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.

Age Class - One of the intervals into which the age range of trees is divided for classification or use.

Airshed - A geographical area which 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.

Animal Unit Month (AUM) - The amount of forage necessary for the sustenance of one cow or its equivalent for one month.

Aquatic Ecosystem - Any body of water, such as a stream, lake, or estuary, and all organisms and

Aquatic Habitat - Habitat that occurs in free water.

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

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 Area of Critical Environmental Concern.)

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 allowable sale quantity (ASQ). 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.

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 groundwater 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.

Best Practicable Technology - Current water pollution treatment technology established for water quality limited streams within the constraints impossed by economic factors.

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

Biological Diversity - The variety of life and its processes.

Biological Legacies - Large trees, down logs, snags, and other components of the forest stand left after harvesting for the purpose of maintaining site productivity and providing structures and ecological functions in subsequent stands.

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

Broadcast Burning - 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 Fish and Wildlife Service 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 Fish and Wildlife Service has information to indicate that listing is possibly appropriate. Additional information is being collected.

Canopy - The more or less continuous cover of branches and foliage formed collectively by adjacent trees and other woody species in a forest stand. Where significant height differences occur between trees within a stand, formation of a multiple canopy (multi-layered) condition can result.

Casual Use - Activities ordinarily resulting in negligible disturbance of federal lands and resources.

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

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

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.

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

Clearcut 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.

Climax Plant Community - The theoritical, final stable, self-sustaining, and self reproducing state of plant community development that culminates plant succession on any given site. Given a long period of time between disturbances, plant associations on similar sites under similar climatic condiuld approach the same species mixture and structure. Under natural conditions, disturbance events of various intensities and frequencies result in succession usually cnating as sub-climax with the theoritical end point occurring rarely of at all.

Closed Discretionary - Areas closed to mineral exploration and development by authority of law or

Closed Nondiscretionary - Areas specifically closed to mineral exploration and development by authority of law, regulation, Secretarial decision (including Public Land Orders), or Executive Order.

Coarse Woody Debris - Portion of tree that has fallen or been cut and left in the woods. Usually refers to pieces at least 20 inches in diameter. FEMAT

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 ASQ. 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.

Congressionally Reserved Areas - Areas that require Congressional enactment for their establishment, such as national parks, wilderness and wild and scenic rivers.

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.

Coos Bay Wagon Road (CBWR) Lands - Public lands granted to the Southern Oregon Company and subsequently reconveyed to the United States.

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

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 which 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 which does not meet merchantable specifications.

Culmination of Mean Annual Increment (CMAI) - The peak of average yearly growth in volume of a forest stand (total volume divided by age of stand).

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 which 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.

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.

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.

District Defined Reserves - Areas designated for the protection of specific resources, flora and fauna, and other values. These areas are not included in other land use allocations nor in the calculation of the Probable Sale Quantity.

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.

Early Seral Stage - See Seral Stages.

Ecological Site - Land with specific potential natural communities and sprcific physical site characteristics differing from other land in its ability to produce vegetation and respond to management.

Ecological Forestry - A set of forest management concepts which seek to maintain or recreate timber stand and landscape biological diversity. Also termed "New Perspectives", "New Forestry" and "Sustainable Forestry."

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 Management - 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.

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

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

Eligible River - A river or river segment found, through interdisciplinary team and, in some cases, interagency review, to meet Wild and Scenic River Act criteria of being free-flowing and possessing one or more outstandingly remarkable values.

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 National Environmental Protection Agency when no Environmental Impact Statement 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 Stream - Streams that contain running water only sporadically, such as during and following storm events.

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

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

Forest Canopy - The cover of branches and foliage formed collectively by the crowns of adjacent trees and other woody growth.

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 ten percent stocked with forest trees and that has not been developed for nontimber use.

Forest Operations Inventory - See Operations Inventory.

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 Timber Production Capability 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 - Forest land managed on a regeneration harvest cycle of 70-110 years. A biological legacy of six to eight green trees per acre would be retained to assure forest health. Commercial thinning would be applied where

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.

