SlashScan: A new app for smart, fast, and cheap slash pile volume estimates in the field

Abstract

For decades, foresters have sought cost-effective ways to remove the leftover twigs, branches, and boles—the “waste” of forest operations and fuels treatments—and transform them into a usable resource. Slash piles can be left alone, burned, or used. If left in place, slash piles may fuel the next wildfire or obstruct replanting efforts. Disposal via burning is relatively inexpensive but comes with risk, smoke, and increasingly, shorter burn windows. Before slash can be transported and processed into energy or bioproducts, land managers must inventory and measure the piles. These are often scattered across uneven terrain in all shapes and sizes.

Citation

Moore, Annabelle; Anderson, Nathaniel; Woo, Heesung; Jeong, Heechan; Chung, Woodam. 2026. SlashScan: A new app for smart, fast, and cheap slash pile volume estimates in the field. Connected Science. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 2 p.