Glossary

Adaptive Management Areas - Landscape units designated for development and testing of technical and social approaches to achieving desired ecological, economic, and other social objectives.

Administratively Withdrawn Areas - 1.7 million acres of Federal lands that have been withdrawn from timber harvest to create experimental areas, research areas, recreation areas, or scenic areas. They also include areas where regeneration is difficult and timber productivity is low, plus areas of special concern for individual species. Age Class - One of the intervals into which the age range of trees is divided for classification or use.

Airshed - A geographical area that shares the same air mass due to topography, meteorology, and climate.

Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ) - The gross amount of timber volume, including salvage, that may be sold annually from a specified area over a stated period of time in accordance with the management plan. Formerly referred to as "allowable cut."

Anadromous Fish - Fish that are born and reared in freshwater, move to the ocean to grow and mature, and return to freshwater to reproduce. Salmon, steelhead, and shad are examples.

Analysis of the Management Situation (AMS) - A document that summarizes important information about existing resource conditions, uses and demands, as well as existing management activities. It provides the baseline for subsequent steps in the planning process, such as the design of alternatives and affected environment.

Analytical Watershed - For planning purposes, a drainage basin subdivision of the planning area used for analyzing cumulative impacts on resources.

Animal Damage -Injuries inflicted upon forest tree seed, seedlings, and young trees through seed foraging, browsing, cutting, rubbing, or trampling; usually by mammals and birds.

Aquatic Ecosystem - Any body of water, such as a stream, lake, or estuary, and all organisms and nonliving components within it, functioning as a natural system.

Archaeological Site - A geographic locale that contains the material remains of prehistoric and/or historic human activity.

Area Control Rotation - The harvest of a forested area based upon harvesting a set proportion of the total forest area annually. Harvest at an annual even flow of cubic feet of timber is not a consideration in this system. This is in contrast to the generally more accepted common method of harvesting the growth in cubic feet at a sustainable constant rate by the year or decade without regard to the number of acres harvested or thinned (see Area Regulation).

Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) - An area of BLM administered lands where special management attention is needed to protect and prevent irreparable damage to important historic, cultural or scenic values, fish and wildlife resources or other natural systems or processes; or to protect life and provide safety from natural hazards. (Also see Potential ACEC.)

Area of Critical Mineral Potential - An area nominated by the public as having mineral resources or potential important to the local, regional, or national economy.

Area Regulation - A method of scheduling timber harvest based on dividing the total acres by an assumed rotation.

Automated Resource Data (ARD) - Computerized map data used for the management of resources.

Available Forest Land - That portion of the forested acres for which timber production is planned and included within the acres contributing to the Probable Sale Quantity (PSQ). This includes both lands allocated primarily to timber production and lands on which timber production is a secondary objective.

Back Country Byway - A road segment designated as part of the National Scenic Byway System.

Basal Area - The area of the cross section of a tree stem near its base, generally at breast height, 4.5 feet above the ground and inclusive of bark.

Baseline - The starting point for Analysis of Environmental Consequences; may be the conditions at a point in time (e.g., when inventory data is collected) or may be the average of a set of data collected over a specified period of years.

Basin Programs - Sets of State administrative rules that establish types and amounts of water uses allowed in the State's major river basins and form the basis for issuing water rights.

Beneficial Use - The reasonable use of water for a purpose consistent with the laws and best interest of the peoples of the State. Such uses include, but are not limited to, the following: instream, out of stream and ground water uses, domestic, municipal, industrial water supply, mining, irrigation, livestock watering, fish and aquatic life, wildlife, fishing, water contact recreation, aesthetics and scenic attraction, hydropower, and commercial navigation.

Big Game - Large mammals that are hunted, such as Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer and black bear.

Biological Corridor - A habitat band linking areas reserved from substantial disturbance.

Biological Diversity - The variety of life and its processes, including a complexity of species, communities, gene pools, and ecological functions.

BLM Operating Area - Portions of the Planning Area where BLM administered lands lie. (see definition for planning area).

Biological Legacies - Components of the forest stand (e.g., large trees, down logs, and snags) reserved from harvest to maintain site productivity and to provide structure and ecological functions in subsequent forest stands.

Board Foot (BF) - A unit of solid wood, one foot square and one inch thick.

Broadcast Burn - Allowing a prescribed fire to burn over a designated area within well defined boundaries for reduction of fuel hazard or as a silvicultural treatment, or both.

Bureau Assessment Species - Plant and animal species on List 2 of the Oregon Natural Heritage Data Base, or those species on the Oregon List of Sensitive Wildlife Species (OAR 635-100-040), which are identified in BLM Instruction Memo No. OR-91-57, and are not included as Federal Candidate, State Listed or Bureau Sensitive species.

Bureau Sensitive Species - Plant or animal species eligible for Federal Listed, Federal Candidate, State Listed, or State Candidate (plant) status, or on List 1 in the Oregon Natural Heritage Data Base, or approved for this category by the State Director.

Candidate Species - Those plants and animals included in Federal Register "Notices of Review" that are being considered by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for listing as threatened or endangered. There are two categories that are of primary concern to BLM. These are:

Category 1. Taxa for which the FWS has substantial information on hand to support proposing the species for listing as threatened or endangered. Listing proposals are either being prepared or have been delayed by higher priority listing work.

 

Category 2. Taxa for which the FWS has information to indicate that listing is possibly appropriate. Additional information is being collected.

Cavity Excavator - A wildlife species that digs or chips out cavities in wood to provide a nesting, roosting, or foraging site.

Cavity Nesters - Wildlife species, most frequently birds, that require cavities (holes) in trees for nesting and reproduction.

Class I (air quality) Areas - Special areas (i.e., National parks, certain wilderness areas) protected for their air quality related values.

Characteristic Landscape - The established landscape within an area being viewed. This does not necessarily mean a naturalistic character. It could refer to an agricultural setting, an urban landscape, a primarily natural environment, or a combination of these types.

