Ohio Administrative Code › Title 1501:3 - Division of Forestry › Chapter 1501:3-12 - Control of Pollutants from Areas Used for Agriculture or Silviculture › Section 1501:3-12-01 - General provisions

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A)
								Purpose.
Rules 1501:3-12-01 to
				1501:3-12-06
				of the Administrative Code to apply to the control of pollutants from areas
				within the state used for silvicultural operations, including land being used
				as private, industrial, commercial, and public woodlands.
Rules 1501:3-12-01 to
				1501:3-12-06
				of the Administrative Code establish state standards for a level of management
				and conservation practices for silvicultural operations in order to abate
				excessive soil erosion of the pollution of waters of the state by soil sediment
				including pollutants attached to the sediment. These rules further define
				Ohio's forestry pollution abatement fund for landowners or operators to
				voluntarily install best management practices.
These rules are intended for the use in
				determing the acceptability of best management practices used by landowners and
				operators of silvilcultural operations. Technical determinations by a district,
				chief, or chief's designee shall be considered prima facie evidence of forestry
				pollution.
(B)
								Definitions. As used in rules 1501:3-12-01 to
			 1501:3-12-06
			 of the Administrative Code:
(1)
									"Best managment practice" or "BMP" means a practice or
			 combination of practices that is determined to be the most effective
			 practicable (including technological, economic, and institutional
			 considerations) means of preventing or reducing forestry pollution sources to a
			 level compatible with water quality goals. BMPs may include structural and
			 nonstructural practices, conservation practices, and operation and maintenance
			 procedures.
(2)
									"BMPs for Erosion Control for Logging Procedures in
			 Ohio" means the current edition of "BMPs for Erosion Control for Logging
			 Practices in Ohio" prepared by the division of forestry, Ohio department of
			 natural resources. Copies of this publication are available at local soil and
			 water conservation district offices.
(3)
									"Chief" means
			 chief of the division of forestry, department of natural
			 resources.
(4)
									"Chief's designee" means any division of forestry
			 employee, soil and water conservation district employee, or soil and water
			 conservation district supervisor who the chief has given the responsibility to
			 implement the forestry pollution abatement program.
(5)
									"Conservation"
			 means the wise use and management of natural resources.
(6)
									"Cost-share
			 monies" means state of Ohio public funds used for the purpose of sharing the
			 cost of establishing needed pollution abatement practices.
(7)
									"District" means
			 a soil and water conservation district and has the same meaning as section
			 940.01 of the Revised
			 Code.
(8)
									"Division" means the division of forestry, department
			 of natural resources.
(9)
									"Forestry pollution" means failure to use management or
			 conservation practices in silvicultural operations to abate wind or water
			 erosion of the soil or to abate the degradation of the waters of the state by
			 soil sediment, including attached substances, from silvicultural
			 operations.
(10)
									"Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation,
			 business trust, estate, trust association or other legal entity, or any
			 political subdivision, instrumentality or agency of the state or the United
			 States.
(11)
									"Prime facie evidence" means law evidence adequate to
			 establish a fact or raise a presumption of fact unless refuted.
(12)
									"Primary contact
			 recreation resource water" means water that, during the recreation season of
			 May first to October fifteenth, are suitable for full-body contact recreation
			 such as, but not limited to, swimming, canoeing, and scuba diving with minimal
			 threat to public health as a result of water quality.
(13)
									"Silvicultural"
			 means the theory and practice of planning, planting, thinning, pruning,
			 growing, and harvesting of trees.
(14)
									"Silvicultural
			 operation" means forest management activities including but not limited to
			 harvesting of timber, including the felling, skidding, on-site processing, and
			 loading of trees or logs onto trucks; construction, maintenance and closure of
			 forest roads and trails; thinning of trees; and planting of trees, including
			 preparation and maintenance.
(15)
									"Timber harvest
			 plan" means a written record, developed or approved by the chief of the
			 division of forestry, the chief's designee, or the soil and water conservation
			 district that contains implemenatation schedules and operational procedures for
			 a level of land and water management that will abate wind or water erosion of
			 the soil or abate the degredation of the waters of the state by soil sediment
			 from silvicultural operations and descriptions of timber harvest methods. The
			 procedures in this plan should be consistent with "BMPs for erosion control for
			 logging practices in Ohio".
(16)
									"Waters of the
			 state" means all streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, watercourses, waterways,
			 wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems, and all other bodies or
			 accumulations of water, surface and underground, natural or artificial,
			 regardless of the depth of the strata in which underground water is located,
			 which are situated wholly or partly within, or border upon, this state, or are
			 within its jurisdiction, except those private waters which do not combine or
			 effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters.