Number 65 May 1994 ISSN 1062-9149
The North Carolina Sedimentation Pollution Control Act was passed in 1973. Its purpose is to prevent sediment from reaching streams by requiring the installation and maintenance of adequate sediment control measures during site-disturbing activities. The initial law provided a blanket exemption for agriculture and forestry.
In 1974, a Forest Practices Act study committee concluded that forestry was not a major contributor of sediment and recommended that voluntary best management practices (BMPs) be developed and used during forestry activities. These BMPs were followed voluntarily by the forest industry and forest landowners until the end of 1989.
In 1989, the North Carolina legislature amended the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act. The amendment maintains the forestry exemption, but only on the condition that site-disturbing forestry activity be conducted in accordance with Forest Practice Guidelines Related to Water Quality (15 North Carolina Administrative Code 11.0201-.0209). These guidelines were developed by a team of forestry and sedimentation experts, reviewed at public hearings, and approved by the Secretary of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources. The amendment became effective on January 1, 1990.
A number of western and northeastern states (Alaska, California, Delaware, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Washington) have implemented regulatory programs of state-approved forestry BMPs (Brown et al., 1993). In the Southeast, only North Carolina, Florida, and West Virginia have implemented regulatory programs for forestry; all of the other southeastern states operate with voluntary best management practice programs for forestry. North Carolina's approach is significant in that no pre- certification or paperwork is required and standards are performance based.
Access roads and skid trails, logging decks, and mill sites must be placed outside of SMZs, unless barriers such as property lines or limiting land features prohibit such placement, in which case they can be located within an SMZ. When an access road, skid trail, logging deck, or mill is located within an SMZ, effective erosion control and sediment control measures or structures must be installed to restrain accelerated erosion and prevent visible sediment from entering intermittent or perennial streams or water bodies.
The Forestry Best Management Practices Manual (NC Division of Forest Resources, 1989) was published to assist individuals in complying with the Forest Practice Guidelines. The manual defines BMPs and includes information about their purpose, conditions where the practice applies, specifications for use, and suggestions for maintenance for BMPs addressing the following categories of forestry activities: accessing and harvesting forest products; site preparation and reforestation; revegetating disturbed areas; and wildfire protection. A Pocket Guide to the Forest Practices Guidelines is also available (Deal and Hamilton, 1990).
The effectiveness of the program can be evaluated using statistics compiled by NCFR for the past three years on: 1) number of site visits made to evaluate if a violation has occurred; 2) number of these sites that were in noncompliance; and 3) number of the sites in noncompliance that had to be referred for enforcement action. While the number of site visits has increased from 222 in 1990-91 to 2735 in 1992-93, the percentage of sites visited that were found to be in noncompliance has dropped from 80% to 9% over the same three-year time period. Sites referred for enforcement action have also decreased from 2% to less than 1% (personal communication, Whit Collier, NCFR).
Earl Deal, Professor and Wood Products Specialist
Box 8003, North
Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8003
Tel: 919-515-5581,
Fax: 919-515-7231
email: edeal@wolf.ces.ncsu.edu.
Deal, Earl L. and Rick A. Hamilton. 1990. Pocket Guide to the Forest Practices Guidelines Related to Water Quality. The North Carolina Forestry Association, Inc.; Extension Forest Resources, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service; and Divisions of Forest Resources and Land resources, North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural resources, Raleigh, NC. 28p.
N.C. Division of Forest Resources. 1989. Forestry Best Management Practices. Division of Forest Resources, North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources, Raleigh, NC. 67p.
Monitoring of both land treatment and water quality is necessary to document the effectiveness of nonpoint source pollution controls in restoring water quality. The Section 319 National Monitoring Program, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is designed to support watershed projects throughout the country that meet a minimum set of project planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation requirements. The requirements are designed to lead to successful documentation of project effectiveness with respect to water quality protection or improvement. The National Monitoring Program projects comprise a small subset of nonpoint source control projects funded under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act Amendments of 1987. The following article continues a series describing these projects.
