Survey of local forestry-related ordinances and regulations in the south

A survey of the 13 southern states was conducted in 1999-2000 to obtain a comprehensive list of forestry-related ordinances enacted by various local governments. Each ordinance was examined to determine the date of adoption, regulatory objective, and its regu1ator.y provisions. Hasecl on the regulatory objective, the ordinances were categorized into five general types: environmental protection, tree protection, public property protectionlsafety, timber harvesting, and special feature protection. Current survey results were cornpared to a siniilar study (Martus 1992) to analyze the changes that have occurred in the South regarding local regulation. Tlie 2000 study identified 346 forestry-related ordinances in 10 of the 13 southern states. This is a substantial increase from the previous stildy, which reported 141 ordinances in seven southern states. As with the 1992 study, the 2000 survey found that the protection of public roadways and public safety is the predominant objective of ordinances passed in the So~~th. This survey shows an increasing trend in the number of local ordinances impacting forestry activities. Approximately 80 percent of the existing ordinances have been enactecl in the last 10 years.