Oklahoma Administrative Code › Title 35 - Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry › Chapter 45 - Water Quality Standards Implementation Plan › Subchapter 1 - Water Quality Standards Implementation Plan › Section 35:45-1-9 - Forestry best management practice program

Current through Vol. 41, No. 20, July 1, 2024
(a) ODAFF's Forestry Services' water quality
				program monitors the effects of forest practices on water quality, administers
				silvicultural best management practices and provides training and education of
				landowners, loggers and forest managers. Forestry's nonpoint source management
				program consists of a variety of activities designed to raise awareness of the
				need to use BMPs to prevent water quality problems in Oklahoma. Activities
				include maintenance of the State's forestry BMP guidelines, including
				evaluation of BMP effectiveness, and revision and development of BMPs;
				workshops for loggers, foresters and landowners on the use of BMPs; development
				of educational materials; a certification program for loggers who have
				completed training, in cooperation with the Oklahoma Forestry Association;
				exhibits, news releases, group presentations; BMP compliance monitoring;
				demonstrations of the proper use of forestry BMPs and low-cost erosion control
				techniques; complaint investigations; and support of water quality monitoring
				studies.
(b) Compliance with
				antidegradation requirements and protection of beneficial uses.
(1) Forestry's water quality programs are
				generally preventive in nature. Raising awareness, promoting BMPs and
				monitoring their use will help minimize water quality impacts from
				silviculture. As the forest industry continues to emphasize BMP compliance,
				through the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and other means, potential threats
				to water quality from forestry will further diminish. BMPs are continuously
				reviewed and evaluated to determine their adequacy for protection of beneficial
				uses.
(2) The primary potential
				impacts of forestry activities on water quality involve sedimentation and
				turbidity from practices such as road construction and maintenance, timber
				harvesting, site preparation and other activities; and pollution from the use
				of chemicals or fertilizers and equipment maintenance. Beneficial uses that
				could be affected include:
(A) fish and
				wildlife propagation, from turbidity or changes in water temperature;
(B) primary and secondary body contact
				recreation, due to turbidity and suspended solids;
(C) aesthetics, due to turbidity and
				suspended solids; and
(D) impacts
				on public water supplies from pollutants associated with pesticide application
				and fertilization activities.
(3) Forestry Services will use the State's
				list of water bodies that specifies whether beneficial uses are supported,
				threatened or not supported to guide follow up actions. In watersheds where
				beneficial uses are not supported, Forestry will intensify its program efforts
				in cooperation with industry and landowners to address ongoing problems related
				to forestry, and will also increase efforts to inform landowners about the
				benefits of using trees and forest vegetation to protect water quality,
				regardless of land use, and to manage for maintenance of healthy forested
				watersheds.