Gross Yarding - Removal of all woody material of specified size from a logging unit to a landing.

Habitat Diversity - The number of different types of habitat within a given area.

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 which 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 stream channel and floodplain that contributes to the stream.

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

Instant Study Area - A natural area formally identified by BLM for accelerated wilderness review by notice published before October 21, 1975.

Intact Old Growth Habitat - Older fores types that have not been entered for logging or are lightly entered such that structural and functional characteristics of the forest are essentially unchanged, except in relation to the size of the habitat island, Typically, forests of coniferous series with crown closure above 70 percent. Also includes low site lands lacking the ecological potential to produce older forest habitat characteristics.

Integrated Pest Management - A systematic approach that uses a cariety of techniques to reduce pest damage or unwatned 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.

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.

Intensive Forest Management Practices - The growth enhancing practices of release, precommercial thinning, commercial thinning, and fertilization, designed to obtain a high level of timber volume or quality.

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.

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."

Intermittent Stream - Streams that carry water most of the year and have defined channels, but may not flow during part of the summer.

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 Block - A specific landscape unit used in analysis (example: a drainage).

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

Landscape Ecology - Principles and theories for understanding the structure, functioning, and change of landscapes over time. Specifically it considers (1) the development and dynamics of spatial heterogeneity, (2) interactions and exchanges across heterogeneous landscapes, (3) the influences of spatial heterogeneity on biotic and abiotic processes, and (4) the management of spatial heterogeneity. The consideration of spatial patterns distinguishes landscape ecology from traditional ecological studies, which frequently assume that systems are spatially homogeneous.

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

Landscape Grain - The finest level of spatial resolution possible with a given data set or the smallest habitat unit significant for the study or analysis of a specific ecological processes. (Example: a spotted owl nest grove or an individual canopy gap.) Habitat grains are often referred to as "fine scale" or "broad scale".

Landscape Pattern - The number, frequency, size, and juxtaposition of landscape elements (patches) which are important to the determination or interpretation of ecological processes.

Landscape Scale - The spatial dimension of an object or process, characterized by both grain and extent (example: the scale used in this analysis consisted of landscape blocks of 20,000 acres in extent with the finest level of spatial resolution being canopy gaps of 1/4 acre in size).

Late-Successional Forests - Forest seral stages which 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 which 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 five 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 ten 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.

Major Plant Grouping - An aggregation of plant associations with similar management potential and with the same dominant late seral conifer species and the same major early seral species. Late seral rather than climax species are used because late seral species are usually present rather than climax communities and because most old-growth plant communities on BLM-administered lands are made up of late seral species rather than climax species in the upper canopy.

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.

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 graphic representation of each township showing all actions affecting title.

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

Mature Seral Stage - See Seral Stages.

Mature Stand - A mappable stand of trees for which the annual net rate of growth has peaked. Stands are generally greater than 80-100 years old and less than 180-200 years old. Stand age, diameter of dominant trees, and stand structure at maturity vary by forest cover types and local site conditions. Mature stands generally contain trees with a small average diameter, less age class variation, and less structural complexity than old-growth stands of the same forest type. Mature stages of some forest types are suitable habitat for spotted owls. However, mature forests are not always spotted owl habitat, and spotted owl habitat is not always mature forest.

Micro*Storms - A micro-computer database system providing background information and recommended treatment for each operations inventory unit.

Mid Seral Stage - See Seral Stages.

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

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 which (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.

Mortality Salvage - The harvest of dead and dying timber.

Multi-aged Stand - A forest stand which has more than one distinct age class arising from specific disturbance and regeneration events at various times. These stands normally will have multi-layered structure.

Multi-layered Canopy - Forest stands with two or more distinct tree layers in the canopy; also called multi-storied stands.

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. 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, fish, and natural scenic, scientific and historical values.

National Register of Historic Places - A formal list established by the National Historic Preservation Act of l966 of cultural resources worthy of preservation. The Register is maintained by the National Park Service; and lists archaeological, historic, and architectural properties.

