Forestry Terms & Glossary
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AAC apportionment: the distribution of the AAC for a TSA among timber tenures by the Minister in accordance with Section 10 of the Forest Act.
Abiotic factors: the non-living components of the environment, such as air, rocks, soil, water, peat, and plant litter.
Aboriginal resource site/unit: an investigated unit identified by the aboriginal communities/bands that provides resources for food or culture uses (e.g. ceremonies). Each site is described by its band, location and resource type, use and quality on a monthly basis. This information is confidential and not released without a band's permission.
Access management plan: an operational plan identifying the requirements for all road construction, reconstruction, maintenance, and deactivation.
Active floodplain: the level area with alluvial soils adjacent to streams that is flooded by stream water on a periodic basis and is at the same elevation as areas showing evidence of flood channels free of terrestrial vegetation, recently rafted debris or fluvial sediments newly deposited on the surface of the forest floor or suspended on trees or vegetation, or recent scarring of trees by material moved by flood waters.
Adaptive management: adaptive management rigorously combines management, research, monitoring, and means of changing practices so that credible information is gained and management activities are modified by experience.
Additive effects: effects on biota of stress imposed by one mechanism, contributed from more than one source (e.g., sediment-related stress on fish imposed by sediment derived from streambank sources and from land surface sources). (see also cumulative effects).
Administrative law: the branch of the law which deals with the actions of government vis a vis the public.
Administrative review: an appeal of a determination under Sections 127-129 of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act.
Advanced regeneration: trees that have become established naturally under a mature forest canopy and are capable of becoming the next crop after the mature crop is removed.
Adverse slope: an uphill incline for hauling or skidding of logs or other loads.
Aerial photography: photos taken from the air at regular, spatial intervals and used in photo interpretation to provide much information about forests and landforms.
Afforestation: the establishment of trees on an area that has lacked forest cover for a very long time or has never been forested.
Age class: any interval into which the age range of trees, forests, stands, or forest types is divided for classification. Forest inventories commonly group trees into 20-year age classes.
Aggradation: accumulation of sediment in a stream channel on an alluvial fan or on a floodplain. Also applied to sediment accumulation on slopes.
Aggregated retention: retaining trees in patches throughout a cutblock or cutting unit.
Airtanker: a fixed-wing aircraft fitted with tanks and equipment for dropping suppressants or retardants.
Alienation: any land that has had its "right-to-use" transferred from the Crown through grant, lease, or permit or has a special interest noted, as in reserves. Land so designated may be permanent or temporary.
All-aged stand: see uneven-aged stand.
Allowable Annual Cut (AAC): The allowable rate of timber harvest from a specified area of land. The chief forester sets AACs for timber supply areas (TSAs) and tree farm licences (TFLs) in accordance with Section 8 of the Forest Act.
Amortization: a procedure by which the capital cost of projects, such as roads or bridges, is written off over a specified period of time as the timber volumes developed by the projects are harvested and extracted.
Anadramous: fish that breed in fresh water but live their adult life in the sea. On the Pacific coast, anadramous fish include all the Pacific salmon, steelhead trout, some cutthroat trout and Dolly Varden char, lampreys and eulachons.
Analysis unit: the basic building blocks around which inventory data and other information are organized for use in forest planning models. Typically, these involve specific tree species or type groups that are further defined by site class, geographic location or similarity of management regimes.
Animal Unit Month (AUM): the amount of forage required for one month by an average animal of the genus Bos (i.e., a cow) aged 6 months or older.
Aquatic habitat: habitat where a variety of marine or freshwater flora and fauna occur for long periods throughout the year. Examples include tide pools, estuaries, bogs, ponds and potential underwater diving areas.
Archaeological site: a location that contains physical evidence of past human activity and that derives its primary documentary and interpretive information through archaeological research techniques. These resources are generally associated with both the pre-contact and post-contact periods in British Columbia. These resources do not necessarily hold direct associations with living communities.
Artificial regeneration: establishing a new forest by planting seedlings or by direct seeding (as opposed to natural regeneration).
Aspect: the direction toward which a slope faces.
Available timber (see also Operable timber): timber which is available for harvest after due recognition of constraints to protect the environment and other forest uses.
Available volumes: the portion of total inventory volumes that is available for harvesting after all management constraints on timber harvesting have been considered, including definition of the timber harvesting land base, age of tree merchantability, deferrals and any other priorities or constraints on timber harvesting.
Average long term yield: the annual average of the total yield over the next 200 years minus unsalvaged losses. This figure is generally greater than the long run sustained yield due to the influence of cutting old growth timber in the first few decades.
Avoidable waste: the volume of timber left on the harvested area that should have been removed in accordance with the utilization standards in the cutting authority. It does not include the volume of timber that could not be removed because of physical impediments, safety considerations, or other reasons beyond the control of the licensee. Avoidable waste volumes are billed monetarily, as well as for cut control.
