Logging and water quality: State regulation in New England

Excerpt

THREE-FOURTHS of New England's landscape is forest. Accelerated timber harvesting during the past decade has generated public concern about the aesthetic impacts of logging and occasional incidents of stream sedimentation. There also is concern that such incidents will increase as timber harvest increases and more mechanized equipment is used.

Nonpoint-source pollution from forest land is certain to be a key environmental problem in the region during the 1980s (9). While Congress wrestles with legislation to control nonpoint-source pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies the control of nonpoint sources under existing law and controversy continues over the application by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of Section 404 water quality regulations to logging activities. New England states meanwhile have been developing regulatory strategies for controlling sedimentation related to timber harvesting.

The resource setting

Much of New England's rolling terrain has thin or silty soils underlain by shallow bedrock or hardpans. In many areas, soils are wet much of the year. Some areas are too steep or rocky for modern logging equipment. Other areas are excessively drained outwash sands and gravels.

Logging on frozen ground can minimize the effects of roadbuilding, skidding, and …