Clear Cut Harvest - A timber harvest method in which all trees are removed in a single entry from a designated area, with the exception of wildlife trees or snags, to create an even-aged stand.

Coastal Oregon Productivity Enhancement Program (COPE) - A cooperative research and education program to identify and evaluate existing and new opportunities to enhance long-term productivity and economic/social benefits derived from the forest resources of coastal Oregon.

Commercial Forest Land - Land declared suitable for producing timber crops and not withdrawn from timber production for other reasons.

Commercial Thinning - The removal of merchantable trees from an even-aged stand to encourage growth of the remaining trees.

Commercial Tree Species - Conifer species used to calculate the commercial forest land PSQ. They are typically utilized as saw timber and include species such as Douglas-fir, hemlock, spruce, fir, pine and cedar. (Also see Noncommercial Tree Species).

Commodity Resources - Goods or products of economic use or value.

Community Stability - The capacity of a community (incorporated town or county) to absorb and cope with change without major hardship to institutions or groups within the community.

Community Water System - See Public Water System.

Concern - A topic of management or public interest that is not well enough defined to become a planning issue, or does not involve controversy or dispute over resource management activities or land use allocations, or lend itself to designating land use alternatives. A concern may be addressed in analysis, background documents, or procedures, or in a noncontroversial decision.

Connectivity - A measure of the extent to which conditions between late-successional/old growth forest areas provide habitat for breeding, feeding, dispersal, and movement of late-successional/old growth associated wildlife and fish species.

Consistency - Under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the adherence of BLM resource management plans to the terms, conditions and decisions of officially approved and adopted resource related plans, or in their absence, with policies and programs of other Federal agencies, State and local governments and American Indian tribes, so long as the plans are also consistent with the purposes, policies and programs of Federal laws and regulations applicable to BLM administered lands. Under the Coastal Zone Management Act, the adherence to approved State management programs to the maximum extent practicable, of Federal agency activities affecting the defined coastal zone.

Core Area - That area of habitat essential in the breeding, nesting, and rearing of young, up to the point of dispersal of the young.

Cover - Vegetation used by wildlife for protection from predators, or to mitigate weather conditions, or to reproduce. May also refer to the protection of the soil and the shading provided to herbs and forbs by vegetation.

Critical Habitat - Under the Endangered Species Act, (1) the specific areas within the geographic area occupied by a Federally listed species on which are found physical and biological features essential to the conservation of the species, and that may require special management considerations or protection; and (2) specific areas outside the geographic area occupied by a listed species when it is determined that such areas are essential for the conservation of the species.

Crucial Habitat - Habitat that is basic to maintaining viable populations of fish or wildlife during certain seasons of the year or specific reproduction periods.

Cubic Foot - A unit of solid wood, one foot square and one foot thick.

Cull - A tree or log that does not meet merchantable specifications.

Cultural Resource - Any definite location of past human activity identifiable through field survey, historical documentation, or oral evidence; includes archaeological or architectural sites, structures, or places, and places of traditional cultural or religious importance to specified groups whether or not represented by physical remains. Cultural Site - Any location that includes prehistoric and/or historic evidence of human use or that has important sociocultural value.

Cumulative Effect - The impact that results from identified actions when they are added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of who undertakes such other actions. Cumulative effects can result from individually minor but collectively significant actions taking place over a period of time.

Debris Torrent - Rapid movement of a large quantity of materials (wood and sediment) down a stream channel during storms or floods. This generally occurs in smaller streams and results in scouring of streambed.

Density Management - Cutting of trees for the primary purpose of widening their spacing so that growth of remaining trees can be accelerated. Density management harvest can also be used to improve forest health, to open the forest canopy, or to accelerate the attainment of old growth characteristics, if maintenance or restoration of biological diversity is the objective.

Departure (from even flow) - A timber sale level that deviates from sustainable sale levels through a planned temporary increase or decrease in the PSQ. Must be economically and biologically justified.

Designated Area - An area identified in the Oregon Smoke Management Plan as a principal population center requiring protection under State air quality laws or regulations.

Designated Conservation Area (DCA) - A contiguous area of habitat to be managed and conserved for spotted owls as described in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Final Draft Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl.

Developed Recreation Site - A site developed with permanent facilities designed to accommodate recreation use.

Diameter At Breast Height (dbh) - The diameter of a tree 4.5 feet above the ground on the uphill side of the tree.

Dispersed Recreation - Outdoor recreation in which visitors are diffused over relatively large areas. Where facilities or developments are provided, they are primarily for access and protection of the environment rather than comfort or convenience of the user.

Domestic Water Supply - Water used for human consumption.

Donation Land Claim - A tract of land originally surveyed and patented out of Federal ownership under authority of laws passed by Congress between 1850 and 1853 granting lands to early settlers of the Oregon Territory.

Economically Feasible - Having costs and revenues with a present net value greater than zero.

Ecological Health - The condition of an ecosystem in which processes and functions are adequate to maintain diversity of biotic communities commensurate with those initially found there.

Ecosystem - An interacting natural system including living organisms and the nonliving environment. Ecosystems may vary in size. For example, the community of microorganisms in water; the lake that contains the water; the watershed where the lake is situated; and the mountain range where the watershed is located.

Ecosystem Diversity - The variety of species and ecological processes that occur in different physical settings.

Ecosystem Management (EM) - The management of lands and their resources to meet objectives based on their whole ecosystem function rather than on their character in isolation. Management objectives blend long-term needs of people and environmental values in such a way that the lands will support diverse, healthy, productive, and sustainable ecosystems. (Source: IB OR 93-339 to all employees from the State Director.)

Edge Effect - An ecologically biological effect that occurs in the transition zone where two plant communities or successional stages meet and mix.

