Round 11 Executive Summary

Publication Year

Brief Description

Topics

Full Text

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A Best Management Practices (BMP) monitoring program evaluated the level of implementation of non-regulatory forestry BMPs in East Texas. A total of 129 randomly selected sites on which silvicultural activities occurred were evaluated. These sites were monitored between October 6, 2020, and November 20, 2022, and are believed to be a representative sample of the forestry activities that occurred in East Texas during that time. Overall BMP implementation on the monitored sites was 91.5%. In general, implementation was highest on sites under corporate and public ownership. The corporate lands (commercial landowners that do not have wood processing facilities) scored 94.6%, while National Forest and General Land Office (GLO) sites had an overall implementation of 93.8%. Family forest owners scored 87.6%. No industrial forestland was monitored.
Implementation with BMPs was statistically higher when:

• a forester was involved in the sale or activity
• the landowner was already familiar with BMPs
• BMPs were included in the timber sale contract
• the timber was delivered to an SFI® mill

Implementation was lowest on sites when:

• a forester was not involved in the sale or activity
• the timber was not being delivered to an SFI® mill
• BMPs were not included in the timber sale contract
• the landowner was not familiar with BMPs

Deficiencies noted during the evaluations included:

• stabilizing stream crossings on permanent and temporary roads
• streams free of sediment
• removing temporary crossings
• thinning within allowable specifications in SMZs
• landing locations fee of oil, trash
• mandatory road BMPs being followed in wetlands

Improvements from previous rounds included increases in:

• permanent roads well drained with appropriate structures
• temporary roads stabilized
• rutting within allowable specifications on temporary roads
• controlling erosion on firebreaks during site pre activities