Azimuth: the horizontal angle or bearing of a point measured from the true (astronomic) north. Used to refer to a compass on which the movable dial (used to read direction) is numbered in 360 . See: Bearing and Compass.
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Backlog: a Ministry of Forests term applied to forest land areas where silviculture treatments such as planting and site preparation are overdue. Planting is considered backlog if more than 5 years have elapsed since a site was cleared (by harvesting or fire) in the interior and more than 3 years on the coast of British Columbia.
Backlog area: an area from which the timber was harvested, damaged or destroyed before October 1, 1987 and that in the district manager's opinion is insufficiently stocked with healthy well spaced trees of a commercially acceptable species.
Backpack sprayer: spray unit with plastic containers on a backpack frame. Used by individual operator to apply chemicals, such as herbicides.
Backspar trail: a bladed or non-bladed pathway over which mobile backspar equipment travels.
Bank full height: that elevation which characterizes the cross-sectional area of the active stream channel.
Bareroot seedling: stock whose roots are exposed at the time of planting (as opposed to container or plug seedlings). Seedlings are grown in nursery seedbeds and lifted from the soil in which they are grown to be planted in the field.
Basal area per hectare: the area of the cross-section of tree stems near their base, generally at breast height and including bark, measured over 1 ha of land.
Base case: the current socioeconomic conditions related to the existing forest land management strategy and the expected socioeconomic conditions if the strategy remains unchanged.
Baseline information: information collected to provide a standard against which future measurements can be compared.
Basic silvicultural practices: maintenance of the productivity of forest sites, restocking of denuded forest lands with commercial tree species within three years for areas west of the Coast Range and five years for areas in the Interior, protection against damage by fire, insects and diseases to predetermined standards.
Basic silviculture: harvesting methods and silviculture operations including seed collecting, site preparation, artificial and natural regeneration, brushing, spacing and stand tending, and other operations that are for the purpose of establishing a free growing crop of trees of a commercially valuable species and are required in a regulation, pre-harvest silviculture prescription or silviculture prescription.
Bearing: a direction on the ground or on a map defined by the angle measured from some reference direction: this may be true (geographic) north, magnetic north, or grid north.
Bed load: particulates that are transported along the channel bottom in the lower layers of streamflow by rolling and bouncing.
Benefit/cost analysis: a technique for comparing alternate courses of action by an assessment of their direct and indirect outputs (benefits) and inputs (costs). Benefits and costs are usually defined in economic and social terms.
Biodiversity (biological diversity): the diversity of plants, animals, and other living organisms in all their forms and levels of organization, including genes, species, ecosystems, and the evolutionary and functional processes that link them.
Biogeoclimatic classification system: a hierarchical classification system of ecosystems that integrates regional, local and chronological factors and combines climatic, vegetation and site factors.
Biogeoclimatic unit: part of the biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification system. The recognized units are a synthesis of climate, vegetation and soil data and defined as classes of geographically related ecosystems that are distributed within a vegetationally inferred climatic space.
Biogeoclimatic zone: a geographic area having similar patterns of energy flow, vegetation and soils as a result of a broadly homogenous macroclimate.
Biological control: the use of biotic agents such as insects, nematodes, fungi, and viruses for the control of weeds and other forest pests.
Biological herbicide: a naturally occurring substance or organism which kills or controls undesirable vegetation. Preferred over synthetic chemicals because of reduced toxic effect on the environment.
Biological legacies: features which remain on a site or landscape after a natural disturbance. These legacies include live and dead trees, coarse woody debris, soil organic matter, plants, fungi, micro-organisms and seeds.
Biomass: the dry weight of all organic matter in a given ecosystem. It also refers to plant material that can be burned as fuel.
Biosphere: that part of the earth and atmosphere capable of supporting living organisms.
Biota: all living organisms of an area, taken collectively.
Birddog aircraft: an aircraft carrying the person (air attack officer) who is directing fire bombing action on a wildfire.
Bladed trail: a constructed trail that has a width greater than 1.5 m and a mineral soil cutbank height greater than 30 cm.
Blowdown (windthrow): uprooting by the wind. Also refers to a tree or trees so uprooted.
Blue-listed species: see sensitive/vulnerable species.
Bole: trunk of a tree.
Bonus bid: means a bid
(a) tendered in order to acquire the right to harvest timber under an agreement under this Act,
(b) calculated on a dollar value per cubic metre of competitive species and forest products harvested and measured in compliance with the agreement, and
(c) payable from time to time in accordance with the agreement
Botanical forest products: prescribed plants or fungi that occur naturally on Crown forest land. There are seven recognized categories: wild edible mushrooms, floral greenery, medicinal products, fruits and berries, herbs and vegetables, landscaping products and craft products.
Breast height: the standard height, 1.3 m above ground level, at which the diameter of a standing tree is measured.
