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P.O. Box 2642 | Darien, GA 31305 | Tel 912-437-8164 | FAX 912-437-8765 | |
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P.O. Box 2642 | Darien, GA 31305 | Tel 912-437-8164 | FAX 912-437-8765 | |
| Home | About Us | River News | Wildlife | Advocacy | Education | Events & Meetings | Resources | Links | Newsletters | ||
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State urges loggers to use 'best practices'By S. Heather Duncan,Telegraph Staff WriterMacon Telegraph February 15, 2004 When are rules not rules? When it comes to forestry, Georgia has no unbreakable rules. Instead, the state uses "best management practices," suggested guidelines for timber harvesting and planting, intended to protect water quality. The practices, or BMPs, explain the best ways to harvest, replant, apply weed killer, build roads, and handle oil spills. BMPs were developed in 1981 by scientists, the timber industry and conservationists. They are voluntary and open to interpretation. Best-management practices discourage clear-cutting near stream banks, which increase water temperature. Poorly built logging roads and timber dragged through stream beds can cause the erosion of dirt, woody debris, fertilizers, and herbicides. Erosion changes channel shape and the amount of oxygen and nutrients in water. Sixty-three Georgia streams contain an unhealthy amount of sediment, according to the state Environmental Protection Division, which asked the Georgia Forestry Commission to check BMP compliance in these watersheds. Voluntary state surveys indicate some BMPs are used on 99 percent of Georgia's forested acres. However, not all BMPs are used throughout each logging site. The most recent forestry commission survey found that 80 percent of the practices were actually followed in the Altamaha River basin, which includes the Ocmulgee and Oconee. In the Ocmulgee basin alone, 73 percent were used. "BMPs are not an exact science," said Frank Green, water quality coordinator for the forestry commission. For example, owners of land off Sandy Creek Road in Wilkinson County are involved in a dispute with timber company Thompson Hardwoods about BMP interpretation. In a river bottom, company forest managers determine whether low-lying standing water is an intermittent stream, slough or pond. The decision makes the difference between chopping down thousands of dollars of old hardwood or leaving it as a stream buffer. In some of these disputed areas on the Wilkinson tract, waist-deep muddy tire tracks slice through banks, and snarls of tree limbs form prickly piles. In a few fields, skid trails where trees were dragged are visible beneath a few inches of water, churned dirt and roots. If the water doesn't flow off the property, these conditions are generally fine, according to the forestry commission. In response to a landowner complaint in November, Thompson Hardwoods invited the commission to check the site, which received a perfect score. A second visit in January also showed water quality unaffected by logging, Green said. Hardwood logging faces the most scrutiny, Green said, because hardwood forests are usually located in floodplains. Clear-cutting hardwoods and replanting pine often reduces swamp land available to absorb flood water and filter impurities. About a quarter of the wood harvested in Georgia is hardwood, according to the forestry commission. A similar quandary over hardwood waterways occurred in 2001 on a Wilcox County tract where Thompson Hardwoods was logging next to the Ocmulgee River. Green said the company had clear-cut streams and sloughs. The situation drew attention to vagueness in the BMPs, Green said, and many experts visited the Wilcox property to draft more specific river bottom guidelines, released last year. Mike Evans, who owns part of the Wilkinson tract, say these disputes show the BMPs are too flexible. "It's the Georgia Forestry Commission's interpretation of that (BMP) book that decides who gets away with what," Evans said. It's hard to judge how useful BMPs are without long-term studies, said Rhett Jackson, a University of Georgia hydrology professor. He is conducting a study that so far has shown 5 percent of clear-cut areas dumping sediment into streams when BMPs are used. Generally, a 40-foot buffer removed 70 percent of dirt runoff, but not most herbicides, Jackson said. Jackson's study was conducted on industry-owned timber land. USDA Forest Service research showed the timber industry were more likely to use BMPs than any other ownership group except public parks and forests. However, 70 percent of Georgia's commercial forests are owned by private individuals who hire loggers to cut trees periodically. This group has the worst track record for using BMPs, the forest service found. Jackson said large companies in Southeastern states, such as International Paper and Weyerhaeuser, see BMP compliance as the cost of doing business. But leaving 40 feet of trees along a stream is a much bigger financial sacrifice for small private landowners. |
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