Effective Old Growth Habitat - Old growth forest largely unmodified by external environmental influences (for example, wind, temperature, encroachment of nonresident species) from nearby, younger forest stands. Also referred to as interior habitat. For purposes of analysis, assumed to be at least 400 feet from an edge with an adjacent stand younger than age class 70.

Endangered Species - Any species defined through the Endangered Species Act as being in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range and published in the Federal Register.

Environmental Assessment (EA) - A systematic analysis of site-specific BLM activities used to determine whether such activities have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment; and whether a formal Environmental Impact Statement is required; and to aid an agency's compliance with NEPA when no EIS is necessary.

Environmental Impact - The positive or negative effect of any action upon a given area or resource.

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) - A formal document to be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency that considers significant environmental impacts expected from implementation of a major Federal action.

Ephemeral Streams - Streams that contain running water only sporadically, such as during and following storm events.

Equivalent Clear Cut Acres - A hydrological term that describes the runoff from a watershed in terms of the number of acres of recent clear cut, which would be required to yield the same total amount of runoff. Following a clear cut harvest, runoff increases to a peak level, then gradually declines for 20 years. Stands of trees 20 years and older are considered to yield the same runoff as any fully forested site.

Established Stand - A reforestation unit of suitable trees that are past the time when considerable juvenile mortality occurs. The unit is no longer in need of measures to ensure survival but is evaluated for measures to enhance growth.

Even-Aged Management - A silvicultural system that creates forest stands, which are primarily of a single age or limited range of ages.

Existing Stand Condition (ESC) - An artificial classification that groups forest stands with similar management potential into categories matched to tables expressing yield at various stand ages under various combinations of silvicultural treatment.

Extensive Recreation Management Areas (ERMAs) - All BLM administered lands outside Special Recreation Management Areas. These areas may include developed and primitive recreation sites with minimal facilities.

Forest Health - The ability of forest ecosystems to remain productive, resilient, and stable over time and to withstand the effects of periodic natural or human-caused stresses such as drought, insect attack, disease, climatic changes, flood, resource management practices and resource demands.

Forest Land - Land that is now, or is capable of becoming, at least l0 percent stocked with forest trees and that has not been developed for nontimber use.

Forest Succession - The orderly process of change in a forest as one plant community or stand condition is replaced by another, evolving towards the climax type of vegetation.

Fragile Nonsuitable - A TPCC classification indication forest land having fragile conditions, which if harvested would result in reduced future productivity; even if special harvest or restrictive measures are applied. These fragile conditions are related to soils, geologic structure, topography, and ground water.

Full Log Suspension - Suspension of the entire log above the ground during yarding operations.

General Forest Management Area (GFMA) - Forest land managed on a regeneration harvest cycle of 60-110 years. A biological legacy of 6 to 8 green trees per acre would be retained to assure forest health. Commercial thinning would be applied where practicable and where research indicates there would be gains in timber production.

Genetic Diversity - The variety within populations of a species.

Green Tree Retention - A stand management practice in which live trees as well as snags and large down wood, are left as biological legacies within harvest units to provide habitat components over the next management cycle.

High Level - A regeneration harvest designed to retain the highest level of live trees possible while still providing enough disturbance to allow regeneration and growth of the naturally occurring mixture of tree species. Such harvest should allow for the regeneration of intolerant and tolerant species. Harvest design would also retain cover and structural features necessary to provide foraging and dispersal habitat for mature and old growth dependent species.

 

Low Level - A regeneration harvest designed to retain only enough green trees and other structural components (snag, coarse woody debris, etc.) to result in the development of stands, which meet old growth definitions within 100-120 years after harvest entry, considering overstory mortality.

Habitat Fragmentation - The breaking up of habitat into discrete islands through modification or conversion of habitat by management activities.

Habitat Management Plan - See Activity Plan.

Hardwood Site - A forest site occupied by hardwoods that is unsuitable for the production of conifer species.

Hazardous Materials - Anything that poses a substantive present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of or otherwise managed.

Hiding Cover - Generally, any vegetation used by wildlife for security or to escape from danger; however, more specifically, any vegetation capable of providing concealment (e.g., hiding 90 percent of an animal) from human view at a distance of 200 feet or less.

Historic Site - A cultural resource resulting from activities or events dating to the historic period (generally post AD l830 in western Oregon).

Home Range - The area that an animal traverses in the scope of normal activities; not to be confused with territory, which is the area an animal defends.

Hyporheic Zone - The area under the stream channel and flood plain that contributes to the stream.

Impact - A spatial or temporal change in the environment caused by human activity.

Improved Seed - Seed originated from a seed orchard or selected tree(s) whose genetic superiority in one or more characters important to forestry has been proven by tests conducted in specific environments.

Infiltration (soil) - The movement of water through the soil surface into the soil.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) - A systematic approach that uses a variety of techniques to reduce pest damage or unwanted vegetation to tolerable levels. IPM techniques may include natural predators and parasites, genetically resistant hosts, environmental modifications and, when necessary and appropriate, chemical pesticides or herbicides.

Integrated Vegetation Management - See Integrated Pest Management.

Intensively Managed Timber Stands - Forest stands managed to obtain a high level of timber volume or quality through investment in growth enhancing practices, such as precommercial thinning, commercial thinning, and fertilization. Not to be confused with the allocations of "lands available for intensive management of forest products."

Intensive Timber Production Base - All commercial forest land allocated to timber production and intensively managed to obtain a high level of timber volume or quality.

Intermittent Stream - Any nonpermanent flowing drainage feature having a definable channel and evidence of scour or deposition. This includes what are sometimes referred to as ephemeral streams if they meet these two criteria.

Irreversible or Irretrievable Commitment of Resources - Effect of an action or inaction that cannot be reversed within a reasonable time.

Issue - A matter of controversy or dispute over resource management activities that is well defined or topically discrete. Addressed in the design of planning alternatives.

Landing - Any place on or adjacent to the logging site where logs are assembled for further transport.