The Big Spring Run is a spring-fed stream located in the Mill Creek
Watershed of south central Pennsylvania. Its primary uses are
livestock watering, aquatic life support, and fish and wildlife
support. In addition, receiving streams are used for recreation and
public drinking water supply. Sampling of benthic macroinvertebrate
communities indicated poor water quality at five of six sites. Other
stream uses are impaired by elevated bacteria and nutrient
concentrations.
Land use in the project area is primarily agricultural. Uncontrolled
access of more than 220 dairy cows and heifers to each of the two
watershed streams is considered to be a major source of pollutants.
It is estimated that grazing animals deposit an average of 40 pounds
of nitrogen and 8 pounds of phosphorus annually per animal. Pastures
adjacent to streams also are thought to contribute significant amounts
of nonpoint source (NPS) pollutants. Therefore, proposed land
treatment will focus on streambank fencing to exclude livestock from
streams. This will allow a natural riparian buffer to become
established, which will stabilize stream banks and potentially filter
pollutants from pasture runoff.
Water quality monitoring will employ a paired watershed design in
which the proposed NPS control is to implement livestock exclusion
fencing on 100 percent of the stream miles in the treatment
subwatershed. Grab samples will be collected every 10 days at the
outlet of each paired subwatershed from April through November. Storm
event, ground water, biological, and other monitoring is planned to
help document the effectiveness of fencing in the treatment
subwatershed.
The Chesapeake Bay program, which has set a goal of a 40 percent
reduction in annual loads of total ammonia plus organic nitrogen and
total phosphorus to the Bay, should have a significant impact on the
project. The program is expected to provide up to 100 percent
cost-share money to help landowners install streambank fencing.
October 1993 to September 1998 - 2003
The study area encompasses about 2.8 and 2.7 miles of tributary
streams in the treatment and control subwatersheds,
respectively. Measurement of summer base flow documented discharges of
0.81 and 2.24 cfs at the outlets of the treatment and control
subwatersheds.
Sampling of benthic macroinvertebrates at three sites in each
subwatershed indicated poor water quality (organic enrichment) except
for the most upstream site in the treatment subwatershed. The
subwatershed streams have relatively high nutrient and fecal coliform
concentrations which contribute to use impairments of receiving
waters.
One-time base flow grab sampling at four and seven locations in the
control and treatment subwatershed indicated fecal coliform counts of
1,100-38,000 mpn/100 ml in the treatment watershed and 10,000
mpn/100ml in the control watershed. Concentrations of other variables
measured are presented in the table below:
The control strategy involves installing streambank fencing on 100% of
the pasture land adjacent to the stream draining the treatment
subwatershed. All of the farmers in this watershed have agreed to
install fencing. A stabilizing vegetative buffer is expected to
develop naturally soon after the fencing is installed.
The water quality monitoring effort is based on a paired watershed
experimental design. The total project area is 3.2 square miles: the
control watershed covers 1.8 square miles, while the treatment
watershed covers 1.4. Agricultural land uses comprise 80% of the
control watershed and 85% of the treatment watershed.
Habitat and benthic invertebrate surveys will be conducted twice per
year, preferably during May and August, at the outlet of each
subwatershed and at points upstream in the treatment watershed.
Other variables to be sampled are: suspended sediment, total and
dissolved ammonia plus organic nitrogen, dissolved ammonia, dissolved
nitrate plus nitrite, dissolved nitrite, total and dissolved
phosphorus, dissolved ortho-phosphorus, and fecal streptococcus
bacteria (only during base flow).
Continuous discharge at watershed outlets and one tributary site and
periodic flow at one upstream site will be measured. Continuous
precipitation will be recorded at one site. Ground water level will
be continuously monitored in four to eight wells.
