Minimal differences in estimated erosion and forestry best management practice implementation between conventional pulpwood and wood pellet feedstock harvests in the southeastern United States

As global demand for wood pellets increases, it is important to address concerns related to the protection of water quality using state-approved forestry best management practices (BMPs). To understand potential differences postharvest between pellet feedstock and conventional forest harvesting, we compared variables (e.g., erosion, BMP implementation) following conventional pulpwood and wood pellet feedstock harvests in the southeastern US Coastal Plain region on 75 sites in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Potential erosion was estimated using the Universal Soil Loss Equation for forest environments (USLE-Forest), and BMP implementation was evaluated using current state BMP audit questionnaires. Our findings revealed no differences in operational feature-specific erosion rates on the landings (0.15 Mg ha−1 y−1), harvest areas (0.53 Mg ha−1 y−1), or haul roads (1.48 Mg ha−1 y−1) among clearcut treatments. Additionally, there was no difference in total erosion rates between sites, with an overall rate of 0.68 Mg ha−1 y−1. Thinning treatments using in-woods chipping showed slightly elevated erosion rates in harvest areas (1.01 Mg ha−1 y−1) and landings (0.59 Mg ha−1 y−1). However, measurements in pellet treatments were within normal regional levels and had higher BMP implementation compared to conventional treatments. BMP implementation scores for pellet (96.03%), conventional (93.46%), and all treatment (95.17%) sites were negatively correlated with estimated erosion rates, indicating that proper BMP implementation reduced predicted erosion rates on all study harvest types.