Landscape - A heterogeneous land area with interacting ecosystems that are repeated in similar form throughout.

Landscape Diversity - The size, shape and connectivity of different ecosystems across a large area.

Landscape Features - The land and water form, vegetation, and structures that compose the characteristic landscape.

Land Tenure Adjustments -

Zone 1 lands include areas currently identified as having high public resource values which merit long-term public ownership under BLM administration. They do not meet the criteria for sale under Section203(a) of FLPMA and would be retained in public ownership.

 

Zone 2 lands include areas that meet criteria for exchange because they form discontinuous ownership patterns, are less efficient to manage, and may not be accessible to the general public. These BLM administered lands may be exchanged for other lands in Zones 1 or 2, transferred to other public agencies, or given some form of cooperative management. These lands do not meet the criteria for sale under Section 203(a) of FLPMA. Most lands in this zone would remain under BLM administration.

 

Zone 3 includes lands that are scattered and isolated with low resource values. They meet the criteria for sale under Section 203(a) of FLPMA, if important recreation, wildlife, watershed, threatened or endangered species habitat and/or cultural values are not identified during disposal clearance reviews. Oregon and California (O&C) lands assigned to Zone 3 are not suitable commercial forest land. Most lands in Zone 3 would be sold, exchanged, or transferred out of BLM administration over time. Zone 3 lands are specifically identified in Table 2-19.

Late-Successional Forests - Forest seral stages that include mature and old growth age classes.

Late-Successional Reserve - A forest in its mature and/or old growth stages that has been reserved.

Leasable Minerals - Minerals that may be leased to private interests by the Federal government. Includes oil, gas, geothermal resources, and coal.

Locatable Minerals - Minerals subject to exploration, development and disposal by staking mining claims as authorized by the Mining Law of l872 (as amended). This includes valuable deposits of gold, silver, and other uncommon minerals not subject to lease or sale.

Log Decomposition Class - Any of 5 stages of deterioration of logs in the forest; stages range from essentially sound (class 1) to almost total decomposition (class 5).

Long-Term - The period starting l0 years following implementation of the Resource Management Plan. For most analyses, long-term impacts are defined as those existing 100 years after implementation.

Long-Term Soil Productivity - The capability of soil to sustain inherent, natural growth potential of plants and plant communities over time.

Long-Term Sustained Yield (LTSY) - Estimated timber harvest that can be maintained indefinitely, once all stands have been converted to a managed state under a specific management intensity.

Lumber and Wood Products, Except Furniture - An industrial classification that includes logging contractors engaged in cutting timber and pulpwoods: merchant sawmills, lath mills, shingle mills, planing mills, plywood mills, and veneer mills engaged in producing lumber and wood basic materials; and establishments engaged in manufacturing finished articles made entirely or mainly of wood or wood substitutes. Certain types of establishments producing wood products are classified elsewhere, e.g., furniture and office and store fixtures are in a different classification.

Managed Pair Areas - In some portions of the northern spotted Owl's range it is necessary to provide additional protection in the matrix for pairs of owls and territorial singles. This consists of delineating a core habitat area, plus additional acreage of suitable habitat around the core. The acreage to be delineated around the core varies throughout the range, based on data for pairs in the area. The suitable acreage must be delineated in a area equal to the mean home range for that physiographic province. Appropriate silvicultural treatment is encouraged in suitable and unsuitable habitat in the acreage around the core.

Management Actions/Direction - Measures planned to achieve the stated objective(s).

Management Activity - An activity undertaken for the purpose of harvesting, traversing, transporting, protecting, changing, replenishing, or otherwise using resources.

Management Framework Plan (MFP) - A land use plan that established coordinated land use allocations for all resource and support activities for a specific land area within a BLM District. It established objectives and constraints for each resource and support activity and provided data for consideration in program planning. This process has been replaced by the Resource Management Planning process.

Management Objectives - Expressions of what BLM wants to accomplish with its management efforts.

Mass Movement - The downslope movement of earth caused by gravity. Includes but is not limited to landslides, rock falls, debris avalanches, and creep. It does not include surface erosion.

Master Title Plat - A map compiled for each township from the official government land surveys on which is shown Federal land ownership, acreages, and various land status information such as withdrawals, easements, rights-of-way, and leases.

Matrix Lands - Federal land outside of reserves and special management areas that will be available for timber harvest at varying levels.

MICRO*STORMS - A microcomputer database system providing background information and recommended treatment for each operations inventory unit.

Mineral Estate - The ownership of the minerals at or beneath the surface of the land.

Mineral Potential Classification System - Method for assessing the potential for the presence of a concentration of one or more energy and/or mineral resources.

Minimum Harvest Age - The lowest age of a forest stand to be scheduled for final harvest.

Minimum Stocking - Reforestation level lower than target stocking. Does not achieve full site occupancy in young stands but is capable of achieving optimal final harvest yield and reduced commercial thinning yield.

Minimum Streamflow - The quantity of water needed to maintain the existing and planned in-place uses of water in or along a stream channel or other water body, and to maintain the natural character of the aquatic system and its dependent systems.

Mining Claims - Portions of public lands claimed for possession of locatable mineral deposits, by locating and recording under established rules and pursuant to the 1872 Mining Law.

Mitigating Measures - Modifications of actions that (a) avoid impacts by not taking a certain action or parts of an action; (b) minimize impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation; (c) rectify impacts by repairing, rehabilitating or restoring the affected environment; (d) reduce or eliminate impacts over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action; or (e) compensate for impacts by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments.

Monitoring - The process of collecting information to evaluate if objectives and anticipated or assumed results of a management plan are being realized or if implementation is proceeding as planned.