Broadcast burning: a controlled burn, where the fire is intentionally ignited and allowed to proceed over a designated area within well-defined boundaries, for the reduction of fuel hazard after logging or for site preparation before planting. Also called slash burning.
Browse: shrubs, trees and herbs that provide food for wildlife.
Brush rake: a blade with teeth at the bottom, attached to a cat or skidder, used in mechanical site preparation. It penetrates and mixes soil and tears roots.
Brushing: a silviculture activity done by chemical, manual, grazing, or mechanical means to control competing forest vegetation and reduce competition for space, light, moisture, and nutrients with crop trees or seedlings.
Bucking: cutting a felled tree into specified log lengths for yarding and hauling; also, making any bucking cut on logs.
Buffer strip: a strip of land (often including undisturbed vegetation) where disturbance is not allowed or is closely monitored to preserve or enhance aesthetic and other qualities along or adjacent to roads, trails, watercourses and recreation sites.
Buffer zone: see Pesticide buffer zone.
Burning permit: a permit required under Section 110 of the Forest Act, municipal bylaw, or letter-patent for authorizing open burning within 1 km of a forest during the fire season, for purposes other than cooking or obtaining warmth.
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Cable logging: a yarding system employing winches, blocks, and cables.
Cambium: a single layer of cells between the woody part of the tree and the bark. Division of these cells results in diameter growth of the tree through formation of wood cells (xylem) and inner bark (phloem).
Campfire: a fire, not bigger than 1 m in height and 1 m in diameter, built for the purpose of cooking or providing warmth.
Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System: A susbsystem of the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System. The components of the FWI System provide numerical ratings of relative fire potential in a standard fuel type (i.e. a mature pine stand) on level terrain, based solely on consecutive observations of four fire weather elements measured daily at noon (1200 hours local standard time or 1300 hours daylight saving time) at a suitable fire weather station; the elements are dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and precipitation. The system provides a uniform method of rating fire danger across Canada.
Canopy: the forest cover of branches and foliage formed by tree crowns.
Canopy closure: the progressive reduction of space between crowns as they spread laterally, increasing canopy cover.
Capability mapping: a habitat interpretation for a species which describes the greatest potential of a habitat to support that species. Habitat potential may not be reflected by the present habitat condition or successional stage.
Carbon balance: the concentration of carbon released into the atmosphere compared to the amounts stored in the oceans, soil and vegetation.
Carrying capacity: the average number of livestock and/or wildlife that can be sustained on a management unit, compatible with management objectives for the unit. It is a function of site characteristics, management goals, and management intensity.
Catchment basin: a hole dug adjacent to a culvert inlet to allow coarser particles to settle out.
Certified pesticide applicator: an individual certified (through examination) by the Pesticide Management BRanch to use or supervise the use of pesticides in a specific management category.
Chain: a measuring tape, often nylon, 50 m or 75 m in length, used to measure distances. This term is derived from an old unit of measurement: (80 Ch=1 mile).
Characteristic visual landscape: the naturally appearing landscape within a scene or scenes being viewed.
Chlorosis: blanched or yellowish coloring in plants caused by nutrient or light deficiency.
Choker: a noose of wire rope used for skidding or yarding logs. See Highlead system.
Christmas tree permit: a legal document that authorizes the holder to harvest, or grow and harvest, Christmas trees on Crown land.
Class A streams: see Fisheries stream Class A.
Classified areas: areas based on provincial criteria and classification systems which will be identified and mapped according to the Regulations and Field Guides of the Forest
Practices Code: riparian management areas, lakeshore management areas, and wildlife habitat areas. These areas, established by a district manager in consultation with a designated B.C. Environment official, guide operations on a site-specific basis and require a combination of forest practices.
Cleaning: a release treatment made in a stand not past the sapling stage to free the favoured trees from less desirable species of the same age that overtop them or are likely to do so.
Clearcut: an area of forest land from which all merchantable trees have recently been harvested.
Clearcutting: the process of removing all trees, large and small, in a stand in one cutting operation.
Clearcutting silvicultural system: a system in which the crop is cleared from an area at one time and an even-aged, replacement stand is established. It does not include clearcutting with reserves. Clearcutting is designed so that most of the opening has full light exposure and is not dominated by the canopy of adjacent trees (this produces an open area climate). The minimum size of a clearcut opening is generally considered to be 1 ha.
Clearcutting with reserves: a variation of the clearcut silvicultural system in which trees are retained, either uniformly or in small groups, for purposes other than regeneration.
Climax forest: a forest community that represents the final stage of natural forest succession for its environment.
Clinometer: a simple instrument for measuring vertical angles or slopes. In forestry, used to measure distance and tree heights.
Clone: a plant which is genetically identical to the parent plant. Produced asexually, e.g., from cuttings or suckers.
Close utilization: maximum stump height of 30 cm; minimum top dib of 10 cm. See: Utilization standards.
