Ordino Launches Pilot Aerial Cable Crane for Sustainable Forest Management

Ordino has launched a pilot test of an aerial cable crane system to improve sustainable forest management in hard-to-reach areas, marking the first use of such equipment in Andorra.

The Comú d'Ordino is trialling the mobile structure, which uses an aerial transport cable to extract logs and trees more efficiently from zones distant from forest tracks. Traditional methods limit operations to 50 or 60 metres on either side of tracks, leaving most woodland inaccessible. Many Andorran forests have seen 80 to 90 years without active management, prompting the need for alternatives like cable systems or helicopters—with the cable option proving cheaper and more productive.

Marc Font, head of environment for Ordino, described the trial as a way to showcase techniques for sustainably using public forests. "We have 80-90 years of absent active management, so that's where we need to start entering," he said. The demonstration targets selective thinning, removing low-quality, dominated, dead or dying trees while preserving vigorous ones to promote regeneration.

The operation is underway in the Ribes forest near Coll d'Ordino, spanning 170 to 200 metres of cable across roughly 6,000 square metres. It allows work in strips up to 20 metres on each side. Technicians expect to continue for about 20 days. The setup, weighing nine tonnes with a cable drum, installs in a couple of days and dismantles in around one and a half.

A team from the Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya is carrying out the work, funded 55% by European POCTEFA funds from the High Pyrenees project. Ordino's deputy consul, Eduard Betriu, linked it to plans for 100% sustainable biomass supply—350 to 400 tonnes annually—for the parish's sports centre boiler. He outlined potential shared services across Andorra's seven parishes via upcoming public tenders, including aerial cable lots, and a new storage facility for year-round biomass.

Font emphasised forests as vital "green infrastructure," akin to roads or lighting networks, delivering benefits beyond costs through tourism, GDP and quality of life. Contracting such services runs about €350,000, with few specialists in Spain.