Neotropical migrants - a wide variety of bird species, which breed in temperate North America but migrate to tropical habitats in Central and South America during winter.

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.

Nonchargeable Volume - Timber harvest not included in the allowable sale quantity calculations.

Noncommercial Forest Land - Land incapable of yielding at least 20 cubic feet of wood per acre per year of commercial species; or land which is capable of producing only noncommercial tree species.

Noncommercial Tree Species - Minor conifer and hardwood species whose yields are not reflected in the commercial conifer forest land ASQ. Some species may be managed and sold under a suitable woodland ASQ and, therefore, may be commercial as a woodland species.

Nonforest Land - Land developed for nontimber uses or land incapable of being ten percent stocked with forest trees.

Nonpoint Source Pollution - Water pollution that does not result from a discharge at a specific, single location (such as a single pipe) but generally results from land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition or percolation, and normally is associated with agricultural, silvicultural and urban runoff, runoff from construction activities, etc. Such pollution

Nonsuitable Commercial Forest Land - Sites that would take longer than 15 years to meet or exceed minimum stocking levels of commercial species. Further classified as suitable woodland.

Nonsuitable Woodland - All fragile nonsuitable forest land.

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

Noxious Weed - See Noxious Plant.

O&C Lands - Public lands granted to the Oregon and California Railroad Company and subsequently revested to the United States.

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

Obligate Species - A plant or animal that occurs only in a narrowly defined habitat such as tree cavity, rock cave, or wet meadow.

Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) - Any motorized vehicle capable of, or designed for, travel on land, water, or 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.

Off Highway Vehicle Designations:

Open Area - An area where all types of vehicle use is permitted at all times, anywhere in the area subject to the operating regulations and vehicle standards set forth in 43 CFR, subparts 8341 and 8342.

 

Limited Area - An area restricted at certain times, in certain areas, and/or to certain vehicular use.

 

Closed Area - An area where off-highway vehicle use is prohibited. Use may be allowed for certain reasons with the approval of the authorized officer.

Old-Growth Conifer Stand - Older forests occurring on western hemlock, mixed conifer, or mixed

For purposes of inventory, old-growth stands on BLM-administered lands are only identified if they are at least ten percent stocked with trees of 200 years or older and are ten 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.

Old-Growth Forest - A forest stand usually at least 180-220 yesrs old with moderatehigh canopy closure; a multilayered, multispecies canopy dominated by large overstory trees; high incidence of large trees, some with broken tops and other indications of old and decaying wood (decadence); numerous large snags; and heavy accumulations of wood, including large logs on the ground.

Old-Growth Seral Stage - See Seral Stages.

Old-Growth-Dependent Species - An animal species so adapted that it exists primarily in old growth forests or is dependent on certain attributes provided in older forests.

Open Additional Restrictions - Areas open to mineral exploration and development subject to additional restrictions that can be legally required by BLM pursuant to law, regulation, or other legal authority such as Area of Critical Environmental Concern designation, Off Highway Vehicle or other closure order, community pit designation, etc.

Open Standard Requirements - Areas open to mineral exploration and development subject only to requirements over which BLM has no discretionary control such s the Clean Air/Clean Water Acts, National Environmental Policy Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, etc.

Operations Inventory Unit - An aggregation of trees occupying an area that is sufficiently uniform in composition, age, arrangement and condition to be distinguishable from vegetation on adjoining areas.

Optimal Cover - For elk, cover used to hide from predators and avoid disturbances, including man. It consists of a forest stand with four layers and an overstory canopy which can intercept and hold a substantial amount of snow, yet has dispersed, small openings. It is generally achieved when the dominant trees average 21 inches dbh or greater and have 70 percent or greater crown closure.

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

Outstandingly Remarable Values (ORVs) - Values amoung 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 paleontological, hydrological, scientific or research.

Overstory - That portion of trees which form the uppermost layer in a forest stand which consists of more than one distinct layer (canopy).