Closed canopy: the description given to a stand when the crowns of the main level of trees forming the canopy are touching and intermingled so that light cannot reach the forest floor directly.
Coarse filter approach: an approach to maintaining biodiversity that involves maintaining a diversity of structures within stands and a diversity of ecosystems across the landscape. The intent is to meet most of the habitat requirements of most of the native species. (see also Fine filter approach)
Coarse Woody Debris (CWD): sound and rotting logs and stumps that provide habitat for plants, animals, and insects and a source of nutrients for soil development.
Coast: that geographic area west of the Cascade Mountains, as officially delineated by the Cascade Mountains Administrative Line through British Columbia from Washington state to Alaska, including the lower Fraser River area south of Hell's Gate (south of Boston Bar), taking in the Coquihalla, Silverhope, and Skagit River drainages lying east of the line, but excluding the portions of the Kalum Forest District and Cariboo Forest Region lying west of the line.
Codominant: in stands with a closed canopy, those trees whose crowns form the general level of the canopy and receive full light from above, but comparatively little from the sides. In young stands, those trees with above average height growth.
Commercial thinning: a silviculture treatment that 'thins' out an overstocked stand by removing trees that are large enough to be sold as products such as poles or fence posts. It is carried out to improve the health and growth rate of the remaining crop trees.
Community watersheds: watersheds that have a drainage area no greater than approximately 500 km2, and that are licensed for community water use by the Water Management Branch of the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. They include municipal and other waterworks and water user communities. Water user communities, as defined in the Water Act, have six or more licensed water users (registered with the Water Management Branch) extracting water from the same source. The district manager, in agreement with a designated Environment official, may identify other watersheds as community watersheds.
Compartment: a geographic unit defined for the purposes of forest administration and inventory. The boundaries follow permanent physical features or legal demarcation where appropriate.
Compass: instrument used to determine the direction of magnetic north. See Bearing and Azimuth.
Competing vegetation: vegetation that seeks and uses the limited common resources (space, light, water, and nutrients) of a forest site needed by preferred trees for survival and growth.
Composition: the proportion of each tree species in a stand expressed as a percentage of either the total number, basal area or volume of all tree species in the stand.
Cone rake: a device for collecting cones from a standing tree. It is lowered, usually from a helicopter, over the crown of a tree. Cones or cone-bearing BRanches are removed and retrieved by the machine.
Conifer: cone-bearing trees having needles or scale-like leaves, usually evergreen, and producing wood known commercially as 'softwoods'.
Conifer release: to 'release' established coniferous trees from a situation in which they have been suppressed by thinning out undesirable trees and shrubs which have overtopped them. Carried out to improve the growth of the coniferous trees released. See Brushing.
Conk: a hard, fruiting body containing spores of a wood-decaying fungus.
Consensus option: a management option that has a broad base of community and interest group support.
Consequences, potential: a component of risk rating. Potential consequences are the detrimental events that could result from a hazard event.
Conservation: management of the human use of the biosphere so that it may yield the greatest sustainable benefit to present generations while maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations. It includes the preservation, maintenance, sustainable utilisation, restoration and enhancement of the environment.
Conservation biology: the discipline that treats the content of biodiversity, the natural processes that produce it and the techniques used to sustain it in the face of human-caused environmental disturbance.
Container seedling: seedling grown in small container in a controlled environment. See: Plug and bareroot seedling.
Contour map: a topographic map which portrays relief by means of lines which connect points of equal elevation.
Contractual framework: where forest practices are primarily regulated by contracts.
Control points: a system of points with established positions or elevations, or both, which are used as fixed references in positioning map features.
Conventional ground skidding: any combination of rubber-tired or tracked skidding equipment.
Conventional logging: any combination of mechanical or hand felling and rubber-tired or tracked skidding equipment. In the interior, cable logging is not considered conventional; on the coast, it is.
Coordinated Resource Management Plan (CRMP): a specific type of sub-unit plan. To date it has been used mainly for managing Crown and alienated grazing lands. This plan involves consultation with resource agencies and resource users in establishing objectives in the management and development of a specific area.
Coppice (coppicing): the tendency of certain tree and brush species (such as red alder and bigleaf maple) to produce a large number of shoots when a single or few stems are mechanically removed but the root system left intact.
Cord: 128 cubic feet of stacked roundwood (whole or split, with or without bark) containing wood and airspace, with all the pieces of similar length and lined up on approximately the same direction. Example: a pile of firewood 4'x4'x8'.
Corduroy: logs placed transversely along a road, usually with branches intact, and covered with fill material, to "float" the road over soft subsoils.
Corridor: a band of vegetation, usually older forest, which serves to connect distinct patches on the landscape. Corridors are part of the Forest Ecosystem Network (FEN) and by providing connectivity permit the movement of plant and animal species between what would otherwise be isolated patches.
Critical wildlife habitat: part or all of a specific place occupied by a wildlife species or a population of such species and recognized as being essential for the maintenance of the population.
