Ten years ago, the Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) contracted with the University of Baltimore School of Law to produce a AGuide to Maryland=s
Regulation of Forest Products Industries.A By
its creation, the Guide acknowledged the dual contributions of Maryland=s forests to the State=s economy and to its natural environment. By its content, the Guide
recognized that the balance between these interests can create a regulatory
path that, to the uninitiated, may seem tortuous. The Guide sought to map this path and its many roads. It described forestry-related laws and
regulations and how they worked. It
also provided names, addresses and telephone numbers of State and local
officials responsible for implementing these laws and regulations.
In the last 10 years, much has changed. Some of the laws discussed in the original
Guide addressed laws were in their infancy, such as the Chesapeake Bay Critical
Area law and the Nontidal Wetlands Act.
Other laws had not yet seen the light of legislative day, such as the
Forest Conservation Act. State
government has also changed. For example, some of the functions once assigned
to DNR are now the responsibility of the Maryland Department of the
Environment. Local responsibility for
implementing State programs has increased.
With the rest of society, government processing of information is
transformed. The World Wide Web
provides immediate answers to questions in all walks of life, including
virtually all of the topics covered in this Guide.
The 2001 AGuide
to Maryland’s Regulation of Forestry and Related Practices@ updates the 1990 Guide. It discusses the regulatory framework using a new format:
activity and requirement, in addition to regulatory name. For example, to prune trees for compensation
a person needs a tree expert license.
This is the activity. To get the
license, a person must have certain qualifications. These are the requirements.
The regulatory name of the program is the tree expert license law. The Guide contains legal references to the
Annotated Code of Maryland and the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR), and,
importantly, provides Internet web links and other references for further
information.
Finally, the 2001 Guide includes a chart of all
forestry-related regulations to allow the reader to identify, by activity, the
road to take and the signs to follow to get there. Activities that cross-reference one another are signified in
bold. For example, to harvest timber
within 1,000 feet of the Chesapeake Bay or its tributaries, a person must
comply with the Chesapeake Critical Area
Law, which includes preparation of a forest or buffer management plan
prepared by a Licensed Forester. The words in bold are topics in the Guide.
This
update is made possible by a grant from the Department of Business and Economic
Development (DBED) to DNR, which conducted this research through the Office of
the Attorney General. As part of the
update, DBED asked DNR to examine whether changes should be made to forestry
and forestry-related laws and regulations.
Forestry-related
laws and regulations are located in different places in the burgundy-colored
Maryland Code and the red three-ring binders that house the Maryland
regulations. A review of these laws and
regulations shows that, though many, they continue to serve their different
functions. For example, licensing laws
protect the public by assuring State oversight of forestry-related
practitioners. Natural resource laws
provide special protections to forests that act as filters for agricultural
runoff, such as riparian buffers, or that prevent erosion and sustain wildlife
habitat, such as nontidal wetlands.
Environmental laws seek to keep our water clean by preventing erosion
during forestry operations, or by setting limitations on the discharge
of specific effluents. Laws requiring
specific descriptions of wood products offered for sale protect the
consumer. General laws relating to
business formation encourage economic activity. Tax incentives foster forest preservation.
Efforts can always be made to streamline or
strengthen any law. For example, in
1994, the DNR Forestry Service and the Maryland Department of the Environment
jointly developed a Standard Plan for Forest Harvest Operations in order to
provide the forester harvester with a single plan for sediment and erosion
control requirements. In the 2001
legislative session, the General Assembly increased the axle load limit
tolerance to 15% for vehicles carrying forest products from June 1 through
September 30. Similar and further
changes may also be possible, after consultation with those in the forest
industry who live with these laws or have studied their impact. For now, it is sufficient to say that the
laws on the books continue to serve their purposes.
A NOTE
TO THE READER
The
Guide tracks the separate parts, and phases, of all forestry-related
industries. Part I addresses the
harvest, manufacture and sale of wood products. It includes a discussion of general harvesting requirements, and
the rules applicable to harvests in special areas, such as nontidal
wetlands. Part II discusses the use of
licensed professionals in the harvest planning process, i.e., licensed
foresters and qualified professionals.
Part III identifies the requirements for the care and treatment of
trees, e.g., use of a licensed tree expert.
Finally, Part IV identifies the general requirements for doing business
in Maryland, including financial assistance and tax benefits.
To
help serve as a reference for a wide audience, the Guide begins with a chart
that also serves as an index. The chart
shows in capsule form the forestry-related activity, the applicable legal
requirement, and the pages in the Guide to find this information.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This Guide is made possible in significant part because of the diligent efforts and thoughtful work of a number of individuals. Christopher Staiti and Steven Trader are law students at the University of Baltimore School of Law who labored well to research forestry-related laws and regulations and to draft initial sections of the revised Guide. Their suggestions on format and content were invaluable. Assistant Attorneys General Shara Mervis Alpert and Marianne Mason provided legal advice and support for this work. Finally, the good work and strong commitment of Steve Koehn, Jack Perdue, Mike Galvin, and Marian Honeczy of the Maryland Forest Service deserves special recognition.
Joseph
P. Gill
Principal Counsel
Department of Natural Resources
December 2001
PART
I
THE
HARVEST, MANUFACTURE AND SALE OF WOOD PRODUCTS
|
CH |
TITLE |
ACTIVITY |
REQUIREMENTS |
P. |
|
1 |
A
Forest Products License |
The
harvest, manufacture, or sale of forest products |
A
forest products operators license |
8 |
|
2 |