Abstract: The application of forestry operating vehicles is one of the important symbols of forestry modernization. With the transformation of forestry strategy from logging to management and protection, the research on forestry operating vehicles is still a hot spot in the field of forest equipment. This paper studies the development process of domestic and foreign forestry operation vehicles including skidder, fire engines, personnel carriers, forestry felling and cultivation machines since 1950 by means of literature analysis, describes the advanced technology of forestry operating vehicles, and analyzes the working characteristics, uses and working environment of forestry operating vehicles. In recent years, the development of skidder in forest areas at home and abroad has been slow, mainly focusing on the research and development of joint machines. Although the functions of skidder are increasing day by day, they are developed on the basis of the original models. The overall model is small and the body is heavy and inflexible. Fire engines are mainly refitted from armored personnel carriers. While gradually realizing the requirements of fire extinguishing, they pay more attention to the people-oriented idea and take safety issues into account in the research and design of forest fire engine. Personnel carriers mainly use all-terrain vehicles, most of them use tracked walking mechanism, belonging to military vehicles, and have realized the serialization of functions and loads. Forest felling and cultivation machines in wood production are more common in developed countries, and its ergonomics and automation are relatively high, and driverless technologies are gradually developed. There is less research on forestry felling and cultivation machines in China. The development of forestry vehicles should be combined with the actual conditions of our country, and the functional requirements of forestry vehicles should be comprehensively analyzed. We should not only make full use of high and new technology to improve the technology of forestry equipment, but also follow the principles of economy and practicability, so as to truly achieve the optimization design of the structure of forestry vehicles. Based on the forestry environment, this paper puts forward five future development directions of forest vehicles, such as forest ambulance, forest cooking vehicle, forest camping vehicle, forest pontoon vehicle, forest trailer and forest fire command vehicle. These vehicles are bound to shoulder more and more heavy tasks in the process of rescue and disaster relief in forestry.