Multiple Use - Management of the public lands and their various resource values so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of the American people; making the most judicious use of the land for some or all of these resources or related services over areas large enough to provide sufficient latitude for periodic adjustments in use to conform to changing needs and conditions; the use of some land for less than all of the resources; a combination of balanced and diverse resource uses that takes into account the long-term needs of future generations for renewable and nonrenewable resources, including, but not limited to, recreation, range, timber, minerals, watershed, wildlife and fish, and natural scenic, scientific and historical values; and harmonious and coordinated management of the various resources without permanent impairment of the productivity of the land and the quality of the environment with consideration being given to the relative values of the resources and not necessarily to the combination of uses that will give the greatest economic return or the greatest unit output.

Nonattainment - Failure of a geographical area to attain or maintain compliance with ambient air quality standards.

Nonattainment Area - A geographical area that has failed to attain or maintain compliance with air quality standards. Nonattainment area boundaries are commonly the same as city, standard metropolitan statistical area or County boundaries.

Noxious Plant/Weed - A plant specified by law as being especially undesirable, troublesome, and difficult to control.

O&C Lands - Public lands granted to the Oregon and California Railroad Company and subsequently revested to the United States, which are managed by the Bureau of Land Management under the authority of the O&C Lands Act.

Objectives - Expressions of what are the desired end results of management efforts.

Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) - Any motorized track or wheeled vehicle designed for cross country travel over natural terrain. The term, "Off Highway Vehicle" will be used in place of the term "Off-Road Vehicle" to comply with the purposes of Executive Orders 11644 and 11989. The definition for both terms is the same.

Open: Designated areas and trails where Off Highway Vehicles may be operated subject to operating regulations and vehicle standards set forth in BLM Manuals 834l and 8343.

 

Limited: Designated areas and trails where Off Highway Vehicles are subject to restrictions limiting the number or types of vehicles, date, and time of use; limited to existing or designated roads and trails.

 

Closed: Areas and trails where the use of Off Highway Vehicles is permanently or temporarily prohibited. Emergency use is allowed.

For purposes of inventory, old growth stands on BLM administered lands are only identified if they are at least 50 percent stocked with trees of 200 years or older and are 10 acres or more in size. For purposes of habitat or biological diversity, the BLM uses the appropriate minimum and average definitions provided by Pacific Northwest Experiment Station publications 447 and GTR-285. This definition is summarized from the 1986 interim definitions of the Old Growth Definitions Task Group.

Outstanding Natural Area (ONA) - An area that contains unusual natural characteristics and is managed primarily for educational and recreational purposes.

Outstandingly Remarkable Values (ORV) - Values among those listed in Section 1 (b) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act: "scenic, recreational, geological, fish and wildlife, historical, cultural, or other similar values . . ." Other similar values that may be considered include ecological, biological or botanical, paleontological, hydrological, scientific, or research.

Partial Cutting - Removal of selected trees from a forest stand.

Particulates - Finely divided solid or liquid (other than water) particles in the air.

Peak Flow - The highest amount of stream or river flow occurring in a year or from a single storm event.

Perennial Stream - A stream that has running water on a year-round basis under normal climatic conditions.

Plan Amendment - A change in the terms, conditions or decisions of a resource management plan.

Plan Revision - A new Resource Management Plan prepared by following all steps required by the regulations for preparing an original Resource Management Plan.

Planning Area - All of the lands within the BLM management boundary addressed in a BLM Resource Management Plan; however, BLM planning decisions apply only to BLM administered lands and mineral estate.

Planning Issue - See Issue.

Potential ACEC - An area of BLM administered land that meets the relevance and importance criteria for ACEC designation, as follows:

(1) Relevance. There shall be present a significant historic, cultural, or scenic value; a fish or wildlife resource or other natural system or process; or natural hazard.

 

(2) Importance. The above described value, resource, system, process, or hazard shall have substantial significance and values. This generally requires qualities of more than local significance and special worth, consequence, meaning, distinctiveness, or cause for concern. A natural hazard can be important if it is a significant threat to human life or property.

Potential Natural Community - The community of plants and wild animals that would become established if all successional sequences were completed without interference by man under present environmental conditions. For forest communities, the potential natural community is an old growth conifer stand.

Precommercial Thinning - The practice of removing some of the trees less than merchantable size from a stand so that remaining trees will grow faster.

Prescribed Fire - A fire burning under specified conditions that will accomplish certain planned objectives.

Probable Sale Quantity (PSQ) - Probable Sale Quantity estimates the allowable harvest levels for the various alternatives that could be maintained without decline over the long-term if the schedule of harvests and regeneration were followed. "Allowable" was changed to "probable" to reflect uncertainty in the calculations for some alternatives. Probable Sale Quantity is otherwise comparable to Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ). However, Probable Sale Quantity does not reflect a commitment to a specific cut level. Probable Sale Quantity includes only scheduled or regulated yields and does not include "other wood" or volume of cull and other products that are not normally part of Allowable Sale Quantity calculations.

Proposed Threatened or Endangered Species - Plant or animal species proposed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to be biologically appropriate for listing as threatened or endangered, and published in the Federal Register. It is not a final designation.

Public Domain Lands - Original holdings of the United States never granted or conveyed to other jurisdictions, or reacquired by exchange for other public domain lands.

Public Water System - A system providing piped water for public consumption. Such a system has at least 15 service connections or regularly serves at least 25 individuals.

Rearing Habitat - Areas in rivers or streams where juvenile salmon and trout find food and shelter to live and grow.

Recovery Plan - A plan for the conservation and survival of an endangered species or a threatened species listed under the Endangered Species Act, to improve the status of the species to make continued listing unnecessary.

Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) - A fundamental Recreation planning tool that recognizes the critical link between the setting of an activity and the subsequent experience it provides. The ROS provides a framework for defining the types of outdoor recreation opportunities the public might desire, and identifies that portion of the spectrum a given agency might be able to provide. The spectrum has 7 categories ranging from Primitive to Urban.

Recreational River - See Wild and Scenic River System.

Reforestation - The natural or artificial restocking of an area with forest trees; most commonly used in reference to artificial stocking.

