Technical Bulletin No. 0538: Procedures for Assessing the Effectiveness of Best Management Practices in Protecting Water and Stream Quality Associated with Managed Forests

This technical bulletin discusses methods used by states to evaluate the effectiveness of their forest management nonpoint source control programs. Problems associated with the broad use of water quality monitoring to assess forest management impacts include: (a) delays in resource protection and impact evaluation, (b) difficulty in applying existing state water quality standards, (c) the need to protect stream quality as well as water quality, and (d) the cost of installing and operating proper water quality monitoring stations. An attempt by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to use infrequently collected grab samples to assess forest management impacts to a stream proved less effective than measurements of stream-channel characteristics and macroinvertebrates.