Critical winter range: forested habitat, usually stands of mature or old-growth conifers, which provides deer and elk with resources critical to survival during severe winters.
Crop tree: a tree in a young stand or plantation selected to be carried through to maturity until an interim or final harvest.
Cross-ditch: a ditch excavated across the road at an angle and at a sufficient depth, with armoring as appropriate, to divert both road surface water and ditch water off or across the road.
Cross-drain culvert: a culvert used to carry ditch water from one side of the road to the other.
Crown: the live branches and foliage of a tree.
Crown class: se Codominant, Dominant, Intermediate or Overtopped.
Crown closure: the condition when the crowns of trees touch and effectively block sunlight from reaching the forest floor.
Crown density: the amount, compactness or depth of foliage of a tree crown.
Crown land: land that is owned by the Crown. Referred to as federal Crown land when it is owned by Canada, and as provincial Crown land when owned by a province.
Cruise: the systematic measurement of a forested area designed to estimate to a specified degree of accuracy the volume of timber it contains, by evaluating the number and species of trees, their sizes and conditions.
Cull: trees or logs or portions thereof that are of merchantable size but are rendered unmerchantable by defects.
Culmination age: the age at which the stand, for the stated diameter limit and utilization standard, achieves its maximum average rate of volume production (the Mean Annual Increment, or MAI) is maximized.
Cultural diversity: the variety and variability of human social structures, belief systems and strategies for adapting to biological situations and changes in different parts of the world.
Cultural heritage resources: archaeological sites, First Nations traditional use sites, and structural features and landscape features of cultural or historic significance. As defined in the Forest Act, a cultural heritage resource is an object, a site or the location of a traditional societal practice that is of historical, cultural or archaeological significance to the Province, a community or an aboriginal people.
Culture: the sum of ways of living built up by a group of human beings, which is transmitted from one generation to another.
Culvert: a transverse drain pipe or log structure covered with soil and lying below the road surface.
Cumulative effects: effects on biota of stress imposed by more than one mechanism (e.g., stress in fish imposed by both elevated suspended sediments concentrations in the water and by high water temperature).
Cut: the excavation required to lower the natural ground line to the desired road profile.
Cut-and-fill: system of bench construction on hillslopes to produce road rights-of-way and landings whereby convex slopes are excavated and concave slopes (gullies) are filled; also, excavation of the upslope side of the right-of-way, and fill on the down slope side. (so called half-bench construction).
Cut bank: the excavated bank from a ditch line to the top of the undisturbed slope of a road.
Cut control: a set of rules and actions specified in the Forest Act that describes the allowable variation in the annual harvest rate either above or below the allowable annual cut approved by the chief forester.
Cut period: the interval between major harvesting operations in the same stand.
Cutblock: a specific area, with defined boundaries, authorized for harvest.
Cutblock adjacency requirements: integrated resource management requirements that specify the desired spatial relationships among cutblocks.
Cut slope: the face of an excavated bank required to lower the natural ground line to the desired road profile.
Cutting authority: as defined in the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Cutblock and Road Review Regulation a cutting permit or an application for a cutting permit or a timber sale licence or a timber sale licence that has been advertised.
Cutting cycles: the planned, recurring interval of time between successive cuttings in a crop or stand.
Cutting permit: a legal document that authorizes the holder to harvest trees under a licence issued under the Forest Act.
Cutting plan: a plan for harvesting the timber from an area defined within a cutting permit. This plan must be approved by the Forest Service before operations may begin.
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Damaged timber: timber that has been affected by injurious agents such as wind (as in the case of blowdown), fire, insects, or disease.
Danger tree: a live or dead tree whose trunk, root system or branches have deteriorated or been damaged to such an extent as to be a potential danger to human safety.
DBH (diameter at breast height): the stem diameter of a tree measured at breast height, 1.3 metres above the ground.
Deactivation: measures taken to stabilize roads and logging trails during periods of inactivity, including the control of drainage, the removal of sidecast where necessary, and the re-establishment of vegetation for permanent deactivation.
Debris flows: mixture of soil, rock, wood debris and water which flows rapidly down steep gullies; commonly initiate on slopes greater than 30 , but may run out onto footsteps of low gradient.
Debris initiation and transport hazard: the relative risk of gully wall failure and/or debris movement in gully channels, as tempered by the stream runout distance.
Deciduous: perennial plants which are normally leafless for some time during the year.
Declination (magnetic): the angle between true (geographic) north and magnetic north (direction of the compass needle). Declination varies from place to place and can be 'set' on a compass for a particular location.
Deferred area: an area specified in a higher level plan where timber harvesting or other forest development activities have been postponed for a period of time or that the district manager has determined should not be harvested or otherwise developed until a higher level plan for the area is completed.
Deficit forest: a forest in which existing stands cannot provide enough harvest volume to maintain the harvest at the level of long run sustained yield until the stands created when existing stands are cut become available for harvest. See also Surplus forest.