Regeneration Harvest - Timber harvest conducted with the partial objective of opening a forest stand to the point where favored tree species will be reestablished.

Regeneration Period - The time it takes to reforest an area to adequate stocking following a timber sale.

Regional Ecosystem Office (REO) - The main function of this office is to provide staff work and support to the Regional Interagency Executive Committee (RIEC) so the standards and guidelines in the forest management plan can be successfully implemented.

Regulated Forest - A forest that comprises an even distribution of age classes or tree sizes, when the growth equals the cut (at the highest level sustainable) and when the level of growing stock remains relatively constant.

Research Natural Area (RNA) - An area that contains natural resource values of scientific interest and is managed primarily for research and educational purposes.

Reserved Federal Mineral Estate - Land on which the Federal government has ownership of minerals but the surface estate is private or other nonfederal ownership.

Reserved Pair Areas - In those portions of the species' range where habitat and owl populations are inadequate to apply the criteria creating designated conservation areas, then individual pair areas were also reserved. These are areas of suitable habitat identified for pairs and territorial single owls. The acreage of these areas varies throughout the range, based on data for pairs in each physiographic province. All suitable habitat is reserved in an area equal to the mean home range for that province.

Residual Habitat Area - An area about 100 acres in size of nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat encompassing the known activity center for a pair of owls or a territorial single owl. The intended purpose is to protect the core areas in the short-term and to provide potential nest sites in the long-term. These areas have now been added to the LSR system as unmapped reserves.

Resource Management Plan (RMP) - A land use plan prepared by the BLM under current regulations in accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

Right-of-Way - A permit or an easement that authorizes the use of public lands for specified purposes, such as pipelines, roads, telephone lines, electric lines, reservoirs, and the lands covered by such an easement or permit.

Riparian Management Area - An area allocated in the plan primarily to protect the riparian and/or streamside zone.

Riparian Reserves - Designated riparian areas as described in the SEIS/ROD.

Ripping - The process of breaking up or loosening compacted soil to assure better penetration of roots of young tree seedlings.

Rural Interface Areas - Areas where BLM administered lands are adjacent to or intermingled with privately owned lands zoned for 1 to 20-acre lots or that already have residential development.

Salable Minerals - High volume, low value mineral resources including common varieties of rock, clay, decorative stone, sand, and gravel.

Scarification - Mechanical removal of competing vegetation or interfering debris prior to planting.

Scenic Quality - The relative worth of a landscape from a visual perception point of view.

Scenic River - See Wild and Scenic River System.

Scribner Short Log - A log measurement rule constructed from diagrams that shows the number of 1-inch boards, which can be drawn in a circle representing the small end of a 16-foot-long log, assumes a 1/4-inch saw kerf groove, makes a liberal allowance for slabs, and disregards log taper.

Sediment Yield - The quantity of soil, rock particles, organic matter or other debris transported through a cross section of stream in a given period of time. Measured in dry weight or by volume. Consists of suspended sediment and bedload.

Seed Tree Cutting Method - An even-aged reproductive cutting method in which all mature timber from an area is harvested in one entry except for a small number of trees left as a seed source for the harvested area.

Seed Orchard - A plantation of clones or seedlings from selected trees; isolated to reduce pollination from outside sources, weeded of undesirables, and cultured for early and abundant production of seed.

Selection Cutting - A method of uneven-aged management involving the harvesting of single trees from stands (single-tree selection) or in groups (group selection) without harvesting the entire stand at any one time.

Sensitivity Analysis - A process of examining specific tradeoffs that would result from making changes in single elements of a plan alternative.

Sensitivity Levels - Measures (e.g., high, medium, and low) of public concern for the maintenance of scenic quality.

Seral Stages - The series of relatively transitory plant communities that develop during ecological succession from bare ground to the climax stage. There are five stages:

Early Seral Stage - The period from disturbance to crown closure of conifer stands usually occurring from 0-15 years. Grass, herbs, or brush are plentiful.

Mid Seral Stage - The period in the life of a forest stand from crown closure to ages 15-40. Due to stand density, brush, grass, or herbs rapidly decrease in the stand. Hiding cover may be present.

 

Late Seral Stage - The period in the life of a forest stand from first merchantability to culmination of mean annual increment. This is under a regime including commercial thinning, or to 100 years of age, depending on wildlife habitat needs. During this period, stand diversity is minimal, except that conifer mortality rates will be fairly rapid. Hiding and thermal cover may be present. Forage is minimal.

 

Mature Seral Stage - The period in the life of a forest stand from Culmination of Mean Annual Increment to an old growth stage or to 200 years. This is a time of gradually increasing stand diversity. Hiding cover, thermal cover, and some forage may be present.

 

Old Growth - This stage constitutes the potential plant community capable of existing on a site given the frequency of natural disturbance events. For forest communities, this stage exists from approximately age 200 until when stand replacement occurs and secondary succession begins again. Depending on fire frequency and intensity, old growth forests may have different structures, species composition and age distributions. In forests with longer periods between natural disturbance, the forest structure will be more even-aged at late mature or early old growth stages.

Shelterwood Cutting - A regeneration method under an even-aged silvicultural system. A portion of the mature stand is retained as a source of seed and/or protection during the period of regeneration. The mature stand is removed in two or more cuttings.

Short-Term - The period of time during which the RMP will be implemented; assumed to be 10 years.

Silvicultural Prescription - A professional plan for controlling the establishment, composition, constitution, and growth of forests.

Silvicultural System - A planned sequence of treatments over the entire life of a forest stand needed to meet management objectives.

Site Class - A measure of an area's relative capacity for producing timber or other vegetation.

Site Index - A measure of forest productivity expressed as the height of the tallest trees in a stand at an index age.

Skid Trail - A pathway created by dragging logs to a landing (gathering point).

