Its all in the operator!!! And there are plenty of forwarders in PA, I could rattle off a handful of guys working them. Heck I ran one and become good friends with the owner of an 8 wheeled Rottne here in Tioga County. I've seen jobs cut with horses that look like a bomb went off because they only took the 2 best logs out of the tree and left the rest,, and couldn't directionally fell at all by the looks of things. I've also seen jobs cut with Timbcos and 748 grapple skidders that looked great. With that said you have to match the job to the equipment too. A guy with a CTL processor and a forwarder probably wont go cut 15mbf out of someones 10 acre back yard, but there are plenty of instances thinning out low-grade that a CTL setup is the way to go. On top of that, if you are out plucking just the gravy out of a woodlot thats 16 inches and bigger yes it makes it look better when you weasel them out with a little cable machine, but thats not forestry either. Aside from sugar maple, most of our hardwoods need ample sunlight to regenerate, which means cutting out a lot of junk if you are doing it right. And most of the 'saplings' we have up here are beech brush, and as far as I'm concerned they can run that stuff over all day long!