Defoliator: an agent that damages trees by destroying leaves or needles.
Deforestation: clearing an area of forest on a non-temporary basis for another use. Clearcutting (even with stump removal), if shortly followed by reforestation for forestry purposes, is not deforesting.
Degradation: the diminution of biological productivity or diversity.
Deleterious substance: any substance that, if added to water, would degrade or alter the quality of the water so that it becomes deleterious to fish or fish habitat, or becomes unsuitable for human consumption or any other purpose for which it is legally licensed (such as irrigation and livestock watering).
Depletion: an income tax allowance reflecting the purchase price paid for merchantable timber, usually on fee simple land. Also, a term used to refer to the process of harvesting your growing stock.
Designated area: an identifiable geographic unit of the forest land base that requires a specific combination of forest practices to adequately protect important resource values.
Designated heritage trail: a heritage trail designated under the Heritage Conservation Act.
Designated official: not a defined term in the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act. However, commonly used to refer to a person designated by name or title to be a designated energy, mines and petroleum resources official, designated environment official, or designated forest official.
Designated skid road/skid trail: a pre-planned network of skid roads or skid trails, designed to reduce soil disturbance and planned for use in subsequent forestry operations in the same area. Multiple passes by tracked or rubber-tired skidders or other equipment are anticipated.
Designated wilderness: see Wilderness area.
Desired future stand condition: a description of the characteristics of the future stand.
Desired plant community: a plant community that produces the kind, proportion, and amount of vegetation necessary for meeting or exceeding the land use plan or plan objectives established for an ecological site. The desired plant community must be consistent with the site's capability to produce the desired vegetation through management, land treatment, or a combination of the two.
Determination: any act, omission, decision, procedure, levy, order or other determination made under the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act or the Regulations or Standards made under that act by an official or a senior official.
Detrimental soil disturbance: changes caused by forest practices in the physical, chemical, or biological properties of the soil, including the organic forest floor and the mineral soil extending from the surface to the depth at which the unweathered parent material is encountered. Such changes may result in a loss of productive growing site, reduced site productivity, or adverse impacts on resource values.
Development: the advancement of the management and use of natural resources to satisfy human needs and improve the quality of human life. For development to be sustainable it must take account of social and ecological factors, as well as economic ones, of the living and non-living resource base, and of the long-term and short-term advantages and disadvantages of alternative actions.
Development objectives: the short-term (often 5-year) planning objectives for a specific management area.
Development plan: a specific plan outlining harvesting, road construction, protection, and silviculture activities over the short-term (often 5 years) in accordance with the approved forest management plan.
Dewatering: condition in stream channel when all the water flow occurs within the permeable streambed sediments, so no surface water is left; common in small streams with considerable accumulations of gravel.
Diameter limit: the removal of trees from a stand, based on the criterion of diameter. Generally, trees of less than a predetermined diameter are left unharvested.
Diameter tape: a graduated tape based on the relationship of circumference to diameter which provides direct measure of tree diameter when stretched around the outside of the tree, usually at breast height. See DBH.
DIB (diameter inside bark): the diameter of a tree or log excluding bark thickness.
Dibble: a tool used to make holes in the ground for planting tree seedlings.
Difficult site: forest sites with environmental conditions that are unfavorable for tree establishment and growth.
Direct seeding: the application of tree seed to a denuded area to regenerate it with commercially valuable species.
Disc trencher: a machine designed for mechanical site preparation. It provides continuous rows of planting spots rather than intermittent patches as provided by patch scarifiers. Consists of scarifying steel discs equipped with teeth.
Discretionary authority: the power to make a decision where the choice of whether to make a decision is that of the decision maker.
Dispersed retention: retaining individual trees scattered throughout a cutblock.
District manager: the manager of a Forest Service district office, with responsibilities as outlined in the Forest Act, Ministry of Forests Act, and Range Act.
Disturbance: a discrete event, either natural or human-induced, that causes a change in the existing condition of an ecological system.
Ditch block: a blockage that is located directly downgrade of a cross-drain culvert or cross-ditch and designed to deflect water flow from a ditch into a cross-drain culvert.
DOB (diameter outside bark): the diameter of a tree or log including bark thickness.
Dominant: trees with crowns extending above the general level of the canopy and receiving full light from above and partly from the side; taller than the average trees in the stand with crowns well developed.
Dot grid: a transparent sheet of film (overlay) with systematically arranged dots, each dot representing a number of area units. Used to determine areas on maps, aerial photos, plans, etc.
Down-rated bridges: bridges whose carrying capacity has been reduced.
Drag scarification: a method of site preparation that disturbs the forest floor and prepares logged areas for regeneration. Often carried out by dragging chains or drums behind a skidder or tractor.
Drainage basin: area of the earth's surface from which surface drainage all flows to a single outlet stream (a watershed in North America).