Skyline Yarding - A cable yarding system using one of the cables to support a carriage from which logs are suspended and then pulled to a landing.

Slash - The branches, bark, tops, cull logs, and broken or uprooted trees left on the ground after logging.

Slope Failure - See Mass Movement.

Smoke Management - Conducting a prescribed fire under suitable fuel moisture and meteorological conditions with firing techniques that keep smoke impact on the environment within designated limits.

Smoke Management Program - A program designed to ensure that smoke impacts on air quality from agricultural or forestry burning operations are minimized; that impacts do not exceed, or significantly contribute to, violations of air quality standards or visibility protection guidelines; and that necessary open burning can be accomplished to achieve land management goals.

Smoke Sensitive Area - An area identified by the Oregon Smoke Management Plan that may be negatively affected by smoke but is not classified as a Designated Area.

Snag - Any standing dead, partially-dead, or defective (cull) tree at least l0 inches in diameter at breast height (dbh) and at least 6 feet tall. A hard snag is composed primarily of sound wood, generally merchantable. A soft snag is composed primarily of wood in advanced stages of decay and deterioration, generally not merchantable.

Snag Dependent Species - Birds and animals dependent on snags for nesting, roosting, or foraging habitat.

Soil Compaction - An increase in bulk density (weight per unit volume) and a decrease in soil porosity resulting from applied loads, vibration, or pressure.

Soil Displacement - The removal and horizontal movement of soil from one place to another by mechanical forces such as a blade.

Soil Productivity - Capacity or suitability of a soil for establishment and growth of a specified crop or plant species, primarily through nutrient availability.

Special Areas - Areas that may need special management, which may include management as an ACEC, RNA, ONA, environmental education area, or other special category.

Special Forest Products - Firewood, shake bolts, mushrooms, ferns, floral greens, berries, mosses, bark, grasses, etc. that could be harvested in accordance with the objectives and guidelines in the Proposed Resource Management Plan.

Special Habitat Features - Habitats of special importance due to their uniqueness or high value.

Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA) - An area where a commitment has been to provide specific recreation activity and experience opportunities. These areas usually require a high level of recreation investment and/or management. They include recreation sites but recreation sites alone do not constitute SRMAs.

Special Status Species - Plant or animal species falling in any of the following categories (see separate glossary definitions for each):

- Threatened or Endangered Species

- Proposed Threatened or Endangered Species

- Candidate Species

- State Listed Species

- Bureau Sensitive Species

- Bureau Assessment Species

Species Diversity - The number, different kinds and relative abundance of species.

Splash Dam - A method of moving logs by rafting them downstream. A log dam would be built in front of the instream logs. When enough water and logs were collected behind the dam, the dam was broken releasing an avalanche of logs and water. This practice would scour the soil and vegetation from the streambed and banks for miles downstream. Splash damming has not been practiced in the planning area for over 40 years.

Split Estate - An area of land where the surface is nonfederally owned and the subsurface mineral resources are Federally owned or vice versa.

Spotted Owl Habitat Sites - Sites monitored by BLM for spotted owl occupancy during some or all of the years l985 through l988, in accordance with BLM's spotted owl monitoring guidelines. These sites are known to have been inhabited by spotted owls at some time in the last dozen years, but not necessarily during the l985-l988 period.

Stand Density - An expression of the number and size of trees on a forest site. May be expressed in terms of numbers of trees per acre, basal area, stand density index, or relative density index.

Stand Replacing Wildfire - A wildfire that kills nearly 100 percent of the stand.

State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) - The State official authorized to act as a liaison to the Secretary of the Interior for purposes of implementing the National Historic Preservation Act of l966.

State Implementation Plan (SIP) - A State document, required by the Clean Air Act. It describes a comprehensive plan of action for achieving specified air quality objectives and standards for a particular locality or region within a specified time, as enforced by the State and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

State Listed Species - Plant or animal species listed by the State of Oregon as threatened or endangered pursuant to ORS 496.004, ORS 498.026, or ORS 564.040.

Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) - A plan prepared by the State that describes and analyzes the organization and function of the outdoor recreation system of the state. The plan provides an analysis of the roles and responsibilities of major outdoor recreation suppliers; an analysis of demand, supply and needs; issue discussions; an action program to address the issues; and a project selection process.

Stocked/Stocking - Related to the number and spacing of trees in a forest stand.

Strategic and Critical Minerals - Minerals that supply military, industrial and essential civilian needs of the United States during a national defense emergency. They are not found or produced in this country in sufficient quantities to meet such needs. Nickel, cobalt and chromium are examples of such minerals occurring in western Oregon.

Stream Class - A system of stream classification established in the Oregon Forest Practices Act at the time the planning documents were written. Class I streams are those which are significant for: 1) domestic use, 2) angling, 3) water dependent recreation, and 4) spawning, rearing or migration of anadromous or game fish. All other streams are Class II. Class II special protection streams (Class II SP) are Class II streams that have a significant summertime cooling influence on downstream Class I waters, which are at or near a temperature at which production of anadromous or game fish is limited.

Stream Reach - An individual 1st order stream or a segment of another stream that has beginning and ending points at a stream confluence. Reach end points are normally designated where a tributary confluence changes the channel character or order. Although reaches identified by BLM are variable in length, they normally have a range of 1/2 to 1-1/2 miles in length unless channel character, confluence distribution, or management considerations require variance.

Structural Diversity - Variety in a forest stand that results from layering or tiering of the canopy and the die-back, death and ultimate decay of trees. In aquatic habitats, the presence of a variety of structural features such as logs and boulders that create a variety of habitat.

Succession - A series of dynamic changes by which one group of organisms succeeds another through stages leading to potential natural community or climax. An example is the development of series of plant communities (called seral stages) following a major disturbance.

Suitable Commercial Forest Land - Commercial forest land capable of sustained long-term timber production.

