Colorado State Forest Service
The mission of the Colorado State Forest Service is to provide for the stewardship of forest resources and to reduce related risks to life, property and the environment for the benefit of present and future generations.
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Sound Forestry Practices Help Protect Colorado's Water Quality
Colorado’s forested lands include the headwaters of several major rivers and produce large quantities of high quality water. (Photo by Greg Sundstrom)
More than 50 percent of Coloradans depend on clean surface water collected from forested watersheds. These waters also provide for irrigation, livestock, recreation and industrial uses. To help protect water quality, Colorado implemented Best Management Practices (BMPs) for forestry activities. BMPs are a set of water-quality protection measures and guidelines that provide direction on issues such as planning, harvesting, roads, chemical use and fire management on federal, state and private lands.
In September, an interdisciplinary Colorado Forestry Best Management Practices team, facilitated by the Colorado State Forest Service visited and evaluated six timber harvest sites in north central Colorado and rated each based on compliance with BMP standards.
Read about the results and recommendations in the team's field audit report, Colorado Forestry Best Management Practices: Forest Stewardship Guidelines for Water Quality.