Drainage structures: include metal and wooden culverts, open-faced culverts, bridges, and ditches.
Drainage system: a system designed to control the flow of water within a road prism.
Drawdown: the process of reducing allowable annual cuts to a sustainable level.
Duff: the layer of partially and fully decomposed organic materials lying below the litter and immediately above the mineral soil. It corresponds to the fermentation (F) and humus (H) layers of the forest floor. When moss is present, the top of the duff is just below the green portion of the moss.
Dust palliatives: chemicals or compounds applied to road surfaces to reduce dust created by traffic.
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Ecological balance: a state of dynamic equilibrium within a community of organisms in which genetic, species and ecosystem diversity remain relatively stable, subject to gradual changes through natural succession.
Ecological classification: an approach to categorizing and delineating, at different levels of resolution, areas of land and water having similar characteristic combinations of the physical environment (such as climate, geomorphic processes, geology, soil and hydrologic function), biological communities (plants, animals, microorganisms and potential natural communities) and the human dimension (such as social, economic, cultural and infrastructure).
Ecological health: both the occurrence of certain attributes that are deemed to be present in a healthy, sustainable resource, and the absence of conditions that result from known stresses or problems affecting the resource.
Ecological integrity: the quality of a natural unmanaged or managed ecosystem in which the natural ecological processes are sustained, with genetic, species and ecosystem diversity assured for the future.
Ecological reserve: areas of Crown land which have the potential to satisfy one or more of the following criteria:
-areas suitable for scientific research and educational purposes associated with studies in productivity and other aspects of the natural environment;
-areas which are representative of natural ecosystems;
-areas in which rare or endangered native plants or animals may be preserved in their natural habitat; and
-areas that contain unique geological phenomena.
Ecological units: areas of land with similar biological, geological, and climatic environments.
Ecologically suitable species: coniferous or deciduous tree species that are naturally adapted to a site's environmental conditions, including the variability in these conditions that may occur over time.
Economically operable: forest stands for which log prices exceed harvesting costs, including profit and return to capital.
Ecoregion classification: the ecoregion classification system is used to stratify B.C.'s terrestrial and marine ecosystem complexity into discrete geographical units at five different levels. The two highest levels, Ecodomains and Ecodivisions, are very broad and place B.C. globally. The three lowest levels, Ecoprovinces, Ecoregions and Ecosections, are progressively more detailed, narrow in scope and relate segments of the province to one another. They describe areas of similar climate, physiography, oceanography, hydrology, vegetation and wildlife potential.
Ecosystem: a functional unit consisting of all the living organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) in a given area, and all the non-living physical and chemical factors of their environment, linked together through nutrient cycling and energy flow. An ecosystem can be of any size-a log, pond, field, forest, or the earth's biosphere-but it always functions as a whole unit. Ecosystems are commonly described according to the major type of vegetation, for example, forest ecosystem, old-growth ecosystem, or range ecosystem.
Ecosystem integrity: the soundness or wholeness of the processes and organisms composing the ecosystem.
Ecosystem management: the use of an ecological approach to achieve productive resource management by blending social, physical, economic and biological needs and values to provide healthy ecosystems.
Ecosystem productivity: the ability of an ecosystem to produce, grow or yield products - whether trees, shrubs or other organisms.
Ecotone: a transition area between two adjacent ecological communities usually exhibiting competition between organisms common to both.
Edatope: refers to a specific combination of soil moisture regime and soil nutrient regime.
Edge: the outer band of a patch that has an environment significantly different from the interior of the patch.
Edge/area ratio: length of forest edge per cutblock area.
Edge effect: habitat conditions (such as degree of humidity and exposure to light or wind) created at or near the more-or-less well-defined boundary between ecosystems, as, for example, between open areas and adjacent forest.
Element: an identifiable component, process or condition of an ecosystem.
End haul: to move excavated material from one section of the road to another or to a disposal site, during road construction or modification.
Endangered species: see Threatened or endangered species.
Endemic species: a species whose natural occurrence is confined to a certain region and whose distribution is relatively limited.
Entrainment: mobilization, by flowing water, of sediment or organic debris from the bed or banks of a stream channel.
Entrenched: a legislative requirement which previously may only have been required by contract or policy.
Environmental rehabilitation: measures undertaken to remedy environmental damage done to the land.
Environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs): areas requiring special management attention to protect important scenic values, fish and wildlife resources, historical and cultural values, and other natural systems or processes. ESAs for forestry include potentially fragile, unstable soils that may deteriorate unacceptably after forest harvesting, and areas of high value to non-timber resources such as fisheries, wildlife, water, and recreation.
Even-aged: a forest stand or forest type in which relatively small (10-20 year) age differences exist between individual trees. Even-aged stands are often the result of fire, or a harvesting method such as clearcutting or the shelterwood method.
Even-aged silvicultural system: a silvicultural system that is designed to regenerate and maintain an even-aged stand. Clearcutting, seed tree, and shelterwood are even-aged systems.
