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Office of Watershed Management

Watershed Forestry

Science and Technical Advisory Committee

• Meeting Info

Watershed Forestry Projects

• Quabbin Reservoir
• Ware River
• Wachusett/Sudbury Reservoirs

Visual Changes in a Typical Timber Sale at the Wachusett Reservoir

Bureau of Forestry

Division of
Water Supply Protection

Temporary stream crossing, a Conservation Management Practice

Watershed Forestry -- Protecting Water Quality

Click through the small images to find out about the different elements of Watershed Forestry
The Forest Biofilter		Natural Disturbances		Building Resistance and Resilience		Protecting Water Quality		Conserving Biodiversity

Protection of Water Supply

What about the risks of logging operations? 

DWSP uses well tested methods on watershed lands to avoid or minimize the risks to water quality associated with active management, and monitors the outcomes. Measures include protective buffers adjacent to streams and wetlands, seasonal restrictions on logging activity, portable bridges for stream crossings, equipment restrictions, locating log landings away from water resources, and other Conservation Management Practices. More than 1,000 timber harvests have been conducted over the last 50 years on DWSP lands. Consistent water quality monitoring of tributaries has measured no degradation resulting from active forest management. The DWSP water supply remains among the cleanest and purest in the world.