Most of the Idaho Forest Practices Act regulations relate to concerns about water quality.  While some were enacted to protect forest and riparian areas, most cover proper road construction techniques, significantly reducing the major sources of sedimentation in forest streams.  Regulations specifying the location and steepness of roads, the size and location of culverts, road construction, and surfacing specifications are designed to reduce or eliminate the delivery of sediment to the streams.  Regulations governing the use of harvesting systems reduce the amount of road building and surface erosion.

Bennett Lumber's forestry operators always exceed the Idaho Forest Practices standards.  Our foresters use cable yarding systems and state-of-the-art mechanical harvest and forwarding systems to reduce the amount of road building needed to harvest our timber.  We restrict road access during the off-season and seed the road surface with grasses to reduce surface erosion.