(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12754/River_1.jpg)
There are some beautiful watersheds here on the Island. Working around wet lands requires special attention. Violations results in fines starting around $2000.00 for a land owner and $10000.00 for a contractor.
Just thought I would share a couple pics.
At present I am working on a property that has a couple of gullies that run across it.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12754/Gully_1.jpg)
Slashed in the area where I cross.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12754/sediment_barrier.jpg)
Installed a sediment barrier about half way between the crossing and start of a repairian zone by definition.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12754/Gully_4.jpg)
That point is where the volume of water becomes large enough to create a rift down to the soil.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12754/Gully_3.jpg)
The extraction trail is about 100' away.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12754/Gully_2.jpg)
The trail.
Just wondering how much of a concern these areas are for you in your daily operations?
I am always amazed at who and where everyone comes from. Thanks Stephen for some great pics.
I'm sitting on a contract right now waiting for it to dry up to were you are right now.Maybe aug will have less rain :D .
Are there any trout in that stream?
same here I had to build a bridge. and have a big buffer between my trails and a brook. took some serious planning. but my engineer skills paid off. now its wack n stack time. "praying no more rain"
The fines for violating the clean water act are stiff here as well although it is rare to hear of someone in the private sector getting charged.
There are no streams on the property I am currently working but I have had a provincial conservation officer show up twice in the past week ensuring that I had all my proper fire gear on site. I did not have my work permit posted the first time so she returned to ensure I had followed her instructions the first time. First time I've been checked in over a decade.
Good job you are doing. Thanks for the pictures. Certain things have to be done around here too. I have no idea if more or less.
we have the usual riparian legislation here, no building or ground disturbance 30 meters from waterway, no septic within 100 meters.
I heard one story a few years ago about a woman out in westsyde in kamloops, wanted to build a porch on the front of her house... no go. the funny thing is that there was a paved road between her house and the river. go figure. :o
Thank-you for the replies. Truth is have not had any contact with environmental folks in years. Been following the "reasonable man principal" so far so good. :)
Hey barbender, there are speckled trout in the streams, rainbow trout were introduced into the old mill ponds several years ago. Watershed management groups have been formed and are doing an awesome job of cleaning up and bringing back a lot of these streams. Don't see many folks fishing anymore, guess they are waiting for the iphone app to come out. :D
Down here they are Stream Side Management Zones, SMZ's. And while not a legal enforcement thing, we use them to benefit the streams, and the Appraisal District. They are an important part of our management. State agency has a hand book that is the base, and it is wise to follow it.
I have a fish-bearing stream cutting through my place. I don't have any plans to sell any trees from it, at least not any time soon. The riparian zone for a fish bearing stream of this size is only a hundred feet on each side. Mine has little rainbow and cutthroat trout.
In the logger's world from Oregon,the EPA is getting ready to have open meetings to change BMP's to a federal mandatory ruling.Keep an ear open we need to be involved.I hope the logger's council will be involved too.
In a real sense, BMP's are already mandatory. If you don't follow them and have a water quality violation, you are in violation of the clean water act and that is a BIG BIG deal.
So how do you go about it if there are really great trees along near the stream that you want to cut? And what is the definition of soil disturbance? Does it mean driving a machine on the soil, or actually tearing up the soil? Or is that essentially the same thing? ??? Can you fell a tree away from a stream and yard it off out of the zone? Do you have to leave all trees that are next to a stream in all circumstances?
In Georgia, you can take out 50% of the basal area in a SMZ as long as you leave a minimum of 50 square feet or at least 50% canopy cover. However, you cannot cut stream bank trees and you cannot fell trees into the stream. With trout streams, there is a minimum, 25' no harvest zone with a minimum of 100 feet of SMZ to maintain shade. You can harvest the other 75' to 50 square feet of basal area or 50% canopy cover.
Here the policy is a no touch zone for 45 feet from where bare soil appears in reparian zone water or not.
So for trout steams I guess you would have to check with the govt to find out if it was a trout stream or not.
Quote from: Okrafarmer on July 18, 2013, 08:34:22 AM
So for trout steams I guess you would have to check with the govt to find out if it was a trout stream or not.
They knew mine was. I knew it too, as I swim (bob around in a little pool, anyway) in it and have seen them. It's a tiny stream. I'm astonished they had it marked as "fish bearing" on their map.
At least here, the trout streams are designated.
The waterway picture is wonderful!! Nice shot!