Effectiveness of Forestry Best Management Practices: Evaluating Water Quality from Intensely Managed Watersheds

Proceedings of the 1999 Georgia Water Resources Conference, March 30 and 31, Athens, Georgia.Silvicultural activities account for reduced water quality in only a small percentage of nonpoint source (NPS) impaired rivers and streams across the U.S. However, as state and national water quality issues have begun to focus on NPS pollution, the effectiveness of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for protecting water quality should be evaluated as a cost-effective means for NPS pollution control. The goal of this project was to evaluate silvicultural BMPs as they are applied to company timberlands to determine their effectiveness in protecting and maintaining water quality in small stream systems. Similar treatment and reference watersheds were selected in largely forested areas draining actively managed and relatively undisturbed company timberlands, respectively. Sites were monitored for the initial duration of one year using various physical, chemical, and biological monitoring techniques. Chemical monitoring, including monthly grab samples for sediment and nutrients, generally showed no significant difference between treatment and reference sites. Water quality standards were not exceeded in any given sample. Benthic macroinvertebrate samples yielded similar water quality ratings in both treatment and reference sites regardless of differences in stream habitat assessments. Results suggest that properly applied forestry BMPs are effective in maintaining and protecting water quality in small watersheds in the lower Piedmont/Upper Coastal Plain.Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThis book was published by the Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2202 with partial funding provided by the U.S. Department of Interior, geological Survey, through the Georgia Water Research Insttitute as authorized by the Water Research Institutes Authorization Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-397). The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of the University of Georgia or the U.S. Geological Survey or the conference sponsors