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Nonpoint Source > Watershed Restoration > Technical Resources for Best Management Practices > BMPs: Forestry BMPs: Forestry

With over 1/5 of the state’s land base in forest, Indiana ranks third in the nation in hardwood lumber production. Addionally, forestry-based manufacturing provides roughly $3 billion to Indiana’s economy per year. Forestry is essential to our way of life, but when streams run through or near logging operations, special care should be taken to protect them.

Establishing riparian management zones (RMZs), installing stream crossings, and properly siting skid trails are just some of the techniques available to logging professionals. Technical resources for watershed managers working with active silviculture operations include:

  • Indiana's Forestry Best Management Practices:
    • Indiana Department of Natural Resources’s online handbook of practices to reduce nonpoint source pollution in managed forests, including stream crossings, riparian management zones, and forest roads.
  • National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Forestry:
    • U.S. EPA’s handbook on forestry practices that can reduce nonpoint source pollution.
  • Clean Water Act Section 319 Urban Guidance for Indiana:
    • This guidance document provides general program information, priorities, funding restrictions, definitions of basic terminology, and frequently asked questions related to the distribution of Section 319 funds (through cost-share funds and non cost-share funds) on urban land: defined as forests, wetlands, mining areas, and land that is currently not cropland, pastureland, rangeland, native pastureland, other land used to support livestock production, or tree farms.