By: Chuck Coup, BMP Forester (Ret.), Texas Forest
Service
Q: I have heard that the Texas Forest Service has recently
released a revised version of the Forestry Best Management Practices Handbook,
is this true? If so, why was it revised and how can I get a copy?
A: You heard correctly, a new version
of the Forestry Best Management Practices handbook was printed in August and is
now available.
Texas
Best Management Practices (BMPs) for protecting water quality during forestry
operations are periodically updated to account for new research, technology,
and operational methods. The Texas Forest Service has been working with the
Texas Forestry Association’s BMP Task Force for over a year to evaluate and
make revisions to the current forestry BMP guidelines. Members of the task
force represent loggers, various state and federal agencies, academia, private
industry, environmental organizations, and landowners across the region. Revisions
to the guidelines were made in an effort to continue to improve and enhance the
ability of forest landowners, loggers, and other forestry professionals to
effectively protect water quality before, during, and after forestry
operations.
Forestry
BMPs were first developed in Texas in 1989, and have undergone four revisions since
that time. The 1992 revision recommended that Streamside Management Zones
(SMZs) be maintained on intermittent streams, and wetland BMPs were added to
the handbook as part of the 1995 revision. In 2004, the guidelines were
clarified, and information on stream classification and basal area calculations
(a measure of forest density), two important factors in providing adequate SMZ
protection to streams, was added.
The most
recent update to the handbook, August 2010, further clarifies the guidelines,
and includes improved BMP design schematics, and information on slope
calculations and wetland protection. Federal regulations for mechanical site
preparation for pine establishment in forested wetlands are included in the
manual, along with indicators of established and ongoing forest operations, a
critical component of complying with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The
glossary was reformatted and several definitions were added or revised.
To make
the new books distinguishable from past versions, the color was changed from
dark blue to light blue. A summary of all revisions made to the BMP guidelines has
been included at the beginning of the new BMP handbook. I would encourage you
to take some time and review all the revisions and familiarize yourself with
any of the changes. It would be a good
opportunity for you to re-visit the handbook if you have not thumbed through it
in a while.
To
obtain a free copy of the new BMP handbook, please visit the Texas Forest
Service website at http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/water or contact the Texas Forest Service BMP project office in Lufkin
(936) 639-8180 or Longview (903) 297-3910. If you have any questions about BMPs
or any of the revisions made to the BMP handbook please contact Chuck Coup at
the TFS office in Lufkin.
* This article was published in the December 2010 issue of the Texas Logger
