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Removing slash reduces environmental risks & hazards

100% of slash can be recovered and repurposed if managed correctly by involving Azwood from the beginning. The Azwood team have the skills, experience and equipment to remove slash from forests on flat and steep terrain. Residues left to remain on cut over and skid sites can end up as landfill waste or contribute to environmental hazards if not correctly managed.

Environmental slash solutions guide

Landslip & erosion

Forestry sites can experience a significant upheaval to land and ground conditions when catchments are harvested. Ground cover and hillside stabilisation can be compromised which the area may not have experienced for 25 – 30 years. Also the introduction of new road formations and log processing sites means terrain and soil disturbance, larger areas of surface run-off, and areas of soft unstable fills. This can lead to surface flow intensities, disrupted natural flows, and higher sediment loadings in water run-off.

By removing the large slash deposits and correcting water flow paths, stability can be maintained until the site returns to full ground cover and firm root structures. It also removes excess weight on ground that may have been artificially changed, such as skid and road benching, and soft fills being deposited on slopes. As slash breaks down over time, the weight loading of large piles can increase over the wet seasons as it holds more water.

The fines component of slash (barks, small wood particles, needles, and top soils) when dispersed evenly can be used as a media for instant ground cover of bare earth surfaces, providing a good and nutritious plant re-establishment bed, suppressant of weed growth, and water retention of soil moistures while controlling surface flows and minimise erosion.

With the removal of large slash piles, 100% of land can be returned for productive cropping, thus allowing for eventual crown cover and root structure to further stabilise disturbed ground.

Keeps waterways clean

Due to the increased surface flows within harvested catchments loose slash debris are at a high risk of mobilising into water channels and waterways. Increased gully flows mixed with slash can create dams that allow higher volumes of trapped water to gather more loose debris that in turn trap more water.

The result can be catastrophic with a high likelihood that slope and gully walls fail, which can exacerbate damming effects and large volumes of debris mobilisation down stream. Slash that may remain in the waterway but not mobilise further downstream will contribute to de-oxygenating the water affecting the quality, and build of sediments in waterways will harbour weed and plant growth, hold excess nutrients, and affect water clarity and health for long periods of time.

Remove volatile fuels increasing fire risks

Slash when it is going through the natural process of breaking down will generate heat. A build up of this heat in a slash pile can easily result in spontaneous combustion and be the start of a forest wild fire.

Removing slash from forestry sites reduces the amount of dry volatile material available in the event of forest fires, which may intensify a slow burning wild fire into a raging inferno when a fire reaches a large quantity of ready fuel.

4 ways Azwood helps you save

01
When involved at the time of Harvest Planning we can help save you costs by ensuring there is less need for over engineering and ground disturbance, such as minimal temporary slash benching for retaining harvest residues. This can also eliminate double handling of slash or end-hauling it to different locations on site.
02
The re-establishment of 100% of ground returned for the replanting of productive use that will remain stable. Also with the manufacturing processes that Azwood engages in may allow the on-site production of natural soil organic matter for the re-establishment of disturbed ground and bare earth areas.
03
Azwood offers a complete solution to mitigate and manage slash risk saving our clients valuable time and money that could otherwise be spent engaging in multiple contracts.
04
Non-compliant sites can be a risk to your finances and investment. Restorative costs are likely to be higher in the case of an environmental mishap than proactive and “on the go” management of residues before, through-out, and immediately following the forest harvest program. Full removal from site of residues will also eliminate any need for follow-up or on-going management costs.