Forestry Best Management Practices Relationships with Aquatic and Riparian Fauna: A Review

Brooke Warrington,M Bolding,C Dolloff,W Aust,Erik Schilling,Scott Barrett,W Ford,T Wigley

doi:10.3390/f8090331

Abstract

Forestry best management practices (BMPs) were developed to minimize water pollution from forestry operations by primarily addressing sediment and sediment transport, which is the leading source of pollution from silviculture. Implementation of water quality BMPs may also benefit riparian and aquatic wildlife, although wildlife benefits were not driving forces for BMP development. Therefore, we reviewed literature regarding potential contributions of sediment-reducing BMPs to conservation of riparian and aquatic wildlife, while realizing that BMPs also minimize thermal, nutrient, and chemical pollution. We reached five important conclusions: (1) a significant body of research confirms that forestry BMPs contribute to the protection of water quality and riparian forest structure; (2) data-specific relationships between forestry BMPs and reviewed species are limited; (3) forestry BMPs for forest road construction and maintenance, skid trails, stream crossings, and streamside management zones (SMZs) are important particularly for protection of water quality and aquatic species; (4) stream crossings should be carefully selected and installed to minimize sediment inputs and stream channel alterations; and (5) SMZs promote retention of older-age riparian habitat with benefits extending from water bodies to surrounding uplands. Overall, BMPs developed for protection of water quality should benefit a variety of riparian and aquatic species that are sensitive to changes in water quality or forest structure.

Highlights

Forestry best management practices (BMPs) were developed and implemented to protect physical and chemical aspects of water quality relative to the Clean Water Act of 1972 [1,2,3,4,5,6]
U.S have been conducted on forestry BMP effectiveness, and all have concluded that forestry BMPs are effective, e.g., [1,2,3,4,6,10,11,17]
This literature review indicates that forestry operations in the pre-BMP era had the potential to negatively affect water quality and aquatic and riparian species, and that current forestry BMPs can help protect water quality and habitat conditions for a variety of riparian and aquatic wildlife during forestry operations

Summary

Introduction

Forestry best management practices (BMPs) were developed and implemented to protect physical and chemical aspects of water quality relative to the Clean Water Act of 1972 [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Prior to development and implementation of forestry BMPs, adverse impacts from forest operations to aquatic environments included increases in water temperature, deposition of fine sediment and increases in concentrations of nutrients and other chemicals, altered loading of coarse and fine organic matter in streams as well as disruption in stream channel form [7,8]. Forestry BMPs address potential impacts of sedimentation, temperature change, and changes in chemical regimes by significantly reducing or eliminating sediment, nutrient, and other pollution inputs [1,2,3,6,8,10,11,12]

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