Texas Seeks Higher BMP Compliance

In a recent report in the Texas Logger newsletter from the Texas Logging Council, the state Texas Forest Service (TFS) noted rates of state timber harvesting Best Management Practices (BMPs) compliance, officials with the Texas Forest Service say that overall compliance rates are positive but there are areas for improvement.

TFS inspects 150 tracts every three years or so and determines an average BMP compliance score for all the tracts and the different landowner groups. In 2022, the 11th round of Implementation Monitoring Inspections was completed. Overall BMP compliance amongst corporate landowners, public land harvests, and private family forest owners were 94.6%, 93.8% and 87.6% respectively.

It is notable that private family forest owners averaged lower compliance rates than the other two landowner groups. This is a common trend and has been the case since the program began. This trend makes sense, due to the many environmental concerns that corporate and public landowners deal with. Private landowners are not held to such a high standard, and their compliance with BMPs largely depends on their education about the BMP program and guidelines.

During the past 10+ years, the overall Texas BMP compliance average has fallen slightly. Average compliance peaked at about 94% beginning in 2011, and has remained at that level until now. It is commendable that overall compliance remains in the 90% range, but it will be important in the near future to make efforts to raise this implementation through landowner outreach and education. Despite this slight decrease in the average, it is still important to note that the private landowner average of 87.6% is still significantly higher than the failing scores reported for this landowner group when compliance monitoring began in the 1990s.