Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks[1] or skeleton cars.

In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used narrowly to describe the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest,

usually a sawmill or a lumber yard. In common usage, however, the term may cover a range of forestry or silviculture activities.

Illegal logging refers to what in forestry might be called timber theft by the timber mafia.[2][3]It can also refer to the harvesting, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws.

The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits.[4]

Clearcut logging is not necessarily considered a type of logging but a harvesting or silviculture method, and is simply called clearcutting or block cutting.

In the forest products industry logging companies may be referred to as logging contractors, with the smaller, non-union crews referred to as "gyppo loggers."