Suitable River - A river segment found through administrative study by an appropriate agency to meet the criteria for designation as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system as specified in Section 4(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Suitable Woodland - Forest land occupied by minor conifer and hardwood species not considered in the commercial forest land PSQ determination and referred to as noncommercial species. These species may be considered commercial for fuelwood, etc. under woodland management. Also included are low site and nonsuitable commercial forest land. These lands must be biologically and environmentally capable of supporting a sustained yield of forest products.

Surface Erosion - The detachment and transport of soil particles by wind, water, or gravity. Surface erosion can occur as the loss of soil in a uniform layer (sheet erosion) in many rills, or by dry ravel.

Sustained Yield - The yield that a forest can produce continuously at a given intensity of management.

Sustained Yield Unit (SYU) - An administrative division for which an allowable sale quantity is calculated.

Target Stocking - The desirable number of well-spaced trees per acre at age of first commercial thinning.

Ten Percent Stocked - Stocking of tree seedlings and saplings (0.5 inches in diameter 4.5 feet above the ground) that are well distributed over the land and are more than 30 per acre in number. Or the stocking of trees larger than 5 inches in diameter with foliage that covers at least l0 percent of the land surface area.

Texture (soil) - The relative proportion of sand, silt, and clay in a soil; grouped into standard classes and subclasses in the USDA Soil Survey Manual.

Thermal Cover - Cover used by animals to lessen the effects of weather. For elk, a stand of conifer trees that are 40 feet or more tall with an average crown closure of 70 percent or more. For deer, cover may include saplings, shrubs or trees at least 5 feet tall with 75 percent crown closure.

Threatened Species - Any species defined through the Endangered Species Act as likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range and published in the Federal Register.

Timber Management Plan - An activity plan that specifically addresses procedures related to the offering and sale of timber volume consistent with the approved Allowable Sale Quantity.

Timber Production Capability Classification (TPCC) - The process of partitioning forest land into major classes indicating relative suitability to produce timber on a sustained yield basis.

Title Plat Acre - The official acreage of a tract of land as shown on the most current official BLM cadastral survey plat.

Total Suspended Particulates - All solid or semi-solid material found in the atmosphere.

Transportation System - Network of roads used to manage BLM administered lands. Includes BLM controlled roads and some privately controlled roads. Does not include Oregon Department of Transportation, County and municipal roads.

Travel Corridor - A route used by animals along a belt or band of suitable cover or habitat.

Treatable Water - Water capable of being treated with commonly used filtration and chlorination systems.

Uneven-aged Management - A combination of actions that simultaneously maintains continuous tall forest cover, recurring regeneration of desirable species, and the orderly growth and development of trees through a range of diameter or age classes. Cutting methods that develop and maintain uneven-aged stands are single tree selection and group selection.

Unique Ecosystems - Ecosystems embracing special habitat features such as beaches and dunes, talus slopes, meadows, and wetlands.

Unnecessary or Undue Degradation - Surface disturbance greater than what would normally result when a mineral exploration or development activity regulated under 43 CFR 3809 is being accomplished by a prudent operator in usual, customary and proficient operations of similar character, and taking into consideration the effects of operations on other resources and land uses outside the area of operations. Failure to initiate and complete reasonable mitigation measures, including reclamation of disturbed areas; or failure to prevent the creation of a nuisance, which may constitute unnecessary or undue degradation. Failure to comply with applicable environmental protection statutes and regulations thereunder will constitute unnecessary or undue degradation.

Utility Corridor - A linear strip of land identified for the present or future location of utility lines within its boundaries.

Viable Population - A wildlife or plant population that contains an adequate number of reproductive individuals to appropriately ensure the long-term existence of the species.

Viewshed - The landscape that can be directly seen from a viewpoint or along a transportation corridor.

Visibility Protection Plan - A plan that implements the requirements of the Clean Air Act by establishing programs for visibility monitoring; short and long-term control strategies; and procedures for program review, coordination, and consultation.

Visual Resources - The visible physical features of a landscape.

Visual Resource Management (VRM) - The inventory and planning actions to identify visual values and establish objectives for managing those values and the management actions to achieve visual management objectives.

Visual Resource Management Classes - Categories assigned to public lands based on scenic quality, sensitivity level, and distance zones. There are four classes. Each class has an objective that prescribes the amount of modification allowed in the landscape.

Water Quality - The chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water.

Water Yield - The quantity of water derived from a unit area of watershed.

Western Oregon Digital Data Base (WODDB) - A very high resolution (l"=400') geographic digital (computer) database derived from aerial photography for BLM lands in western Oregon.

Wetlands or Wetland Habitat - Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for living in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include, but are not limited to, swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.

Wet Meadows - Areas where grasses predominate. Normally waterlogged within a few inches of the ground surface.

Wild and Scenic River System - A National system of rivers or river segments that have been designated by Congress and the President as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System (Public Law 90-542, 1968). Each designated river is classified as one of the following:

Wild River - A river or section of a river free of impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted. Designated wild as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Scenic River - A river or section of a river free of impoundments, with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and undeveloped but accessible in places by roads. Designated scenic as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Recreational River - A river or section of a river readily accessible by road or railroad, that may have some development along its shorelines, and that may have undergone some impoundment of diversion in the past. Designated recreational as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Wilderness Study Area (WSA) - A roadless area inventoried and found to be wilderness in character, having few human developments and providing outstanding opportunities for solitude and primitive recreation, as described in Section 603 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and in Section 2(c) of the Wilderness Act of l964.

Wild River - See Wild and Scenic River System

Windthrow - A tree or trees uprooted or felled by the wind.

Withdrawal - A designation that restricts or closes public lands from the operation of land or mineral disposal laws.

Woodland - Forest land producing trees not typically used as saw timber products and not included in calculation of the commercial forest land PSQ.

Yarding - The act or process of moving logs to a landing.

Yield Table - A table of timber volumes expected to be produced under a certain set of conditions.