Forest supervisor seeks to set record straight on water quality and management practices

You deserve to have the facts about how the Forest Service cares for our public forests and wildlife. That’s why I’m compelled to set the record straight concerning some recent inaccurate claims about the scale of our management, the reasons for it and its impacts. In this column on water quality — part two of a series — I’ll share information on laws, facts and scientific data and consensus that help us determine how to manage our public lands.

We’ve heard concerns about how forest management may affect water quality. The Forest Service was founded with a mission to protect water quality, and we continue that mission by managing for diverse, healthy forests and restoring stream health in and around the Hoosier National Forest. For example, we remove under-sized culverts and restore stream flow with future sustainability in mind. This decreases sedimentation and improves aquatic wildlife habitat.

Some would like to convince you that when trees are removed, the soil is exposed and washes downhill into streams, leading to widespread sedimentation and pollution of our drinking water. But the fact is that we successfully implement many preventative measures that protect water quality.

• First, keep in mind that land is not “deforested” through our management actions. We harvest trees for specific ecological objectives. Following harvest, the age and structure of that forest will change, but it will always remain a forest. Tree roots and most of the leaf layer remain to hold the soil, and vegetation regrows quickly.
• In every vegetation management project, we follow mitigations in our Forest Plan guidelines and use best management practices (BMPs) such as seeding, mats, water bars, silt fencing and reinforced stream crossings to maintain water quality.
• With inspections and monitoring, we confirm that these BMPs are successfully implemented. Trained timber sale contract administration personnel make regular inspections of harvesting operations to ensure that contractors implement BMPs and that they are effective. This is in addition to pre-, post- and ongoing monitoring by our staff hydrologist.
• Local monitoring has shown that BMPs on federal lands are 96.5% effective.
• Scientific literature indicates that forestry BMPs protect water quality when constructed correctly and in adequate numbers.
• The Forest Service is held accountable to follow all applicable laws, standards and guidelines from our Forest Plan, the Clean Water Act and BMPs.

It’s also true that many of our forest management practices serve to improve water quality:

• Practices that reduce tree density, increase sunlight penetration and restore native plants to the forest floor increase the water filtration abilities of the forest — and reduce erosion and runoff.
• We may reduce nitrate concentrations in streams that lead to algal blooms through practices that promote oak species relative to beech and maple species. Beech and maple are predicted to have greater nitrate leaching rates compared to red oak.
• Practices that create young forest may also reduce nitrate concentrations in streams, as older forest stands are predicted to have greater leaching rates than younger stands.
• Prescribed fire reduces the amount of organic carbon that enters the water from the forested landscape by breaking down and removing downed wood and accumulated leaf litter. This reduction in organic carbon improves water quality, potentially leading water utilities to use fewer chemical treatments, which can have toxic byproducts.

Projects or actions that stood any actual risk of polluting or degrading anyone’s water supply would never be proposed by myself or our Forest Service staff. They are trained professionals in a variety of scientific and technical fields who take great pride in their work on behalf of the American people.

Also keep in mind that our staff lives near the Hoosier National Forest and just like you, we recreate in and enjoy the forest and its resources — and we drink water that is sourced from these lands. We care deeply for the long-term well-being of these treasures we are so lucky to share with current and future generations.

To view the research linked to this article or if you missed the previous column in this series, visit the Hoosier National Forest’s website at www.usda.fs.gov/Hoosier.

Mike Chaveas is forest supervisor for Shawnee & Hoosier National Forests. This is the second of three opinion pieces addressing forest management.

To read the first op/ed. click here.