slash (logging)

File:Pile burning slash from a timber sale (38982212635).jpg

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In forestry, slash, or slashings are coarse and fine woody debris generated during logging operations or through wind, snow or other natural forest disturbances.{{cite encyclopedia | year = | title = Slash | encyclopedia = The Dictionary of Forestry | publisher = Society of American Foresters | url = http://dictionaryofforestry.org/dict/term/slash}} Slash generated during logging operations may increase fire hazard, and some North American states have passed laws requiring the treatment of logging slash.[http://legis.state.sd.us/statutes/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=21-10-27 South Dakota Code] Logging slash can be chipped and used (for example) in the production of electricity or heat in cogeneration power-plants,{{Cite web |url=http://www.fire.ca.gov/newsreleases_content/downloads/2001archive/SlashToEnergy.pdf |title=California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection |access-date=2007-02-04 |archive-date=2018-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620101923/http://www.fire.ca.gov/newsreleases_content/downloads/2001archive/SlashToEnergy.pdf |url-status=dead }} or simply burned onsite.{{cite web |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/landmanagement/resourcemanagement/?cid=fsm91_058291|title=Prescribed Fire - Pile Burning |website=US Forest Service |access-date=March 28, 2023}}

Where logging takes place on soft ground, loggers can use the branches and tops of trees as part of the timber-harvesting process to provide a track for forest machines.{{Cite web |url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/PDF/fcpn013.pdf/$FILE/fcpn013.pdf |title=Managing Brash on Conifer Clearfell Sites, Forestry Commission |access-date=2007-02-06 |archive-date=2017-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708101706/https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fcpn013.pdf/$FILE/fcpn013.pdf |url-status=dead }}

Using slash in this manner reduces ground damage.