Regulations and the Forest Stewardship Program

Recently, we visited an unhappy Forest Stewardship Program participant. The local Water Management District (WMD) had cited him for building a road through a wetland without first obtaining a permit, and for obstructing surface water flow by not using culverts. The landowner thought that he did not have to worry about permits since he had a stewardship plan.

We hope that other landowners are not under this assumption. A stewardship plan does not substitute for any permit or required action. The resource professionals who write the plans try to suggest practices that minimize the landowner's expenses, cause the least amount of site disturbance, and involve as little regulation as possible. If permits cannot be avoided, the plan writers try to let landowners know what permits are needed and where to obtain them.

If this landowner had mentioned during plan preparation that he wanted to improve access to this area of his property to harvest timber, we would have discussed the need for permits and possibly some alternative ways to get the job done.

We are not leaving this landowner, or any other Stewardship Program participant, without assistance. Right now we are working with this landowner and the WMD to resolve the problem as painlessly as possible. We are also trying to help another landowner obtain county permits for wetland wildlife habitat improvement as recommended in his plan.

By setting an example of ecologically sound and profitable forest management Stewardship landowners can help convince the public that additional regulations are not needed.