Duckboards are slats of
wood lain across
trench floors,
ditches, or
trails to facilitate movement. They serve to maintain
traction in flooded or muddy fields. The advantage to using duckboards in
wilderness areas, rather than the creation of raised
gravel trails, is that duckboards can be removed, having had little effect on the
ecology.
In the food service industry, duckboards keep perishable foods off of earthen or cement floors in the eventuality of flooding. Instead of large slats of wood, duckboards are often made of plastic or of split bamboo.
In photography, a duckboard in a development tank allows for the circulation of chemicals, and circulates pockets of accumulated heat, keeping the temperature even.