Code of Maine Rules › 01 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION AND FORESTRY › 669 - BUREAU OF FORESTRY (MAINE FOREST SERVICE) › Chapter 27 - STANDARDS FOR TIMBER HARVESTING ACTIVITIES WITHIN UNORGANIZED AND DEORGANIZED AREAS OF THE STATE › Section 669-27-4 - Timber Harvesting Standards

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A. Timber
				harvesting requires a permit from the Bureau in P-MA, P-SG, P-RT, P-UA
				subdistricts; P-RR subdistricts established to protect a trail; P-RR
				subdistricts established to protect a flowing water when the timber harvesting
				is not in conformance with the standards for timber harvesting in P-SL1
				subdistricts; water crossings of major flowing waters in P-RR subdistricts, and
				water crossings of all flowing waters surrounded by P­RR and P-RT
				subdistricts established to protect such waters. In approving applications
				submitted to it pursuant to 12 M.R.S. §8867-D and §8867-E, the Bureau
				may impose such reasonable terms and conditions as the Bureau considers
				appropriate in order to satisfy the purpose set forth in its governing statutes
				and rules.
B. Permits for timber
				harvesting in P-RT and P-UA subdistricts and P-RR subdistricts established to
				protect a trail or flowing water require review and approval by the
				Commission.
C. The following
				requirements apply to timber harvesting within all management and protection
				subdistricts except as otherwise mentioned above or hereinafter provided:
1. Except when surface waters are frozen,
				skid trails and skid roads must not utilize stream channels bordered by a P-SL1
				subdistrict except to cross such channels with a culvert or bridge according to
				the water crossing requirements of Section 5(C)(4) and (7)
2. Skid trails, skid roads, and winter haul
				roads in P-RR subdistricts established to protect a trail or flowing water and
				P-RT subdistricts must follow the shortest practicable route in traversing such
				subdistrict and traverse such subdistrict the fewest number of times
				practicable.
3. Skid trails, skid
				roads, and winter haul roads in P-RR subdistricts around a body of standing
				water must be discontinued, gated, obstructed, or otherwise made impassable to
				two wheel drive vehicles upon completion of timber harvesting, provided that,
				wherever such approval is legally required, the Maine Forest Service approves
				discontinuation of such road, which approval the owner must request.
4. Timber harvesting in P-SL1, P-GP, P-GP2,
				and P-RR subdistricts must be conducted in the following manner:
a. Within 50 feet of the normal high water
				line, no clearcutting is allowed and harvesting operations must be conducted in
				such a manner that a well-distributed stand of trees is retained so as to
				maintain the aesthetic and recreational value and water quality of the area and
				to reasonably avoid sedimentation of surface waters.
b. At distances greater than 50 feet from the
				normal high water line, harvesting activities may not create single openings
				greater than 14,000 square feet in the forest canopy. In such areas, single
				canopy openings of over 10,000 square feet must be no closer than 100 feet
				apart.
c. Harvesting must not
				remove, in any ten year period, more than 40 percent of the volume on each acre
				involved of trees 6 inches in diameter and larger measured at 4 1/2 feet above
				ground level. Removal of trees less than 6 inches in diameter, measured as
				above, is permitted if otherwise in conformance with these regulations. For the
				purposes of these standards, volume may be determined as being equivalent to
				basal area.
d. No accumulation of
				slash must be left within 50 feet of the normal high water line of surface
				water protected by the P-SL1 and P-GP subdistricts. In such subdistricts, at
				distances greater than 50 feet from the normal high water line of such waters,
				all slash larger than 3 inches in diameter must be disposed of in such a manner
				that no part thereof extends more than 4 feet above the ground.
5. Timber harvesting in P-FW
				subdistricts must be conducted in the following manner:
a. The landowner or designated agent must
				confer with the appropriate biologist at the Department of Inland Fisheries and
				Wildlife as to how the proposed activity is to occur within the P-FW
				subdistrict.
b. If a plan
				acceptable to the parties cannot be reached stating how the proposed activity
				should occur, the landowner or designated agent is required to obtain a permit
				from the Bureau. The applicant for such permit must show by a preponderance of
				the evidence that the proposed activity will be conducted in a manner which
				produces no undue adverse impact upon the resources and uses in the
				area;
c. If a plan acceptable to
				the parties can be reached, the landowner or designated agent must notify the
				Bureau in writing with a copy of the field investigation report by the
				biologist that states how and over what time period the activity is to occur.
				The notification letter must be signed by the person responsible for the
				proposed activity and the field investigation report must be signed by the
				biologist;
d. The landowner or
				designated agent may proceed with activity in conformity with the plan 14 days
				after the notification to the Bureau unless within such time period the Bureau
				disapproves the plan; and
e. The
				landowner or designated agent must notify the Bureau of completion of activity
				so that a follow-up field investigation may be carried out by the Bureau or its
				designee.
6. Timber
				harvesting in a P-RR subdistrict established to protect a flowing water must be
				carried out in compliance with the standards for timber harvesting in P-SL1
				subdistricts as set forth in this section.
