Deer impacts on forest vegetation have complicated attempts at forest regeneration in many parts of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic States, and other regions. Deer overabundance limits the success of forest regeneration. One strategy is to reduce deer browsing by temporarily excluding them from regeneration harvests. Because of the costs of fence installation, maintenance, and removal, we developed and tested the feasibility and effectiveness of slash walls. In 2017, 4 regeneration harvests ranging from 4.5 to 30 ha were cut. Slash and trees of marginal value proximate to the perimeter were piled into a slash wall that averaged 3.7 m to the tallest branch and 7.2 m wide. Slash walls occupied from 0.5 to 1.5 ha of the harvest area and used approximately 28,000 kg of slash and low-grade logs per 30 m section. The rate of construction depended on topography along with access to slash and low-grade trees. Construction rates for slash walls varied from 32 m/hr to 77 m/hr. The average cost of construction was $4.82/m ($1.47/ft) based on machine and operator costs of $200 (US)/hr for a weighted average cost of $541/ha ($219/ac). Fence installation can cost 3–4 times as much as slash wall construction, plus additional costs for maintenance and removal. The cost to monitor and maintain slash walls was negligible. Slash wall heights slumped approximately 8–14% per year, which reduced slash wall height by 37 cm per year. Four years after creating the slash walls, the heights of tagged seedlings of palatable species remained significantly greater inside the slash wall where deer were excluded than in adjacent control areas that were accessible to deer. We recommend slash walls minimally be constructed 3.1 m tall to the highest 5-cm-diameter branch, 7 m wide at the base, and sufficiently dense to prevent deer from being able to crawl through. This study is the first documentation of slash walls as a feasible and effective technique during regeneration harvesting to exclude deer from impacting forest vegetation. Subsequent to this study, multiple logging crews have created additional slash walls in CT, MA, NH, NY, and RI as part of commercial harvests.

鹿对森林植被的影响使东北部、大西洋中部各州和其他地区许多地区的森林再生尝试变得复杂。鹿过多限制了森林再生的成功。一种策略是通过暂时将鹿排除在再生收获之外来减少它们的浏览量。由于围栏安装、维护和拆除的成本，我们开发并测试了斜墙的可行性和有效性。2017 年，有 4 处再生收获面积从 4.5 到 30 公顷不等。靠近周边的边际价值的斜线和树木被堆成一个斜线墙，平均到最高的树枝 3.7 m，宽 7.2 m。斜线墙占用了 0.5 到 1.5 公顷的收获区，每 30 m 段使用了大约 28,000 公斤的斜线和低等级原木。建设速度取决于地形以及是否可以使用斜线和低等级树木。斜墙的施工速度从 32 m/hr 到 77 m/hr 不等。基于 200 美元/小时的机器和操作员成本以及 541 美元/公顷（219 美元/ac）的加权平均成本，平均建筑成本为 4.82 美元/平方米（1.47 美元/英尺）。围栏安装的成本是斜墙结构的 3-4 倍，另外还有额外的维护和拆除成本。监控和维护斜墙的成本可以忽略不计。斜墙高度每年下降约 8-14%，这使斜墙高度每年减少 37 厘米。创建斜线墙四年后，在鹿被排除在外的斜线墙内，与鹿可以进入的相邻控制区域相比，可口物种的标记幼苗的高度仍然明显更高。我们建议斜墙的高度至少为 3.1 m，最高的直径为 5 cm，底部宽 7 m，并且足够密集以防止鹿爬过。这项研究是第一个将斜墙作为再生收获期间排除鹿影响森林植被的可行且有效的技术的文件。在这项研究之后，多个伐木队在 CT、MA、NH、NY 和 RI 建立了额外的斜墙，作为商业收获的一部分。这项研究是第一个将斜墙作为再生收获期间排除鹿影响森林植被的可行且有效的技术的文件。在这项研究之后，作为商业收获的一部分，多个伐木队在 CT、MA、NH、NY 和 RI 创建了额外的斜线墙。这项研究是第一个将斜墙作为再生收获期间排除鹿影响森林植被的可行且有效的技术的文件。在这项研究之后，多个伐木队在 CT、MA、NH、NY 和 RI 建立了额外的斜墙，作为商业收获的一部分。