before cutting.
Related guides
Off-shift entertainment
Some workers use off-shift downtime for regulated online gambling. If you do, only use operators registered in your own province -- see the regulated options by province, or pick your province below.
Regulated online gambling in Canada is province by province. Only operators registered for your own province are ever shown -- pick your province below to see what's actually available to you.
Off-shift only. Never gamble on company networks or devices. Please play responsibly. Gambling should be entertainment, not income.