Modern practice of huge slash piles

[livemusic]

Instead of letting slash just lay where it falls, I now see loggers create huge slash piles that serve several acres. Why do they do this? What is the thinking behind this new technique? Because slash inhibits replanting? To suppress fires? I am curious about this because it seems to quash the idea that slash nourishes the forest floor. In these huge piles, it only nourishes that pile's spot. And will take many a year to rot. I don't see them burning them. These huge piles are in tracts that are replanted with pine.

[Magicman]

I attended our County Forestry Field Day this past Saturday and one of the topics was our outbreak of the various Pine Beetles.  Slash piles create and environment for Ips Beetle to nest and hatch so any slash should never be piled but rather be scattered and "chewed" down and partially buried by equipment tires and tracks.  The alternative would be to burn.

[rusticretreater]

I was wondering if they gathered the wood and treated it with something like borax as part of a program to fight the beetles.

[beenthere]

Large piles with the intention to burn may have several objectives. Clearing the land for crops or housing development may be a couple of them, as well as the bug objective. Another may be forest fire control. 

Certainly is expensive, so likely have a good reason. 

[livemusic]

The making-big-piles that I mentioned is on tracts that are replanted in pine. Around here, my whole life, until the past few years, they have simply left slash where it lay where the tree was felled. Now, they are going through the expense of gathering every top and making a huge pile. I see this quite a bit now. I will ask a logger friend when I see him. The reason it has caught my eye is due to the size of these piles, you can't miss them, and it made me think that they sure did go to a lot of trouble to do that! (And expense.) So, it certainly has a purpose, 'cause it's costing somebody time and money to do it.

[beenthere]

Depends on the equipment and the logging operation. If the trees are dropped and dragged to a landing for processing, then the tops end up at that landing. Some operations return the tops (slash) back to the woods. Some may simply leave them there and burn the pile. 
Stop by and talk to someone, as the story and reason why may come to light. I've watched harvesting and clearing videos that will do both, or variations of both. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Are these piles, or could they be building 'slash walls'? These began as an experiment back in 2017 by Cornell and have turned out to greatly enhance hardwood reforestation after a harvest but keep the deer out. Usually enclosing several acres with gates for access they are expensive to build but the regeneration is amazing. Look up "Arnot Forest' to see photos, videos, and progress reports. It seems to be economically viable based on increased productivity. 
 I sometimes pile slash on smaller properties to create habitat for the little critters, but just like habitat trees, you don't need many.

[Riwaka]

Forestry slash is an ongoing topic in NZ. 

Azwood - slash management on slopes, Nelson , NZ
https://youtu.be/M0W1CryEzvc?si=JL73Nm_yBv4K4Ypc

Azwood - environmental compliance with slash management
https://youtu.be/dL9vpF73ChM?si=2uJpIzSXALqGClS2

Binwood.... appears to be a poor forest, probably did not buy or were unable to buy quality seedlings during a big planting phase. Loggers cream the better logs and leave the rest.

https://youtu.be/hTkrLy4XRYY?si=wFlRsSMvZ6TxDx_7

[Magicman]

Slash left behind could impact the replanting operation.  Hoedad hand planting would be one thing but machine planting would be quite another.

[BargeMonkey]

 80% of the jobs I cut are private wood, they don't want the mess, I've done 5-6 where I walk the stroker in the woods, make 1 large pile to rot. The critters like them, takes 5-6yrs for the piles to really fall down. They are cracking down on burning here, I've got 3-4 large piles that need to disappear after the ban is off on a WET day. I don't wanna incriminate myself posting pictures but I've set off a few piles that where 15'+ tall, stroker stacked, and 2-3 ACRE'S in size, pile the brush on a 90 acre hammer job, I do not recommend it. We called it in, had no issues till the sun went down, people in the next county over where calling it in 🤦.

[Southside]

I touched off a pile like that one time, had a D6 parked right there. Local PD from the next town over showed up and told me they got a call of a "mushroom cloud"....  oops...

[SwampDonkey]

Slash piles are usually from road side stroke delimbers around here. At one time they burnt them in the fall. That ended 30 years ago. These days it's often hauled back with a grapple skidder. Pretty clean blocks by the time I come around with a clearing saw. I would suppose light slash when planting. The only problem I have is blowdowns. Those old 10 year dead fall fir are like stepping on something solid, except your foot goes right down through it. Not to worry, I just walk around, not through these days. But still a pain. I've been on blocks where the green strips between the trails are full of dead wood. Lovely stuff. Spruce and hemlock stay solid a lot longer, so walking around those for sure.

[Ianab]

Forestry slash is an ongoing topic in NZ. 

Really came to a head up in the Nth Island East Coast. Hilly terrain, and then only flat ground for a landing was on the river flats. Now ideally the waste would soon rot down into compost, and no problem. Except the they get cyclones every couple of years, and the river flats flood, and carries all that debris down the river. Now it's taking out bridges and ending up on peoples farms. 

So yeah, they need a better plan. 

[Peter Drouin]

No one could see that coming