Greenhouse gas emissions and removals of Slash Walls: A bio-based Deer Exclusion Solution for Climate-Smart Forest Regeneration

This study presents the first life cycle assessment (LCA) of slash walls—biodegradable deer exclusion barriers constructed from on-site logging residues—as a climate-oriented forest regeneration practice in temperate hardwood systems. While slash walls are increasingly adopted to reduce browsing and promote regeneration, their carbon implications remain unquantified. A gate-to-gate LCA was conducted using operational data from four installations in the Arnot Forest, supplemented with dimensional inputs from eight additional sites. Construction emissions ranged from 0.35 to 0.87 Mg CO 2 -eq/ha, dominated by diesel use in skidders and feller-bunchers. Forest growth dynamics were modeled with the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) to estimate additional aboveground carbon storage in protected versus unprotected plots over 100 years. Results show that slash walls achieved carbon payback within the first decade and reached a sequestration peak of ∼30 Mg CO 2 /ha (site range: 6–58 Mg CO 2 /ha) around year 40. Over a century, cumulative sequestration exceeded construction emissions by a factor of 5–85, averaging 45-fold gains. These findings demonstrate that slash walls deliver rapid and substantial carbon benefits. Their relative advantage declines beyond 50 years as canopy-level carbon stocks converge between treatments, highlighting the importance of aligning wall use with management objectives. While limited by small operational datasets and simplified treatment of decomposition and soil carbon, this study establishes slash walls as a low-emission, practical regeneration strategy and provides a foundation for integrating such practices into future forest-related LCAs and climate-smart forestry planning.