General Harvest & Site Prep Guidelines

Welcome To the General Harvest & Site Prep Guidelines. We’ll cover four topics in this section:

  • General Guidelines
  • Harvesting
  • Harvesting within the SMZ
  • Site Prep

After reading these four topics, we’ll take a short quiz before moving on to the next section.

Let’s look at general guidelines for site prep and harvest.

General Guidelines

Erosion and sedimentation may result from any harvesting or site preparation activity. The following general harvesting and site prep guidelines discussed in this section serve as a refresher to minimizing impacts to water quality during and immediately following these types of operations. The guidelines should also be used to protect soil resources in situations where SMZs may be damaged by fire and where logging debris may enter streams as a result of the operation.

Harvesting

While harvesting, keep in mind some of the following BMP guidelines:

  1. Maintain a minimum SMZ width of 50’ on each side of intermittent and perennial streams.
  2. Landings should be placed at least 50’ outside any SMZ on firm, level ground.
  3. All trash associated with the operation should be promptly hauled to a legal disposal site.
  4. Logging debris should NOT be pushed into drains or SMZs, and should be removed immediately from streams.
  5. Skid trails should be located along the contour when possible.
  6. Skid trails on slopes should have occasional breaks in the grade to vent water.
  7. All temporary stream crossings should be removed upon harvest completion.

Harvesting Within the SMZ

While selectively harvesting within an SMZ keep the following BMP guidelines in mind:

  1. Maintain a minimum SMZ width of 50’ on each side of intermittent and perennial streams.
  2. Maintain a minimum of 50 sq. ft. of basal area evenly distributed within the SMZ.
  3. Immediately remove any logging debris accidentally dropped into any stream.
  4. Use directional felling to avoid felling trees across streams.
  5. Minimize the number of bank trees harvested as to maintain shading and filtering effects of riparian trees.
  6. Minimize soil disturbance while operating within the SMZ.
  7. Re-establish cover as soon as possible in areas without adequate vegetative cover.

Site Prep

Before and during site prep operations remember the following BMP guidelines:

  1. The boundaries of all SMZs should be clearly defined before beginning any site preparation activities.
  2. Avoid site preparation on steep slopes or highly erodible soils. Hand plant excessively steep slopes or wet areas.
  3. Mechanical site prep and planting should be done on the contour.
  4. Site preparation activities should skirt SMZs and stream channels. Debris should be placed above the ordinary high water mark.
  5. Carefully plan application of chemicals to avoid direct or indirect entry into streams and impoundments.
  6. All trash associated with site prep or planting operations should be promptly hauled to a legal disposal site.
  7. Avoid damage to existing water control devices. Any damage should be repaired immediately.

Follow these guidelines while conducting prescribed burns:

  1. Site prep burns on steep slopes or highly erodible soils should only be conducted when they are absolutely necessary.  The duff layer should be maintained.
  2. Firebreaks should have water control structures which divert water away from streams.
  3. Prescribed burns within an SMZ should be done at a low intensity.
  4. Firelines should be constructed along the SMZ boundary, and should follow the same guidelines as logging trails and skid trails with respect to water control structures.

Let’s review the guidelines with a quiz. To begin, click General Harvest & Site Prep Quiz in the box below.