Grab and storm event composite samples will be collected at three
continuous discharge sites and one upstream site every 10 days from
April through November. Composite stormflow samples will be collected
at the three continuous discharge sites (10 - 15 per year) and the
upstream site (2 - 4 per year). Monthly ground water grab samples
will be analyzed for nitrate.
The overall objective is to document the effectiveness of livestock
exclusion fencing at reducing NPS pollutants in a stream. Another
objective is to reduce annual total ammonia plus organic nitrogen and
total phosphorus loads from the project watershed by 40 percent.
The Lancaster Conservation District and the Pennsylvania Cooperative
Extension Service maintain active information and education (I&E)
programs in the area. Also, as part of the Pequea-Mill Creeks
Hydrologic Unit Area (HUA) Project (U.S. Department of Agriculture),
the landowners in the watersheds will receive additional efforts.
Data will be managed locally by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and
entered into the USGS WATSTORE data base. Data will also be entered
into STORET and U.S. EPA's NonPoint Source Management System and
submitted to U.S. EPA Region III.
Patricia L. Lietman
Lietman, P.L. and M.J. Langland. Workplan for: Evaluating Effects of
Selected Agricultural-Management Practices on Surface- and
Ground-Water Quality in the Pequea and Mill Creek Watersheds,
Lancaster and Chester Counties, PA. 14p.
Lietman. P.L. 1993. U.S. EPA National Monitoring Program Application
(for Pequea and Mill Creek Watershed).
This summary of state nonpoint source control practices for forestry
was prepared by John Craig, Mary Ann Parcher, and George Townsend of
Tetra Tech and John Cannell of U.S. EPA's Nonpoint Source Control
Branch. The report provides a synopsis of the Best Management
Practices (BMPs) currently used by the states to address nonpoint
source pollution impacts on water quality caused by forestry
activities. The document is intended to provide the reader with
general information on the component practices contained in existing
state programs for forestry nonpoint source pollution control.
The report may be purchased from NTIS (800-553-6847) or downloaded
from U.S. EPA's Nonpoint Source Bulletin Board (Special Interest Group
#8).
This catalog, written by Hal Wise (Terrene Institute) and Elaine
Bloom, Sarah de Leon, and Deborah Neiter (Tetra Tech) and published by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, provides information about programs for watershed protection
in the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior, Federal Highway
Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, and Tennessee Valley Authority. Brief
information on each program includes: administering office or agency,
legislative authority, general program objectives, types of
assistance/available funds, assistance requirements, eligible
applicants, examples of funded projects, and information contacts.
Copies may be ordered (free) from NCEPI, 11029 Kenwood Rd., Building
5, Cincinnati, OH 45242, Fax: 513-891-6685 (mention EPA publication #
and title when ordering).
This fact sheet describes the paired watershed approach for conducting
nonpoint source water quality studies.
The paired watershed approach requires a minimum of two watersheds
(control and treatment) and two periods of study (calibration and
treatment). The control watershed accounts for year-to-year or
seasonal climate variation, and the management practices in this
watershed remain the same during the study. The treatment watershed
has a change in management at some point during the study. During the
calibration period, the two watersheds are treated identically and
water quality data are collected for each. During the treatment
period, a best management practice is applied in the treatment
watershed, while in the control watershed, management remains the
same.
The basis of the paired watershed approach is that there is a
quantifiable relationship between paired water quality data for two or
more watersheds, and that this relationship is valid until a major
change is made in one of the watersheds. The relationship does not
require that the quality of the runoff be statistically the same for
both watersheds, but rather that the relationship between paired
observations of water quality remains the same over time except for
the influence of land treatment implemented in one watershed at some
point during the study.
The fact sheet may be obtained (free) by using the enclosed
publication order form or contacting: Publications Coordinator,
NCSU Water Quality Group, 615 Oberlin Rd., Suite 100, Raleigh, NC
27605-1126, Tel: 919-515-3723, Fax: 919-515-7448, email:
wq_puborder@ncsu.edu. (Please refer to WQ-86.)
