Timber Harvesting Guidelines

These guidelines deal with problems caused by soil erosion, siltation and inattention to aesthetics. They include all the best management practices recommended for timber harvesting in New York State, plus additional aesthetic practices.

Streams and Water Bodies

What practices will maintain water quality of streams, lakes, ponds and marshes?

When soil washes into streams and lakes, it reduces water quality and may harm spawning beds. With proper logging, erosion never starts. Streams are protected from careless disturbance and their water quality maintained.

Keep Stream Crossings to a Minimum Locate Them Carefully

Check with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) about special regulations that apply to logging along wild, scenic and recreational rivers.
Check with DEC about permits for crossing classified streams.
Cross streams by the most direct route, but avoid crossing at bends and through pools.
Find crossing sites that have low, stable banks, a firm stream bottom and gentle approaches.
Cross at a few carefully chosen places, rather than at any convenient place.
Use temporary culverts, bridges or runways where stream bottoms or banks might be damaged; remove them after use.

Protect Stream Banks: Control Skidding and Felling Close to the Stream

Avoid cutting trees and destroying understory within 10 feet of the stream bank. This keeps the banks in place and shades the water.
Don't skid up and down the stream channel -- a good rule for intermittent streams, too.
Keep skidders at least 50 feet from the water. Winch off any logs that lie closer to the bank so they don't stir up the soil and start erosion. For slopes over 10 percent, it is good to keep skidders back at least 100 feet.
Fell trees so the tops land away from the stream. Keep debris out of the water and skidders farther away from the banks.
Remove logging debris from the water, so stream flow isn't affected.
When clearcutting, leave a 50-foot wide uncut strip along both sides of ponds, marshes and flowing streams. The shade cools the water.

Roads, Skid Trails and Landings

How can erosion be prevented on landings, logging roads, skid trails and steep slopes?

Soil uncovered by skidding and truck traffic can erode. Poor drainage creates mud holes. Erosion occurs if water is not diverted away from the road surface; the steeper the slope, the greater the danger. Good design and proper maintenance are the best prevention.

Protect Slopes Exceeding 30 Percent

On steep slopes, set roads and trails at least 150 feet away from streams, ponds and marshes.
Winch logs off steep slopes, where possible, to minimize the number of skid trails and the amount of skidder traffic.
Log steep slopes during dry weather, when soils are dry; or log when the ground is frozen and covered with snow.
After logging, regrade roads and primary skid trails, and install water diversion devices as needed.

Carefully Locate, Design and Build All Roads and Skid Trails

Keep roads and skid trails out of wet and poorly drained spots, and off the tops and toes of banks and slopes. This will keep machines from getting stuck and make skidding and hauling more economical.
Divert running water off roads and primary skid trails when slopes exceed 10 percent. Figure out where streams of water will run off during rain or snow melt. Put in diversion devices to channel surface water off the road or trail.
Keep roads away from streams, ponds and marshes. Set them back 100 feet on slopes less than 30 percent and 150 feet on steeper ones.
Don't run ditch water directly into a stream. End roadside ditches before a stream crossing and divert the water into the woods.

Carefully Locate Landings

Keep landings out of low spots and poorly drained places.
Put landings on gently sloping ground that drains well.
Set landings back at least 200 feet from streams, ponds, lakes and marshes to reduce siltation from erosion.

Roadsides Along Major Travel Corridors

What will make logging jobs look better along major travel corridors?

Some people object to logging slash, hung-up trees, poor utilization, deeply rutted roads and landings. Plan ahead to avoid these things. Be aware of the landscape. Logging a little differently usually keeps the roadside looking good.

If a Major Travel Corridor Isn't Screened by a Hill, High Bank or Other Landform, Maintain a 100-foot-wide Buffer Strip.

Fell trees so the tops land away from the road. This puts the slash further out of sight and reduces the need for top lopping.
Use all merchantable products. People don't like to see unused logs and bolts lying in the woods. If you cut them out, it lops off many of the large branches, too.
Pull down hung-up or partly fallen trees. Fell bent and broken trees and use the merchantable material in them.
Use care in skidding to protect understory vegetation -- shrubs and saplings make a good natural screen.
Keep skidders back in the woods and off the right-of-way. This keeps the road banks from getting rutted and keeps skid trails out of sight.
Cut lightly within 100 feet of the forest edge. Keep at least 50 square feet per acre in residual trees, including big ones. This keeps a forest-like appearance along the road.
Keep in mind that trees at the edge of the woods provide the best screen.
Cut stumps low.

Try to Keep Landings Out of Sight. Dress Up Landings and Access Roads After You're Done

Put landings behind a hill, bank or landform that hides them from the road, or set landings as far back into the woods as practical. Use a set-back of at least 200 feet whenever possible.
Curve access roads somewhat: it is harder to see up a curved road than a straight one.
Lay out landings so their long axes lie perpendicular to the road.
Keep entrances from the road narrow to reduce visibility from the roadside. Widen the road back in the woods.
Clear landings by burying debris or dragging waste material back into the forest. If you skid out only usable parts of the tree, there won't be much waste at the landing.
Back-blade landings and access roads so they are smooth, level and free of ruts and mud holes. They look better and should rapidly seed into new vegetation.
Place diversion devices where water might run down the roads and wash soil into roadside ditches.
Regrade and clean ditches along the roadside. Close temporary roads.
Where needed, seed access roads, landings and ditches, especially where they come close to the highway.
Pick up oil cans, lunch wrappers, broken cable and other junk and litter.

Fire Laws

Comply With New York State's Fire Laws

Keep logging debris and log piles at least 20 feet from the right-of-way.
Lop all conifer tops.
Check with DEC for more specific requirements for the town you're harvesting in.

Try Them ... They Work

Good stewardship of natural resources means careful use. Careful use provides for the needs of future generations as well as today's.

New York calls upon landowners, timber harvesters, contractors, forest managers and forest industries to harvest carefully. Everyone must work to keep our forests productive through safe and well planned logging. These guidelines offer solutions to problems. Use them. Do your part. Be a good steward of our forest resources.

The guidelines were developed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York Society of American Foresters, and the College of Environmental Science and Forestry.