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<h2><strong>7.7 STEEP SLOPES</strong></h2>
<h3><strong>BACKGROUND</strong></h3>
<p style="font-weight: bold">Steep slopes are especially  vulnerable to erosion.</p>
<p>Extra care is needed when  harvesting on steep slopes. Good judgment is needed when determining harvest  size and timing, when selecting the appropriate silvicultural method and  harvesting system, and when laying out skid trails and truck roads. Proper use  of best management practices (BMPs) is needed during harvest operations and  closeout. These guidelines are found in <span style="font-style: italic">Best Management Practices for  Erosion Control on Timber Harvesting Operations in New Hampshire</span> published  by the N.H. Dept. of Resources and Economic Development, Division of Forests  and Lands.</p>
<h3><strong>OBJECTIVE</strong></h3>
<p style="font-weight: bold">Limit erosion and maintain  water quality and drainage patterns, ecological integrity and habitat, and  aesthetics on steep slopes.</p>
<h3><strong>CONSIDERATIONS</strong></h3>
<ul>
  <li>According to the Natural Resources Conservation  Service (NRCS)<span style="font-style: italic"> Important Forest Soils  Group</span> (see appendix), operators may begin to experience equipment  limitations on slopes between 25 to 35 percent. Slopes greater than 35 percent  are considered to have severe equipment limitations.</li>
  <li>For the purposes of this document, steep refers  to slopes greater than 25 to 35 percent and more than 300 feet long.</li>
  <li>Logging equipment and techniques continue to  develop, enabling logging on steep slopes.</li>
  <li>Some logging equipment may be better suited to  operating on steep slopes and may have less impact to the ground, resulting in  less erosion.</li>
  <li>Skid trails and forest roads create more erosion  potential than any other harvest activity, particularly on steep slopes. Proper  skid-trail and truck-road layout, installation, use, and maintenance minimize  erosion, even on steep slopes.</li>
  <li>Steep slopes often contain seeps and  intermittent streams that are important to seasonal run-off but that may not be  apparent at some times of the year. Intermittent streams can fill rapidly with  fast-moving water during rain storms or at wet times of the year, and may cause  serious erosion, water-quality, and drainage-pattern problems if they are  compromised during harvest activities.</li>
  <li>The size of the harvest area and the  silvicultural techniques used can drastically change the forest cover,  resulting in less interception and water uptake, which may result in increased  run-off on steep slopes.</li>
  <li>Steep slopes may contain thin, fragile, and unique  soils, uncommon plants, and exemplary natural communities and habitats.</li>
  <li>Steep slopes are often visible to surrounding  viewsheds, and the choice of silvicultural techniques may impact the aesthetic  appeal of a harvest.</li>
</ul>
<h3><strong>RECOMMENDED PRACTICES</strong></h3>
<ul>
  <li>Apply BMPs. Refer to <span style="font-style: italic">Best Management  Practices for Erosion Control on Timber Harvesting Operations in New Hampshire</span>.  Consult the latest version before harvesting timber.</li>
  <li>Select a harvesting system appropriate for the  terrain and conditions.</li>
  <li>Schedule harvests when the ground is dry or  frozen to minimize impacts.</li>
  <li>Increase buffer widths and riparian management  zones along wetlands, streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes on slopes greater than  25 percent.</li>
  <li>Reduce the potential for increased run-off and  erosion, as well as possible impacts on surrounding viewsheds, by minimizing  the use of clearcuts and reducing the size of openings on slopes greater than  35 percent, except when a well-established understory is present or when  salvage operations are necessary. </li>
  <li>Lay out skid trails and truck roads before the  start of operations. Identify intermittent streams in the harvest area and  minimize crossings. To help slow down and spread out run-off, avoid long,  continuous skid trails. Use the natural contours of the land to establish breaks  in the grade and to create small bends and turns.</li>
  <li>During the course of the operation apply liberal  amounts of slash and tree tops to help stabilize skid trails.</li>
  <li>Monitor weather forecasts throughout the  operation and prepare skid trails in advance of heavy rains. Construct  temporary water bars and suspend operations in severe weather, when erosion  potential is the greatest.</li>
  <li>When operations are completed, close out skid  trails and truck roads as soon as possible. Remove temporary crossings and  install water bars and ditches as recommended by the BMPs. Seed and mulch skid  trails and truck roads to further stabilize exposed areas.</li>
</ul>
<h3><strong>CROSS REFERENCES</strong></h3>
<p>3.1 Timber Harvesting Systems; 3.2  Logging Aesthetics; 3.3 Aesthetics of Skid Trails, Truck Roads and Landings; 3.5  Soil Productivity; 4.1 Water Quality; 4.3 Forest Management in Riparian Areas;  7.1 Natural Communities and Protected Plants; 7.2 Seeps.</p>
<h3><strong>ADDITIONAL INFORMATION</strong></h3>
<p>N.H. Dept. of Resources and  Economic Development, Division of Forests and Lands. 2004. <span style="font-style: italic">Best Management  Practices for Erosion Control on Timber Harvesting Operations in New Hampshire</span>.  State of New Hampshire. <a href="http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000247_Rep266.pdf">http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000247_Rep266.pdf</a> Accessed March 13, 2010.</p>
<p>Vt. Dept. of Forests, Parks and Recreation. 2006. <span style="font-style: italic">Acceptable  Management Practices for Maintaining Water Quality on Logging Jobs in Vermont</span>. State of Vermont. Waterbury, Vt.  51 p.</p>
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