Download Objective 5. Management of Visual Quality and Recreational

Objective 5. Management of Visual Quality and Recreational Benefits. To manage the
visual impact of forest operations and provide recreational opportunities for the public.
Performance Measure 5.1. Program Participants shall manage the impact of harvesting on
visual quality.
Indicators:
1. Program to address visual quality management.
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Program should identify areas of concern where participant would have to modify
operations to accommodate visual impacts. Such areas would include adjacency to
recreational areas and trails, designated scenic public highways, well used private
roads, communities and significant water bodies.
Commit to periodic training on managing for visual impacts.
Under this program indicate how you are going to address green up requirements.
o Example – follow the regeneration and separation zone requirements for clear
cuts under the ME Forest Practices Act.
2. Incorporation of aesthetic considerations in harvesting, road, landing design and
management, and other management activities where visual impacts are a concern.
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Some of the techniques employed to address this indicator would be:
o Skid trails oriented parallel to the haul roads where possible.
o Yard placement away from the road and at right angles to minimize visual exposure
from the haul roads.
o Keep yards clean of trash and excessive woody debris.
o Do not run clear-cuts over ridgelines to avoid the appearance that a clear-cut is
endless.
o All clear cuts will be laid out in an irregular polygon fashion when practical to break
up the shape (visual impact) of the cut.
o Don’t track mud onto public highways.
o When closing yards, stabilize, seed, mulch and re-establish ditches to where
necessary.
o Skid trails entering the yard should be well armored with slash or other methods to
minimize rutting.
Performance Measure 5.2. Program Participants shall manage the size, shape and placement
of clearcut harvests.
Indicators:
1. Average size of clearcut harvest areas does not exceed 120 acres (50 hectares), except
when necessary to meet regulatory requirements or to respond to forest health emergencies or
other natural catastrophes.
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State your commitment to the Maine Forest Practices Act and that your clear cuts will
not average more than 120 acres.
Indicate if you are making clear cuts that meet category II or III.
Indicate how you lay out clear cuts to make them less obvious or visually intrusive
(irregular shapes, don’t cut over ridge lines, etc.).
2. Documentation through internal records of clearcut size and the process for calculating
average size.
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Show evidence and ability to calculate clear cut size. And have a number for the
average clear cut size you have been creating.
Performance Measure 5.3. Program Participants shall adopt a green-up requirement or
alternative methods that provide for visual quality.
Indicators:
1. Program implementing the green-up requirement or alternative methods.
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See PM 5.1 indicator 1
2. Harvest area tracking system to demonstrate conformance with the green-up requirement or
alternative methods.
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Participants will have a regeneration file (or Harvest Prescription sheet that covers
regeneration issues) for each of their harvest blocks that indicate what the expectations
where on the site for regeneration, and subsequent inspections that confirm timely
results. (This will mean the participant will have to document the regeneration
expectations on each harvest site, and verified timely success – best done on something
like a Harvest Prescription sheet.)
3. Trees in clearcut harvest areas are at least 3 years old or 5 feet (1.5 meters) high at the
desired level of stocking before adjacent areas are clearcut, or as appropriate to address
operational and economic considerations, alternative methods to reach the performance
measure are utilized by the Program Participant.
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Operate to the Forest Practices Act.
Performance Measure 5.4. Program Participants shall support and promote recreational
opportunities for the public.
Indicator:
1. Provide recreational opportunities for the public, where consistent with forest management
objectives.
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Describe what you allow the public to do on your lands including; types of access, hiking
trails, snowmobile trails, campsites, hunting, fishing, trapping, fee requirements, etc.
Indicate how you are managing recreational activities to protect your forest resources i.e.
Restricting ATVs and snowmobiles to designated trails. Restrictions on open fires.
Document restricted areas or limited access areas.
If you are actively working with snowmobile or ATV clubs, so indicate.
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Suggested Documentation:
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Document Programs developed under this objective.
Clear cut reports to Maine Forest Service
Clear cut acreage calculations
Internal regeneration inspection and harvest close out reports
Recreation plan
Suggested training – SIC Aesthetics Training module and FPA training