West Virginia’s Logging Sediment Control Act Ensures Clean Water To More Than 1.8 Million Residents 

"The LSCA is important to the 1.8 million West Virginians who rely on clean water for such things as drinking, cooking, swimming and fishing,” said Jeremy McGill, assistant state forester of Logging & Water Quality. “This set of laws is instrumental in the protection of the state’s water resources from logging activities.”

The West Virginia LSCA mandates the use of best management practices (BMPs) to prevent soil erosion and stream sedimentation. It sets guidelines for logging companies to use when harvesting timber that includes:

• Timber operators must be licensed through the Division of Forestry before beginning work in the state.
• Every harvesting job must have at least one certified professional logger on site at all times. Loggers must complete training in forestry best management practices, tree felling and personal safety, and first aid before being designated as a certified professional.
• Timber operators must file a notification form at the start of new harvesting operations.

To ensure compliance with mandatory BMPs, Division of Forestry personnel inspect every harvesting operation in the state at least once. Loggers in violation of LSCA receive compliance orders in which they have one to 10 days after issuance to correct the problem. Those that continue to be in violation may be fined and have their licenses suspended.

Last year, 1,194 operators were licensed through the Division of Forestry; 2,883 timber harvesting notifications were filed; and 9,162 inspections were performed  throughout the state.

“The state’s LSCA has been so successful that it now serves as a model for other states in the development of their water quality legislation and program procedures,” McGill says.

For more information about the LSCA, visit www.wvforestry.com.