Title 48, Environmental Protection and Conservation

1. The Department of Revenue shall develop the necessary administrative procedures to collect the assessment, collect the assessment from primary forest product processors, deposit funds collected from the assessment in the forest renewal fund and audit the records of processors …

A. The assessment rates shall be based on the following standards: 1. For primary forest products customarily measured in board feet, the 'Scribner Log Rule', as identified in the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service publication 'Tables for Measuring Board Foot Volume of Ti…

The assessment shall be levied against the processor of the primary forest product. It shall be submitted on a quarterly basis of the state's fiscal year due and payable the twenty-fifth of the month following the end of each quarter. It shall be remitted to the Department of Rev…

The Department of Revenue shall enforce collection of the primary forest product assessment in accordance with statutory remedies and procedures pertaining to collection of revenue by it.

Whenever by reason of a drought, low humidity, high winds, and other conditions, the forests and woodlands in the State are in danger of fires, the Governor, upon recommendation of the State Forester, may in the interest of public safety and the preservation of natural resources,…

During such periods and in such areas as the Governor shall proclaim, it shall be unlawful for any person to build or ignite any fire of any nature, or for any person to throw or cause to be thrown any matches, ashes, tobacco or other burning material on or adjacent to forests, w…

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to fires which may be started within the corporate limits of any town or city, and to cultivated lands enclosed by firebreaks which will prevent the spread of fire to adjacent forests, woodlands, brushlands or grasslands.

Any person violating any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned for not more than thirty days.

This chapter shall be cited as the "South Carolina Forest Fire Protection Act."

For the purpose of this chapter all lands shall be construed as "forest land" which have enough forest growth, standing or down, or have sufficient inflammable debris or grass, outside of corporate limits, to constitute, in the judgment of the State Commission of Forestry, a fire…

The term "forest fire," as used in this chapter, means any fire burning uncontrolled on any land covered wholly or in part by timber, brush, grass or other inflammable vegetation.

All forest fire protection work shall be under the direction and supervision of the State Commission of Forestry, through the State Forester, subject to the provisions of this chapter and the laws of the State enacted relative to forestry and forest fire prevention and suppressio…

There shall be set up in each county a board, to be known as the county forestry board, consisting of five members, who shall be appointed by the State Commission of Forestry on the recommendation of a majority of the county legislative delegation in the House of Representatives …

The county boards shall assist in the efficient performance of the requirements of this chapter and the general conduct of the forestry program in the county. They shall review, revise and adopt the annual forest fire protection plan and the county ranger, fire wardens, towermen …

The State Commission of Forestry shall prepare for each county forestry board a plan for forest fire protection for the fiscal year and present such plan at the July meeting of the board. It shall have power to make and enforce all rules and regulations necessary for the administ…

The State Commission of Forestry, any of its authorized agents and any member of a county forestry board may, at any or all times, go upon any land for the purpose of preventing or controlling forest fires, as defined herein, without making themselves liable for trespassing.

The title to all property acquired incident to carrying out the provisions of this chapter shall be vested in the State Commission of Forestry.

This chapter is known as the "South Carolina Prescribed Fire Act".

As used in this chapter: (1) "Prescribed fire" means a controlled fire applied to forest, brush, or grassland vegetative fuels under specified environmental conditions and precautions which cause the fire to be confined to a predetermined area and allow accomplishment of the plan…

The State Commission of Forestry shall promulgate regulations for the use of prescribed fire and for the certification of prescribed fire managers.

(A) For purposes of this section, "South Carolina Smoke Management Guidelines" means smoke management guidelines for vegetative debris burning for forestry, agriculture, and wildlife purposes that are promulgated as regulations by the State Forestry Commission pursuant to the Adm…

A property owner or lessee or his agent or employee conducting a prescribed fire pursuant to this chapter is not liable for damage, injury, or loss caused by fire or other consequences of the prescribed fire, except for smoke, unless negligence is proven. A property owner or less…

Notwithstanding the requirements of this chapter, a person may conduct a prescribed fire without a certified prescribed fire manager present.

