Forty-nine states have recommendations, most commonly known as “Best Management Practices” (BMPs), for minimizing non-point pollution from forest practices.  A major component of all BMP programs is the maintenance of streamside management zones (SMZs), which are areas of unharvested trees and minimal soil disturbance adjacent to streams.  To evaluate the efficacy of Georgia’s forestry BMPs, we used four forested headwater streams in southwest Georgia to conduct a paired watershed analysis of hydrologic and sediment responses to clearcut timber harvest.  After collecting two years of baseline data on all four streams, two of the watersheds were harvested using state BMP guidelines. The treatment watersheds were clearcut harvested except for SMZs, which were divided into upper and lower sections.  The upper SMZ sections were not manipulated while the lower sections were thinned to the maximum extent allowed by Georgia best management practices guidelines which allow canopy removal up to 50% canopy or 50 ft2/acre remaining basal area.  Watershed yield increased as a result of treatment, but peak flows did not.  Water tables apparently rose in the clearcut watersheds, and, after harvest, toe slope seeps appeared that were not present previously.  Total sediment yield exhibited inter-site and inter-annual variation that overshadowed treatment effects which were not statistically or visually discernible for either set of treatments.