PlanningfortheFall

ByTomGilbert WaterResourcesSpecialist MaineForestService

One of the fundamental Best Management Practices (BMPs) we like to discuss at the Maine Forest Service is pre-harvest planning. Pre-harvest planning is a good business practice as well as an important BMP, as it avoids many problems. Planning will help reduce costs, make the job more efficient, protect roads and trails, leave the job looking better, and protect water quality. Good planning may even put your mind at ease during a heavy rain late at night.

However, how do we plan for increasingly warmer, wetter seasons? Increasing temperatures and more rain or snow has become the norm across the northeast, and as a result, weather has become more and more difficult to rely on and plan for. So how must logging operations adapt to this new reality? Despite the additional challenges of a changing climate, the fundamentals of pre-harvest planning remain the same. These include:

*Identifying the locations of streams, wetlands and other sensitive areas;

*Laying out the harvest operation on the ground;

*Planning to avoid those wet areas whenever possible;

*Choosing appropriate BMPs for the entire harvest and for closeout before beginning work;

*And last but not least is anticipating site conditions.

Taking into account and anticipating more precipitation may be the most important first step in adapting harvest operations to a changing climate. This may influence the timing of when some sites are harvested or a more aggressive use of structural BMPs throughout the site to account for larger volumes of water.

There are a range of structural BMPs that may be used to minimize soil disturbance and soil movement, but one important principal to keep in mind is that BMPs should be used throughout the entire site, and function as a system which works to control water in small amounts. When they are appropriately chosen, installed correctly and maintained regularly, they may extend the harvest season, reduce equipment wear, increase skidding efficiency and protect your investment in roads and stream crossings.

During a time of increasing climate challenges, it is more important now than ever to review the fundamentals of forestry best management practices, and how they apply to the conditions of each specific site. For more information on fundamental forestry BMPs please see our field friendly BMP manual, Protecting Maine’s Water Quality, available on our website: https:// www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/policy_management/ water_resources/bmps.html

Thanks to Amanda Beal, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry; Andy Cutko, Director of the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands; Patty Cormier, Director of the Maine Forest Service; and Heather Johnson, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic Community Development for visiting the Mechanized Logging Operations Program on Sept. 3.

The visit provided a great opportunity to meet students in the program and see some of the active timber harvesting they were engaged in at the site.