PotlatchDeltic ESG Report 2022 – Over half of the country’s drinking water comes from forests, and timberland owners play a vital role in water quality protection. Water quality BMPs conserve and protect water quality by decreasing silt through natural vegetation’s filtering ability and erosion control techniques next to water bodies. BMPs include leaving streamside management zones (SMZs) during harvest, designing and building logging roads properly, and utilizing logging methods and equipment that safeguard water quality. 

PotlatchDeltic ESG Report 2022

SMZs are buffers that run the length of streams and are unharvested or lightly harvested. They are designed to absorb runoff and silt. Other notable benefits of SMZs include stream bank stabilization and serving as a food source for aquatic organisms. By conserving trees alongside streams, SMZs also shade the water’s surface from direct sunlight and considerably minimize radiative heating, keeping streams cool and clear, which is especially important in northern locations with cold-water fisheries. Riparian areas are key habitats for wildlife species, and SMZs can provide ideal habitat and migration corridors for wildlife. 

“During harvesting, our foresters and logging contractors install SMZs along streams and maintain them throughout the forest growth cycle.” Our operational monitoring and third-party forest certification audits confirm our SMZ implementation and compliance, and we are happy of the water quality protection we provide.” 

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