Water Quality Management in Alabama
The Alabama Environmental
Management Act authorizes the Alabama
Department of Environmental Management
(ADEM) to establish and enforce water
quality standards, regulations and penalties
in order to carry out the provisions of
state and federal water quality laws. From
that authorization, ADEM Administrative Code
prohibits the
deposition of pollutants into or the
degradation of the physical, chemical, or
biological integrity of waters of the state.
(see the BMP Manual glossary for
definitions). With regard to silviculture,
nonpoint source pollutants include, but
are not limited to, sediment, organic
materials, temperature, trash, pesticides
and nutrients (see glossary for definitions
and impacts) that are man induced.
In addition, the Alabama Water Pollution
Control Act states that ADEM shall have the
authority to propose remedial measures
necessary to clean up waters that have been
determined to be polluted. ADEM advocates,
however, that avoiding environmental
problems through voluntary application of
preventative techniques is much less
expensive, more cost effective and practical
than restoration after the fact.
The Alabama Forestry Commission’s
Role in Best Management Practices
The Alabama Forestry Commission was
established and is mandated by Code of
Alabama, 1975, Section 9-3-4 (1), to
protect, conserve, and increase the timber
and forest resources of the state. All
citizens of Alabama
are our valued customers. However, as the
lead agency for forestry in the state, we
seek to strike a balance
between serving Alabama forest owners’ needs
and enhancing the benefits flowing to
society from their
forests. Our mission is to promote
environmentally and economically sound
forestry practices, and we
are committed to optimizing available
resources to achieve this mission.
The Alabama Forestry Commission is not an
environmental regulatory or enforcement
agency, but it does
accept the responsibility to maintain and
update Alabama’s Best Management Practices
(BMPs) for Forestry whenever necessary to
help Alabama’s forestry community meet state
water quality needs. The Commission will
work in a cooperative manner with all state
and federal agencies concerned, and is
determined to utilize technical
expertise from within and without the
forestry community in any BMP revision
process.
The Alabama Forestry Commission also accepts
responsibility to provide education and
technical assistance to landowners, loggers,
foresters, vendors and the general public to
ensure that good stewardship principles are
understood and used.
Purpose of Best Management Practices
Alabama’s Best Management Practices for
Forestry are non-regulatory guidelines
(except for the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineer’s baseline BMPs on pages 16 and 17
which are mandatory) suggested to help
Alabama’s forestry community maintain and
protect the physical, chemical and
biological integrity of waters of the state
as required by the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act, the Alabama Water Pollution
Control Act, the Clean Water Act,
the Water Quality Act, and the Coastal Zone
Management Act.
The BMPs booklet lays out a framework
of sound stewardship practices that, when
consistently applied, will contribute
positively to maintaining a high degree of
water quality flowing from a forest. These
BMPs are not intended to be all inclusive.
Rational and objective on-site judgment must
be applied to ensure that water quality
standards are maintained.
The most important guidance that these BMPs
can offer the forestry community is to think
and plan before you act. Adequate
forethought will pay off in two ways: to
avoid unnecessary site disturbance or damage
in the first place and to minimize the
expense of stabilizing or restoring
unavoidable disturbances when the operation
is finished.
Following sound stewardship principles in
carrying out forestry practices will ensure
that our forests continue to meet the needs
of their owners, provide jobs, forest
products, clean water and a healthy
environment without costly regulations. Only
through sound stewardship principles will
all of these needs be met.
Responsibility
Responsibility for maintaining water quality
standards during a forestry operation has
been broadly interpreted to include all
parties involved in the authorization,
planning or implementation of the operation.
The responsible parties may include
professional forestry practitioner(s) such
as forest resource managers, timber
purchasers, loggers,
vendors, forest engineers or others. Due to
this inherent responsibility it is in the
best interest of all those involved in
silvicultural operations to make every
effort to prevent and correct violations of
state and federal water quality laws,
regulations and standards by consistently
implementing BMPs.
Additional Resources:
Best
Management Practices Manual |
BMP Overview Video |
Random BMP
Monitoring
Additional Information:
ACES's Alabama State Water Program
Alabama Department of Environmental
Management (ADEM)
Center for Watershed Protection
Clean Water Partnership
Environmental Planning for Small Communities
Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Organization Web Directory
Local Government Environmental Assistance
Network
National Small Flows Clearinghouse
National Watershed Library
River Network
Southern Group of State Foresters Water
Committee
Southern Watershed Forum