Processing at the landing depends on how much processing has already occurred in the woods and what the mill's wood delivery specifications are. Landing workers may remove tree limbs, either mechanically or with a chain saw. Some loggers use in-woods chippers for the pulpwood they harvest and deliver pulpwood to the mill in the form of wood chips. Some major logging techniques are clearcutting, seed tree harvesting, thinning, selective harvesting, and salvage harvesting. It is a recommended harvest technique if the landowner desires direct sunlight conditions for the next forest cycle, which many tree species must have to become reestablished and to grow.
Many people find a fresh clearcut a disturbing sight.
A well-planned clearcut does not cause soil erosion. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative calls for the use of forestry Best Management Practices for soil and water conservation. BMPs include buffer zones on the banks of streams adjacent to harvest areas and for culverts or bridges at stream crossings on the harvest, as well as special road design and harvest planning techniques. Any harvesting activity changes wildlife habitat temporarily. In the case of clearcutting, the change from heavy cover to sudden sunlight causes a complex response in habitat characteristics.