Overstory Removal - The final stage of cutting where the remaining overstory trees are removed to allow the understory to grow. Overstory removal is generally accomplished three to five years after reforestation and when adequate stocking has been achieved.

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

Partial Log Suspension - During yarding operations, suspension of one end of the log above the ground.

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.

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

Plan Maintenance - Any documented minor change which interprets, clarifies, or refines a decision within a resource management plan but does not change the scope or conditions of that decision.

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.

Plant Association - A plant community type based on land management potential, successional patterns, and species composition.

Plant Community - An association of plants of various species found growing together in different areas with similar site characteristics.

Plantation Maintenance- Actions in an unestablished forest stand to promote the survival of desired crop trees.

Plantation Release - All activities associated with promoting the dominance and/or growth of desired tree species within an established forest stand.

Potential Area of Critical Environmental Concern - An area of BLM-administered land that meets the relevance and importance criteria for Area of Critical Environmental Concern 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

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.

Prevention Strategy - The amelioration of conditions that cause or favor the presence of competing or unwanted vegetation.

Priority Animal Taxa - Species or subspecies having special significance for management. They include endangered, threatened and special status species; species of high economic or recreation value; and species of significant public interest.

Priority Habitats - Aquatic, wetland and riparian habitats, and habitats of priority animal taxa.

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.

Progeny Test Site - A test area for evaluating parent seed trees by comparing the growth of their offspring seedlings.

Proposed Threatened or Endangered Species - Plant or animal species proposed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries 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.

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.

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.

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

Regional Interagency Executive Committee (RIEC) - This group serves as the senior regional entity to assure the prompt, coordinated and successful implementation of the forest management plan standards and guidelines at the regional level.

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.

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.

Riparian Reserves - Designated riparian areas found outside Late-Successional Reserves.

Riparian Zone - Those terrestrial areas where the vegetation complex and microclimate conditions are products of the combined presence and influence of perennial and/or intermittent water, associated high water tables and soils which exhibit some wetness characteristics. Normally used to refer to the zone within which plants grow rooted in the water table of these rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, springs, marshes, seeps, bogs and wet meadows.

Ripping - The process of breaking up or loosening compacted soil to assure better penetration of roots, lower soil density, and increased microbial and invertebrate activity.

Road - A vehicle route which has been improved and maintained by mechanical means to ensure relatively regular and continuous use. A route maintained solely by the passage of vehicles does not constitute a road.

Rotation - The planned number of years between establishment of a forest stand and its regeneration harvest.

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.

Sanitation-Salvage Cuttings - Combination of sanitation and salvage cuttings. In sanitation cuts trees either killer or injured by fire, insects, disease, etc., are removed for the purpose of preventing the spread of insect or disease. Salvage cut remove trees that are either filled or severely injured before merchantable material becomes unmerchantable.

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 which is used

Scenic River - See Wild and Scenic River System.

Scribner Short Log - A log measurement rule constructed from diagrams which shows the number of 1-inch boards that 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.

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 trade-offs which 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 the time when crowns close and conifers or hardwoods dominate the site. Under the current forest management regime, the duration is approximately 0 to 10 years. This stage may be dominated by grasses and forbs or by sprouting brush or hardwoods. Conifers develop slowly at first and gradually replace grasses, forbs, or brush as the dominant vegetation. Forage may be present; hiding or thermal cover may not be present except in rapidly sprouting brush communities.

Mid-Seral Stage - The mid-seral stage occurs from crown closure to the time when conifers would begin to die from competition; approximately age 10 to 40. Stands are dense and dominated by conifers, hardwoods, or dense brush. Grass, forbs, and herbaceous vegetation decrease. Hiding cover for big game is usually present.

 

Late Seral Stage - Late seral stage occurs when conifers would begin to die from competition to the time when stand growth slows; approximately age 40 to 80. Forest stands are dominated by conifers or hardwoods; canopy closure often approaches 100 percent. Stand diversity is minimal; conifer mortality rates and snag formation are rapid. Big game hiding and thermal cover is present. Forage and understory vegetation is minimal except in understocked stands or in meadow inclusions.

