(a) Where necessary to minimize soil erosion or slope instability or to prevent degradation of the quality and Beneficial Uses of water, the department may require that Erosion Controls be maintained prior to the beginning of a Winter Period and prior to filing of a work completion report.

(b) The Director may deem completion report as described in PRC § 4585 to have been filed upon the date of receipt if the Department finds that all Erosion Controls have been constructed and maintained in compliance with the Forest Practice Rules upon the first inspection after receipt of the completion report. Otherwise, the Director shall accept a work completion report for filing only after the Department finds that all Erosion Controls have been constructed in compliance with the Forest Practice Rules.

(c) The LTO is responsible for proper construction, inspection and maintenance of Erosion Control during the Prescribed Maintenance Period until the work completion report as described in PRC § 4585 is approved by the Director. The landowner is responsible for inspection and any needed repair and maintenance of Erosion Controls during the remainder of the Prescribed Maintenance Period. Responsibility for Erosion Control maintenance may be assumed at an earlier date by the landowner or can be delegated to a third party, provided that the assuming party acknowledges such responsibility in writing to the Director.

(d) Upon approving a work completion report, the Director may prescribe a maintenance period which extends for as much as three years after filing the work completion report based on physical evidence (such as location of Erosion Controls in disturbed areas with high or extreme erosion hazard, on steep or unstable slopes, or within or adjacent to the standard width of a water course or lake protection zone) that Erosion Controls need to be maintained for the extended maintenance period in order to minimize soil erosion or slope instability or to prevent degradation of the quality and Beneficial Uses of water.

(e) After approving the work completion report, the Director may extend the Prescribed Maintenance Period for as much as three years after filing of the work completion report if subsequent inspections by the Department during the Prescribed Maintenance Period show that Erosion Controls have failed or are likely to fail to minimize soil erosion or slope instability or to prevent degradation of the quality and Beneficial Uses of water.