This attractively illustrated booklet provides information for
citizens about ground water and the hydrologic cycle, how ground water
moves, ground water recharge, effects of land use on ground water,
detecting and cleaning up contamination, prevention strategies, and
information about aquifers and natural ground water quality in
Pennsylvania. Brief descriptions of state and federal laws providing
authority for the state and federal governments to administer
regulatory programs to protect drinking water are also presented, as
is a list of references for further information.
The publication should be of interest to anyone involved in
information and education programs related to ground water. Copies of
the primer (free) may be obtained by contacting the League of Women
Voters of Pennsylvania Citizen Education Fund, 226 Forster St.,
Harrisburg, PA 17102, Tel: 800-692-7281.
In January, 1993, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) released guidance specifying management
measures for sources of nonpoint source pollution in coastal waters as
required under section 6217 of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization
Amendments of 1990. The U.S. EPA guidance provides states and
territories with information on the types of management measures that
should be included in state and territorial coastal nonpoint source
control programs (see
NWQEP NOTES No. 59, May 1993)
for article on the
required coastal nonpoint programs). The guidance focused on five
major categories of nonpoint sources that impair or threaten coastal
waters nationally; one of these sources is runoff from forestry
activities.
The bibliography supplements the information presented in the guidance
document by providing a bibliography on the impacts of
forestry-related activities and the costs and/or effectiveness of best
management practices (BMPs) used to mitigate such impacts on
management measures. The bibliography contains references for over 900
research reports, journal articles, federal publications, and other
reports. Approximately 50% of the references are annotated.
Criteria used in selection of papers for annotation were: 1) paper
content, 2) relevance to current forestry practices, and 3) date of
publication. Papers with significant amounts of data, with sound
conclusions, and based on current technologies were annotated, as were
papers providing a historical perspective.
The bibliography is organized into the following topics: program and
policy studies and reviews; instream studies; road construction and
use; timber harvesting; site preparation and regeneration; forestry
chemicals; streamside management areas and riparian areas; wetlands;
modeling; and water quality monitoring.
The report may be purchased from NTIS (800-553-6847) or downloaded
from U.S. EPA's Nonpoint Source Bulletin Board (Special Interest Group
#8).PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
by Daniel E. Line
National Monitoring Program Project
NCSU Water Quality Group
Project Synopsis
Project Time Frame
Pre-Project Water Quality
TP OP TKN NO3+NO2
(mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l)
Treatment .06-.25 .03-.15 .3-1.6 10-18
Control .02-.04 .01-.03 .1-0.3 4-12
Nonpoint Source Control Strategy
Water Quality Monitoring Design
Project Water Quality Objectives
Information, Education, and Publicity
Water Quality Data Management and Analysis
For Further Information Contact
U.S. Geological Survey
840 Market Street,
Lemoyne, PA 17043-1586
Tel: 717-730-6960.References
INFORMATION
Summary of Current State Nonpoint Source Control Practices for
Forestry
U.S. EPA. 1993. Watershed Protection: Catalog of Federal Programs.
Watershed Branch, Assessment and Watershed Protection Division, Office
of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Washington, DC, EPA-841-B-93-002, 107p.
Clausen, J.C. and J. Spooner. 1993. Paired Watershed Study Design.
Office of Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington,
DC. EPA 841-F-93-009. 8p.
Pennsylvania Groundwater Policy Education Project. 1993. Groundwater:
A Primer for Pennsylvanians. Pennsylvania Groundwater Policy
Education, Project League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania Citizen
Education Fund, Harrisburg, PA, and Penn State Cooperative Extension,
University Park, PA, 12p.
U.S. EPA. 1993. Water Quality Effects and Nonpoint Source Control for
Forestry: An Annotated Bibliography. Nonpoint Source Control Branch,
Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 241p.
An Annotated Bibliography