Slash (logging)

In forestry, slash, or slashings are coarse and fine woody debris generated during logging operations or through wind, snow or other natural forest disturbances.¹ Slash generated during logging operations may increase fire hazard, and some North American states have passed laws requiring the treatment of logging slash.² Logging slash can be chipped and used (for example) in the production of electricity or heat in cogeneration power-plants,³ or simply burned onsite.⁴

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.⁵ Using slash in this manner reduces ground damage.