H. B. 2660
(By Delegate Wright, By Request)
[Introduced February 4, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources then Government Organization.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article one-b, chapter
nineteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend said
article by adding thereto a new section, designated section
fifteen, all relating to definitions; requiring persons
conducting timbering operations to provide conditions
favorable for regrowth of timber.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article one-b, chapter nineteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and to further amend said
article by adding thereto a new section, designated section fifteen, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1B. SEDIMENT CONTROL DURING COMMERCIAL TIMBER HARVESTING
OPERATIONS.
§19-1B-3. Definitions.
(a) "Best management practices" means sediment control
measures, including measures to ensure regrowth and restocking of
timbered land, structural or nonstructural, used singly or in
combination, to reduce soil runoff from land disturbances
associated with commercial timber harvesting.
(b) "Chief" means the chief of the office of water resources
of the division of environmental protection, or his or her
designee.
(c) "Director" means the director of the division of
forestry of the department of commerce, labor and environmental
resources, or his or her authorized designee.
(d) "Operator" means any person who conducts timbering
operations.
(e) "Timbering operations" means activities directly related
to the severing or removal of standing trees from the forest as
a raw material for commercial processes or purposes. For the
purpose of this article, timbering operations do not include the severing of evergreens grown for and severed for the traditional
Christmas holiday season, or the severing of trees incidental to
ground-disturbing construction activities, including well sites,
access roads and gathering lines for oil and natural gas
operations, or the severing of trees for maintaining existing, or
during construction of, rights-of-way for public highways or
public utilities or any company subject to the jurisdiction of
the federal energy regulatory commission unless the trees so
severed are being sold or provided as raw material for commercial
wood product purposes, or the severing of trees by an individual
on the individual's own property for his or her individual use
provided that the individual does not have the severing done by
a person whose business is the severing or removal of trees.
(f) "Sediment" means solid particulate matter, usually soil
or minute rock fragments, moved by wind, rainfall or snowmelt
into the streams of the state.
§19-1B-15. Timbering operations to be conducted to leave
environment favorable for regrowth of forest.
(a) Any land on which timbering operations are conducted
shall be left by the person conducting the operations in a
favorable condition for regrowth of forest.
(b) As far as feasible, persons conducting timbering
operations shall protect every desirable seedling and sapling
during the operations. Except where unavoidable in logging,
immature trees may not be cut for any purpose except to improve
the spacing, quality and composition or conditions for restocking
the timber land.
(c) Persons conducting timbering operations shall arrange for
restocking of the land after timbering by leaving trees of
desirable species of suitable size singly, or in groups, well
distributed and in a number to secure restocking.
(d) Persons conducting timbering operations shall leave
undisturbed sufficient trees to maintain adequate growing stock
after partial cutting or selective logging of the land.
(e) The director shall propose rules for legislative approval
in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code, and may promulgate emergency rules pursuant to the
provisions of section fifteen, article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a to carry out the provisions of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require persons conducting commercial timbering operations to employ measures
that would ensure regrowth and restocking of the forest,
including protection of immature trees.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.
§19-1B-15 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.