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 major drainage basin subdivision of the planning area used for analyzing watershed condition.

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.

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.

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.

Closed Discretionary - Areas closed to mineral exploration and development by authority of law or regulation, but where such lands can be opened by action of BLM without legislation, regulation change, Secretarial decision of Executive Order.

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.

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.

Constrained Timber Production Base - Acreage managed for timber production at less than full intensity in consideration of non-timber resource management objectives.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ecosystem Based Management - 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.

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

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.

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.

Established Stand - A reforestation unit of suitable trees which 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 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,

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 - Any nonpermanent flowing drainage feature having a definable channel and evidence of scour or deposition. This includes what

Land Use Allocations - Allocations which define allowable uses/activities, restricted uses/activities, and prohibited uses/activities. They may be expressed in terms of area such as acres or miles etc. Each allocation is associated with a specific management objective.

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 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 Seral Stage - See Seral Stages.

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

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.

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.

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 final harvest yield and reduced commercial thinning yield.

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 Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) - Standards designed to protect public health and welfare, allowing an adequate margin of safety. For particulate matter less than ten microns in size

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.

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 results in the human-made or human-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, radiological integrity of water.

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 and sites that are not biologically and/or environmentally capable of supporting a sustained yield of forest products.

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 evergreen sites which differ significantly from younger forests in structure, ecological function, and species composition. Old growth characteristics begin to appear in unmanaged forests at 175-250 years of age. These characteristics include (a) a patchy, multi-layered canopy with trees of several

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 Seral Stage - See Seral Stages.

Old-Growth-Dependent Species - An animal species so adapted that it can exist only in old growth forests.

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 (OI) (also Forest Operations Inventory - FOI) - An intensive, site-specific forest inventory of forest stand location, size, silvicultural needs, and recommended treatment based on individual stand conditions and productivity.

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.

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

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.

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 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

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 cause for concern. A natural hazard can be important if it is a significant threat to human life or property.

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.

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.

Public Water System - A system providing piped water for public consumption. Such a system has at least fifteen service connections or regularly serves at least twenty-five 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.

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

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.

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 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

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.

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 in determining the Visual Resource Management Classification.

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.

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 first merchantability. Usually ages 15 through 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.

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

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 - 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

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.

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

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

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 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 which 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. Revised Forest Practices Act may have a new system within a year.

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

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 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.

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

Tilling - See Ripping.

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.

Understocked - The condition when a plantation of trees fails to meet the minimum requirements for number of well spaced trees per acre.

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.

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) 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 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.

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.