7. Except as provided in Section 4(B)(9),
				skid trails and other sites, where the operation of machinery used in timber
				harvesting results in the exposure of mineral soil, must be located such that
				an unscarified filter strip of at least the width indicated below is retained
				between the exposed mineral soil and the normal high water line of surface
				water areas:
Average Slope of Land Between Exposed Mineral
							 Soil and Normal High Water Line (Percent)
Width of Strip Between Exposed Mineral Soil and
							 Normal High Water Line (Feet Along Surface of the Ground)
0
25
10
45
20
65
30
85
40
105
50
125
60
145
70
165
Table 4-1. Unscarified filter strip width requirements for
				  exposed mineral soil created by the operation of machinery used in timber
				  harvesting.
The provisions of this subsection apply only on a face
				  sloping toward the water, provided however, no portion of such exposed mineral
				  soil on a back face shall be closer than 25 feet. The provisions of this
				  subsection do not apply where skid roads cross such waters.
8. Timber harvesting operations must be
				conducted in such a manner that slash is not left below the normal high water
				line of a body of standing water or tidal waters, or below the normal high
				water line of stream channels downstream from the point where such channels
				drain 300 acres or more.
9. Except
				when surface waters are frozen, skid trails and skid roads must not utilize
				stream channels bordered by P-SL2 subdistricts except to cross the same by the
				shortest possible route. Unless culverts or bridges are installed in accordance
				with Section 5(C)(4)and (7), such crossings must only use channel beds which
				are composed of gravel, rock or a similar hard surface which would not be
				eroded or otherwise damaged. The requirements of this subsection may be
				modified according to the provisions of Section 4(B)(9).
10. Except as provided in Section 4(B)(9),
				skid trail and skid road approaches to stream channels must be located and
				designed so as to divert water runoff from the trail or road in order to
				prevent such runoff from directly entering the stream.
11. Timber harvesting operations in P-SL2
				subdistricts along stream channels upstream from the point where they drain 300
				acres or less, and in P-WL subdistricts adjacent to such P-SL2 subdistricts,
				may be conducted in a manner not in conformity with the requirements of the
				foregoing Sections 4(B)(5),(8)and (9)provided that such operations are
				conducted so as to avoid the occurrence of sedimentation of water in excess of
				25 Jackson Turbidity Units as measurable at the point where such stream channel
				drains 1 square mile or more. Jackson Turbidity Units are a standard
				measurement of the relative amount of light that will pass through a sample of
				water compared with the amount of light that will pass through a reference
				suspension; the Jackson Turbidity Unit measurement for water without turbidity
				is 0;
12. Harvesting operations in
				P-SL2 subdistricts along stream channels downstream from the point where they
				drain 300 acres or more and along bodies of standing water must be conducted in
				such a manner that sufficient vegetation is retained to maintain shading of the
				surface waters; and
13. In addition
				to the foregoing minimum requirements, except as provided for in Section
				4(B)(9), provision must be made to conduct timber harvesting operations to
				reasonably avoid sedimentation of surface waters.
14. In addition to the preceding standards,
				timber harvesting in proximity to an existing development must also comply with
				the applicable requirements of Chapter 10 of the Commission's Rules and
				Standards, Land Use Districts and Standards, Section 10(27)(B), "Vegetation
				Clearing. "For purposes of this provision, "in proximity to an existing
				development" means the following:
a. For a
				lot developed with a single family dwelling unit with shoreline frontage on any
				body of standing water ten acres or greater, or a flowing water draining 50
				square miles or more, the area within a rectangle measuring 200 feet along the
				shoreline centered on the primary structure by 250 feet perpendicular to the
				shoreline measured from the normal high water line of the waterbody.
b. For a lot developed with a single family
				dwelling unit with shoreline frontage on a standing body of water less than ten
				acres in size, or any tidal water, or flowing water draining less than 50
				square miles, the area within a rectangle measuring 150 feet along the
				shoreline centered on the primary structure by 75 feet perpendicular to the
				shoreline measured from the normal high water line of the waterbody.
c. For a lot developed with a single family
				dwelling unit with road frontage on a public road, the area within a rectangle
				measuring 100 feet along the road right-of-way or similar boundary of the road
				centered on the primary structure by 50 feet perpendicular to the roadway
				measured from the edge of the road right-of-way.
d. For a commercially developed lot or lot
				developed with multiple structures located parallel to a water body with
				shoreline frontage on any body of standing water ten acres or greater, or a
				flowing water draining 50 square miles or more, the area within a rectangle
				measured from 50 feet from each end of the development along the shoreline and
				250 feet perpendicular to the shoreline measured from the normal high water
				line.
e. For a commercially
				developed lot or lot with multiple structures located parallel to a water body
				with shoreline frontage on a standing body of water less than ten acres in
				size, or any tidal water, or flowing water draining less than 50 square miles,
				the area within a rectangle measured from 50 feet from each end of development
				along the shoreline and 75 feet perpendicular to the shoreline measured from
				the normal high water line.
f. For
				a commercially developed lot or lot developed with multiple structures located
				parallel to and with frontage on a public road, the area within a rectangle
				measured from 50 feet from each end of development along the road right-of-way
				or similar boundary of the road and 50 feet perpendicular to the roadway
				measured from the edge of the road right-of-way.