It shall be unlawful for any owner or lessee of land or any employee of such owner or lessee or other person to start, or cause to be started, a fire in any woodlands, brushlands, grasslands, ditchbanks, or hedgerows or in any debris, leaves or other flammable material adjacent t…

A lessee of any land, or any employee of any landowner or lessee of land, or other person, must receive prior authorization from the landowner to conduct such burning, in addition to complying with the other provisions of this chapter.

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to fires which may be started within the corporate limits of any town or city.

No burning shall be carried out during any period which the Governor has declared that an emergency exists in connection with forest fires.

The State Forester may direct at any time, when deemed necessary in the interest of public safety, that fires covered by this chapter not be started. The State Forester also may prohibit all open burning regardless of whether a permit or notification is required, including campfi…

Except as otherwise provided by law, the provisions of this chapter do not apply to a fire used for the preparation of food for immediate consumption, or fires burned in portable outdoor fireplaces, chimineas, or permanent fire pits constructed of stone, masonry, metal, or other …

Any person violating the provisions of this chapter may be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, may be fined not more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days for a first offense. For any second or subsequent offense, a fine of not less…

This chapter may be cited as the "South Carolina Forest Best Management Practices Act".

For the purposes of this chapter: (1) "Silvicultural activity" means multiple-use forest management activity including, but not limited to, the harvesting of timber, construction of roads and trails for forest management purposes, and preparation of property for reforestation. (2…

The State Commission of Forestry is the designated agency in South Carolina to provide public oversite and guidance for technical forest management practices and related activities in laws pertaining to forest lands. To carry out this charge, the commission may enter into contrac…

The Governor on behalf of this State may execute a compact, in substantially the form set out in SECTION 48-37-20, with any one or more of the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, and the legislature he…

Article I. The purpose of this compact is to promote effective prevention and control of forest fires in the southeastern region of the United States by the development of integrated forest fire plans, by the maintenance of adequate forest fire fighting services by the member sta…

When the Governor shall have executed such compact on behalf of this State and shall have caused a verified copy thereof to be filed with the Secretary of State, and when such compact shall have been ratified by one or more of the states named in SECTION 48-37-10, then such compa…

In pursuance of Article III of the compact as set out in SECTION 48-37-20, the State Forester of the State Commission of Forestry shall act as compact administrator for the State of South Carolina during his term of office as State Forester, and his successor as compact administr…

There is hereby granted to the State Forester, as compact administrator and chairman ex officio of the South Carolina members of such advisory committee, and to the members from this State of the advisory committee all the powers provided for in the compact and all the powers nec…

Any powers granted in this chapter to the State Commission of Forestry shall be regarded as in aid of and supplemental to, and in no case a limitation upon, any of the powers vested in the Commission by other laws of the State of South Carolina or by the laws of the states of Ala…

As used in this chapter: (A) "Applicant" means any person who files an application for a permit under the provisions of this chapter. (B) "Coastal zone" means all coastal waters and submerged lands seaward to the state's jurisdictional limits and all lands and waters in the count…

(A) The management program specified in Section 48-39-90 shall be developed in complete cooperation with affected local governments in the coastal zone. This cooperation shall include, but not be limited to: (1) Involvement of local governments or their designees in the managemen…

The South Carolina State Ports Authority shall prepare and submit to the department a management plan for port and harbor facilities and navigation channels. Upon approval by the department of such management plan it shall become part of the comprehensive coastal management progr…

(A) The department shall develop and institute a comprehensive beach erosion control policy that identifies critical erosion areas, evaluates the benefits and costs of erosion control structures funded by the State, considers the dynamic littoral and offshore drift systems, sand …

Text of (D)(10) is repealed effective July 1, 2026. See, Editor's Note following this section. (A) Ninety days after July 1, 1977, no person shall utilize a critical area for a use other than the use the critical area was devoted to on such date unless he has first obtained a per…

Golf courses seaward of the baseline that existed prior to the effective date of the regulations promulgated in 1991 pursuant to the Beachfront Management Act may be protected under emergency orders issued or approved by the department using the same methodology that is used to p…

(A) Any person who wishes may submit development plans to the department for preliminary review. If a permit is necessary, the department will make every effort to assist the applicant in expediting the permit application. (B) Each application for a permit shall be filed with the…