MDE Announces Publication of the Revised Manual for Erosion & Sediment Control on Forest Harvest Operations (DRAFT)

Informal Comment Period Closes September 20, 2005

For nearly thirty years, timber cutting in Maryland's forests has been regulated for erosion and sediment control.  In 1977 the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Water Resources Administration (the predecessor of MDE’s Water Management Administration) developed the regulatory document: Soil Erosion And Sediment Control Guidelines For Forest Harvest Operations In Maryland.  It continues in use today virtually unchanged from that time.

Changes in law and regulation and citizens’ expectations for environmental protection as well as changes in forest harvest technology all pointed to the need for an updated version of this guidance document.  The Urban Erosion And Sediment Control Program has a set of standards and specifications that have been incorporated by reference into the Code Of Maryland Regulations (COMAR).  It was therefore decided that any changes to the forestry guidelines should reasonably be treated in a similar fashion.  The revised draft document, the 2005 Maryland Erosion and Sediment Control Standards and Specifications for Forest Harvest Operations, maintains the fundamentals of the original guidelines.  Appropriate revisions have been made to bring them in line with current agency names, COMAR citations, etc.  The document’s format and arrangement have been revised to make a more usable reference.
 

In response to comments from the industry, some ancillary material has been condensed and placed in appendices to separate it from the basic erosion and sedient control requirements.  In a few instances substantive issues have been addressed.  A summary of changes provides more detail as to what we have done in the draft document to make it current, suitable as standards and specification, and for inclusion by reference in COMAR.

Please take some time and give serious consideration to how this revised document will impact you as a member of the regulated industry or as a regulator using it to review and approve erosion and sediment control plans or simply as an informed citizen concerned with how the environment is being protected.  Both the revised draft document and the summary of changes are available in pdf format.  The comment period will run through September 20, 2005.  Please direct your comments to:

Fred Jones
Environmental Program Manager
Water Management Administration
Maryland Department Of The Environment
1800 Washington Boulevard
Baltimore, Maryland 21230-1708

Comments may also be sent via email to:  fho_stds_specs@mde.state.md.us

Upon completion of the comment period the draft will be revised as warranted and prepared for the formal inclusion process.  Concurrent with this process, MDE-WMA will propose changes to the regulations that will authorize Maryland Licensed Foresters to certify that erosion and sediment control plans for forest harvest operations have been designed in accordance with approved ordinances, regulations, standards, and criteria.