Forestry
Best Management
Practices (BMPs)
 Forestry Best
Management Practices, or BMPs, are techniques that assure protection of the environment
during forestry operations — from harvesting to reforestation — with a focus on
preserving water quality in lakes, rivers and streams.
All harvests are designed to conform to
natural geographic boundaries. Foresters work to enhance the visual quality of forest
lands while protecting or conserving water quality, air quality, soil productivity and
wildlife habitat. For example, clearcut harvesting techniques are not used within 100 feet
of lakes or rivers, or within 35 feet of streams.
Loggers who harvest pulpwood on paper
company forest land are trained in forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs). The
percentage of BMP-trained loggers supplying the Green Guarantee participants is expected
to increase dramatically in coming years.
 The paper
industry jointly initiated Wisconsin’s first voluntary guide to forestry BMPs in the
late 1980s with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. More recently, Green
Guarantee foresters helped develop a new guide in cooperation with representatives of the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Sierra Club, Izaak Walton League, University of Wisconsin-Extension and the
Wisconsin Association of Lakes.
Developed to address virtually every aspect
of sound forestry, Wisconsin’s BMP manual identifies proper procedures for planning
short-term forestry operations and long-term management. It also describes permits,
maintaining forest roads, timber harvesting, maintenance of forestry equipment and
material handling procedures, and wetland protection.
To assure that forestry BMPs are utilized
and effective, each year a representative sample of logging operations are randomly
selected for intensive field monitoring. The on-site inspections document that BMPs are in
widespread use and are effective in protecting water quality and the forest environment.
A major focus of the Green Guarantee is to
help assure that wood suppliers and public and private forest managers are trained in
forestry Best Management Practices.
 The Forest
Industry Safety & Training Alliance, supported by the paper and forest products
industry, coordinates forestry BMP training throughout the state. More than one-third of
all wood supplied to the Green Guarantee participants was produced by loggers with BMP
expertise in the first year BMP training was available to them.
Additionally, almost all field employees
with Green Guarantee companies are fully trained in BMPs; they include foresters, forestry
technicians, and machinery and equipment operators.
In addition to assuring that their forestry
personnel are trained in BMPs, the companies provide their employees with a diverse range
of educational forestry programs. The training opportunities assure that employees are
proficient in contemporary silvicultural practices, forest ecology, wildlife management
and industry economics; plus practical vocational and technical skills and the knowledge
necessary for career advancement.
Training offered by the firms includes
forest safety, biodiversity, forest ecology and silvicultural practices, and landowner and
property rights.
Click on a link below to explore more about
forestry!
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