Forestry Best Management Practices
Best Management Practices guide landowners toward healthy woods.
Forested land is essential for about two thirds of our drinking water. That’s why managing this land with water quality in mind is critical to protecting freshwater supplies today and for generations to come. Following the passage of the Clean Water Act in the 1970s, most states developed “Best Management Practices” (BMPs) to guide landowners and professionals in safeguarding water quality by controlling pollution and other threats arising from forestry activities.
There are eight major categories of BMPs, including:
- Pre-harvest planning
- Streamside management zones
- Forest wetlands protection
- Road construction and maintenance
- Timber harvesting
- Revegetation
- Fire management
- Forest chemical management
Find out more
- Learn about Forestry Best Management Practices using this easy graphic tool developed by the Environmental Protection Agency.
- To find your state’s Best Management Practices (BMP) guidelines, visit the American Tree Farm System’s Woodland Resources page.
- To get good data on soil composition in your area, go to the USDA/Natural Resource Conservation Service's Web Soil Survey
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