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Forestry BMPs

The term Best Management Practice (BMP) can mean a lot of different things to different people. When it comes to timber harvesting, BMPs almost always relate to protecting water quality. Some common BMP examples include water bars that reduce the volume and velocity of surface runoff on skid trails; temporary skidder bridges that keep skidders and the trees they extract from the woods out of stream channels; mulch and grass seed that add surface cover on skid trails at stream crossings. BMPs can be behavioral too. For example, loggers may use different equipment based on soil moisture conditions, or they may choose to shut down entirely when it’s really wet. Check out some real-world examples of forestry BMPs below.

Working to Protect Water Quality and Support Economic Viability on Woodlot Harvests in the NYC Watershed

Protecting water quality during a timber harvest can be a challenge, but working with loggers to find practical, cost-effective solutions is what we are passionate about.

Smoothing Out Ruts at the Eco-Wheel Tracks Study Site

It is important for landowners and loggers to understand the equipment, labor, supplies, and time required to install forestry BMPs. This blog post provides an example of remediating a quarter-acre landing area and 1000 feet of skid trail.

Sediment Breakthroughs Associated with Logging in the New York City Watershed

WAC researchers help to improve understanding about the likely sources and pathways for stream sedimentation associated with logging in the NYC Watershed.

Replacing the decking on a 30-foot portable bridge

The WAC forestry program helped to repair the decking on a bridge at a timber harvest in Windham, NY.

Overlooked and Underfoot: The Water Bar

Waterbars are simple, down-sloped berms of dirt dug into a trail. It might seem odd or even annoying to have bumps in your trail, but waterbars serve an important purpose: they divert water off the trail before it causes erosion.

Field Research Complete for the Eco-Wheel Tracks Project

After doing three EcoTracks research trials at SUNY-ESF’s Heiberg Forest in Tully, NY, we did a fourth trial, this time in the Catskills. Not only did we change location, but we beefed up from a Timberjack 360 cable skidder to a John Deere 648H grapple skidder.

Do Eco-Wheel Tracks Reduce Soil Compaction Associated with Skidder Traffic?

What is that bright blue armor wrapped around those skidder tires? They’re called Eco-Wheel Tracks, manufactured by the Swedish company Olofsfors, and they are marketed as helping to improve traction, reduce compaction and rutting, and last longer than traditional tire chains. But do they? Taylor Richmond, a Master’s student at SUNY-ESF, digs into these questions for the WAC Forestry Program.