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<h2><strong>3.4 TIMBER HARVESTING IN HIGH-USE  RECREATION AREAS</strong></h2>
<h3><strong>BACKGROUND</strong></h3>
<p style="font-weight: bold">Minimizing conflicts between timber harvesting and  recreational use can leave visitors with a positive impression of forest  management.</p>
<p>The primary exposure many people  have to timber harvesting occurs when they're hiking, camping, mountain biking,  wildlife viewing, horseback riding, hunting,  fishing, or enjoying other recreational activities on managed lands. Whether  harvesting near trails on their own land or harvesting in proximity to  recreational areas on adjacent lands, a landowner&rsquo;s actions can significantly  affect the public&rsquo;s perception of harvesting, for better or for worse.  Attention to the impact of harvesting on recreational uses can enhance the  public&rsquo;s recreational experience and create a positive impression of forest  management.</p>
<h3><strong>OBJECTIVE</strong></h3>
<p style="font-weight: bold">Minimize the visual and  audible impacts of timber harvesting in or near areas used for recreation.</p>
<h3><strong>CONSIDERATIONS</strong></h3>
<ul>
  <li>Many hiking trails use old logging routes and  logging roads often become new hiking trails.</li>
  <li>Recreational use can conflict with forest  management activities.</li>
  <li>Scheduling a timber harvest during periods of  low recreational use may not coincide with the best operating conditions.</li>
  <li>Limiting recreational access during harvest  operations may be the safest alternative.</li>
</ul>
<h3><strong>RECOMMENDED PRACTICES</strong><img src="../assets/images/3_4a.png" width="287" height="240" hspace="10" vspace="10" align="right"></h3>
<ul>
  <li>Before harvest, erect signs to inform, educate,  and warn recreational users about harvesting activities and alert people to  safety concerns.</li>
  <li>Notify abutters, recreational user groups,  conservation commissions, or others who may be affected. Consider having a  local newspaper run a story on the timber harvest.</li>
  <li>Monitor the job on a regular basis to identify  and solve problems in a timely fashion.</li>
  <li>Leave large, attractive trees in high-use public  areas.</li>
  <li>Lay out skid trails and roads with future  recreational uses in mind, so they can be incorporated into trail systems.</li>
  <li>Leave uncut or partially cut buffer zones along  recreational trails. Limit the number of skid-trail crossings, keeping them at  right angles to the recreational trails and angling them just beyond the buffer  zone to minimize sight lines down the skid trails.</li>
  <li>Lop tree tops 2 feet or less in high-use areas.  Otherwise lop tops 2 to 4 feet above the ground. Where deer severely disrupt  natural regeneration, leave slash higher to protect new seedlings.</li>
  <li>Conduct disruptive phases of management  operations such as road or landing construction during periods of low  recreational use.</li>
  <li>When harvesting operations can't avoid peak  recreational use, consider the following:</li>
  <ul>
    <li>Temporarily relocate recreational trails away  from the management activity.</li>
    <li>Reduce the impact of noisy equipment by  modifying working hours, shutting down idling equipment, reducing truck noise  (by using lower rpm's) to and from the landing, and consider using equipment  with noise-reducing features.</li>
  </ul>
  <li>Limit skidding on recreational trails. During  the harvest, protect recreational trails impacted by skidding from erosion by  using best management practices (BMPs). After harvesting, remove woody  material, smooth ruts, and seed as necessary.</li>
  <li>Invite the public to tour your woodlot to learn  more about harvesting operations.</li>
</ul>
<h3><strong>CROSS REFERENCES</strong></h3>
<p>1.5 Staying Safe Working in the  Woods; 3.1 Timber Harvesting Systems; 3.2 Logging Aesthetics; 3.3 Aesthetics of  Truck Roads, Skid Trails and Landings; 7.8 Cultural Resources.</p>
<h3><strong>ADDITIONAL INFORMATION</strong></h3>
<p>Jones, G. T. 1993. <span style="font-style: italic">A Guide to  Logging Aesthetics: Practical Tips for Loggers, Foresters, and Landowners</span>.  Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service. NRAES-60. NRAES  Cooperative Extension, Ithaca,   N.Y. 28 p.</p>
<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>
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