 

Mature Seral Stage - This stage exists from the point where stand growth slows to the time when the forest develops structural diversity; approximately age 80 to 200. Conifer and hardwood growth gradually decline. Developmental change slows. Larger trees increase significantly in size. Stand diversity gradually increases. Big game hiding cover, thermal cover, and some forage are present. With slowing growth, insect damage increases and stand breakup may begin on drier sites. Understory development is significant in response to openings in the canopy created by disease, insects, and windthrow. Vertical diversity increases. Larger snags are formed.

 

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. (Also see definitions of old-growth conifer stand and potential natural community.)

These definitions are used by BLM to separate age classes for analysis of impacts.

Shelterwood Cutting - A regeneration method under an even-aged silvicultural system. With this method a portion of the mature stand is retained as a source of seed and/or protection during the regeneration period. The retained trees are usually removed in one or more cuttings. In the irregular shelterwood variation of this method, the retained trees are

Shelterwood Retention - The practice of retaining trees left in a shelterwood regeneration harvest for varying period of time beyond that needed for seedling survival. Overstory trees are retained to protect visual quality or to protect understory conifers from frost. Most or all trees left in shelterwood retention harvests would eventually be removed when visual or other objectives are met by the understory alone. Also called an irregular shelterwood or modified shelterwood system.

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

Site Preparation - Any action taken in conjunction with a reforestation effort (natural or artificial) to create an environment which is favorable for survival of suitable trees during the first growing season. This environment can be created by altering ground cover, soil or microsite conditions, using biological, mechanical, or manual clearing, prescribed burns, herbicides or a combination of methods.

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 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 ten inches in diameter at breast height (dbh) and at least six 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.

Soil Series - A group of soils developed from a particular type of parent material having naturally developed horizons that, except for texture of the surface layer, are similar in differentiating characteristics and in arrangement of the profile.

Special Areas - Areas that may need special management, which may include management as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, Research Natural Area, Outstanding Natural Area, Environmental Education Area, or other special category.

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

Special Habitat - A forested or nonforested habitat which contributes to overall biological diversity within the District. Special habitats may include: ponds, bogs, springs, sups, marshes, swamps, dunes, meadows, balds, cliffs, salt licks, and mineral springs.

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 Special Recreation Management Areas.

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.

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

Stand Conversion - A process in which vegetation that currently dominates a site is removed and is replaced with species that better meets timber management objectives. Typically, on sites that will support commercial conifers, vegetation such as hardwoods, grass, and shrubs are removed and are replaced with a mixture of commercial conifer species such as Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, or other species.

Stand (Tree Stand) - An aggregation of trees occupying a specific area and sufficiently uniform in composition, age, arrangement, and condition so that it is distinguishable from the forest in adjoining areas.

Stand Density Index - A measure of stand density independent of site quality and age. From the stand density index, an approximate number of trees, of a chosen diameter, capable of being supported on an acre can be determined.

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

State Historic Preservation Officer - 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, which 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 which 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. Class I streams are those which are significant for: 1) domestic use, 2) angling, 3) water dependent

Stream Order - A hydrologic system of stream classification based on stream branching. Each small unbranched tributary is a first order stream. Two first order streams join to make a second order stream. Two second order streams join to form a third order stream and so forth.

Stream Reach - An individual first 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, 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 ASQ determination and referred to as noncommercial species. These species

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.

Suspended Sediment - Sediment suspended in a fluid by the upward components of turbulent currents or by colloidal suspension.

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.

Thermal Cover - Cover used by animals to lessen the effects of weather. For elk, a stand of conifer trees which 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 five 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 forestland into major classes indicating relative suitability to produce timber on a sustained yield basis.

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.

Understory - That portion of trees or other woody vegetation which form the lower layer in a forest stand which consists of more than one distinct layer (canopy).

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.

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 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) data base 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 life 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.

Wildlife Tree - A live tree retained to become future snag habitat.

Wild River - See Wild and Scenic River System

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

Withdrawal - A designation which 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 ASQ.

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

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