Forest owners can help protect and improve water quality.

In July of 1997, the state of Georgia came under a federal court order to develop Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) rates and implementation plans on water quality impaired stream segments. GFC was tasked with developing the forestry component for TMDL plans.

The purpose of this website is to provide a state-wide timber harvest notification platform for the report of timber harvests to Georgia’s counties or municipalities.

This list is made up of buyers/harvesters who have submitted information to GFC and is not meant as an endorsement of any individual or company. For a full list of Georgia Master Timber Harvesters (GAMTH), visit the GAMTH database. To be added to the timber buyers directory, contact Angela Kimberly at akimberly@gfc.state.ga.us.

Forestry BMP Requirements for Streamside Management Zones can be temporarily suspended for certain
catastrophic situations that have already or will threaten the forest canopy within an SMZ.

The SGSF Water Resources Committee developed this general guidance document to assist Environmental Protection Agency and other federal regulatory agency representatives in making field level distinctions between ongoing silviculture for bottomland hardwood and cypress swamps and other land uses that may have similar operational aspects.

GFC and the Southern Group of State Foresters launched “Learn, Plan, Act” as a way to promote sound forest management practices and provide helpful educational materials, guidance and other resources to Georgia landowners.

Georgia manages water resources in a sustainable manner to support the state’s economy, to protect public health and natural systems, and to enhance the quality of life for all citizens.

Results of Georgia’s 2023 Silvicultural Best Management Practices Implementation and Compliance Survey

Highlights from Georgia’s 2023 Silvicultural Best Management Practices Implementation and Compliance Survey

The state is divided into five regions to ensure the best management of water controls.

The Federal Clean Water Act, Section 404, exempts normal, established, ongoing silvicultural activities from the permitting process for discharges of dredged or fill material in jurisdictional wetlands; provided that 15 federal mandates are complied with.

This crossing:
• Crossing Purpose: To access timber for harvesting
• Alternatives: Other side would have required crossing another stream and building a new road
• Primary objective of State Forest: Timber Production
• Management Plan: Harvest timber and then reforest

The Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) has completed its 2021 Forestry BMP Implementation Survey covering 260 randomly selected sites statewide.

Results of Georgia’s 2021 Silvicultural Best Management Practices Implementation and Compliance Survey

Detail map of the areas within the LSRW Initiative.

Announcement of the LSRW Initiative to support state forestry commissions and water utilities by strengthening the forest and drinking water connection through projects that enhance public surface water supplies.

The purpose of this manual is to inform landowners, foresters, timber buyers, loggers, site preparation and reforestation contractors, and others involved with silvicultural operations about common-sense, economical and effective practices to minimize non-point source pollution (soil erosion and stream sedimentation) and thermal pollution. These minimum practices are called BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES and are commonly referred to as BMPs.

The Chattahoochee River originates in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains above Helen, Georgia, and drains almost 5.6 million acres (8770 mi2) of piedmont and coastal plain landscape in Alabama and Georgia. With a length of 430 miles, it is commonly divided into three segments, with the Upper Chattahoochee flowing through Atlanta before becoming the Middle Chattahoochee through Columbus. From Lake Walter F. George, the Lower Chattahoochee
flows south toward Lake Seminole, where it joins with the Flint River to form Lake Seminole, which drains, in turn, into the Apalachicola River and the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, the Chattahoochee provides drinking water for more than half of all Georgians and recreation opportunities on the reservoirs above the 13 dams that punctuate its course.

Forestry BMPs are an important part of the practice of sustainable forestry. Simply defined, sustainable forestry is ” … the management of forests to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.”

Information for landowners, foresters, timber buyers, loggers, site preparation and reforestation contractors, and others involved with silvicultural operations about common-sense, economical and effective practices to minimize non-point source pollution (soil erosion and stream sedimentation) and thermal pollution. These minimum practices are called BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES and are commonly referred to as BMPs.

General Procedures for Compliance with the Clean Water Act.

Overview of the project to protect the water supply for communities and businesses along the Savannah River in Georgia and South Carolina.

Learn about Geoweb and Geotextiles with this informational sheet.

Forestry herbicide applications are commonly used to help control competing vegetation in pine plantations. Pine plantations may occur in areas that could be considered waters of the state, especially in the Coastal Plain Region of Georgia.

In some instances, forest fire fighting activities dictate the need for adequate sources of water for use in forest fire suppression. Such water can be taken, through the use of helicopter dip buckets, from ponds, lakes, rivers, or other existing sources.

Georgia’s forestry BMP manual (revised in 1999 and 2009) recommends a 100 foot wide Streamside Management Zone, measured from the stream bank horizontally outward away from the stream; to be implemented on all Georgia designated primary or secondary trout streams – and tributaries (p. 11 Georgia’s BMPs for Forestry manual).