Even-aged stand: a stand of trees consisting of one or two age classes. Even-aged stands are often the result of fire, or a harvesting method such as clearcutting or shelterwood.
Even flow: in harvest scheduling, the requirement that the harvest level in each period be equal to the harvest level in the preceding period.
Evergreen: never entirely without green foilage, leaves persisting until a new set has appeared.
Excavated trail: a constructed trail that has a width greater than 1.5 m and a mineral soil cutbank height greater than 30 cm.
Extension services: assistance provided to woodland operators. May include help with the preparation of forest management plans, cutting permits, marking trees for selective cutting, and guidance in carrying out slash disposal, site preparation, planting, etc.
Existing visual condition: the present level of landscape alteration caused by resource development activities and expressed in terms of the visual quality objective categories.
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Falldown effect: a decline in timber supply or harvest level associated with the transition from harvesting the original stock of natural mature timber over one rotation to harvesting at a non declining level (typically equal to the annual increment) after conversion to a forest with a balanced age class structure.
Feller-buncher: a harvesting machine that cuts a tree with shears or a saw and then piles it.
Felling and bucking: the process of cutting down standing timber and then cutting it into specific lengths for yarding and hauling.
Fertilization: the addition of fertilizer to promote tree growth on sites deficient in one or more soil nutrients. Also used to improve the vigor of crop trees following juvenile spacing or commercial thinning.
Fill: material used to raise the desired road profile above the natural ground line.
Fill bank: the fill material used to shape a road from the outer edge of the travelled portion to its intersection with the existing ground profile.
Fill-in planting: planting required to supplement poorly stocked natural regeneration or to replace seedlings that have died on previously planted sites.
Fill slope: the face of an embankment required to raise the desired road profile above the natural ground line.
Fine filter approach: an approach to maintaining biodiversity that is directed toward particular habitats or individual species that might fall through the coarse filter. These habitats may be critical in some way and the species threatened or endangered.
Fire danger: an assessment of both fixed and variable factors of the fire environment, which determine the ease of ignition, rate of spread, difficulty of control, and the fire impact.
Fire hazard: the potential fire behavior for a fuel type, regardless of the fuel type's weather-influenced fuel moisture content or its resistance to fireguard construction. Assessment is based on physical fuel characteristics, such as fuel arrangement, fuel load, condition of herbaceous vegetation, and presence of elevated fuels.
Fire impact(s): the immediately evident effect of fire on the ecosystem in terms of biophysical alterations (e.g., crown scorch, mineral soil erosion, depth of burn, fuel consumption).
Fireline: that portion of the fire upon which resources are deployed and actively engaged in suppression action. In a general sense, the working area around a fire.
Fire management: the activities concerned with the protection of people, property and forest areas from wildfire and the use of prescribed burning for the attainment of forest management and other land use objectives, all conducted in a manner that considers environmental, social and economic criteria.
Fire retardant: a substance that by chemical or physical action reduces flammability of combustibles.
Fire risk: the probability or chance of fire starting determined by the presence and activities of causative agents.
Fire season: the period(s) of the year during which firs are likely to start, spread and do damage to values-at-risk sufficient to warrant organized fire suppression; a period of the year set out and commonly referred to in fire prevention legislation. In B.C. the fire season is considered to extend from April 1 to October 31.
Fire suppressant: an agent directly applied to burning fuels to extinguish the flaming and smoldering or glowing stages of combustion.
Fire suppression: all activities concerned with controlling and extinguishing a fire following its detection. Synonymous with fire control.
Fire Weather Index (FWI): Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System
Firebreak: see Fuelbreak.
Fireguard: a strategically planned barrier, either manually or mechanically constructed, intended to stop a fire or retard its rate of spread and from which suppression action is carried out to control a fire; the constructed portion of a control line.
First order stream: stream originating in a seepage zone or spring, with no entering tributaries; the most headward channels in the drainage network.
First pass: the first of two or more planned entries over a specific period of time (usually one rotation) to harvest timber.
Fish-bearing waters: lakes, streams, and ponds that have resident fish populations.
Fisheries-sensitive zones: side and back channels, valley wall ponds, swamps, seasonally flooded depressions, lake littoral zones and estuaries that are seasonally occupied by over-wintering anadramous fish.
Fisheries stream class A: streams or portions of streams that are frequented by anadromous salmonids and/or resident game fish or regionally significant fish species; or streams that have been identified for fishery enhancement in an approved fishery management plan.
Fixed area plot sampling method: a controlled cruise method where small plots of a fixed size are used to sample a portion of a forest area to obtain information (such as tree volume) that can be used to describe the whole area.
Flood discharge criteria: the volume of flood that a bridge or culvert must be designed to accommodate.
Floodplain: a level, low-lying area adjacent to streams that is periodically flooded by stream water. It includes lands at the same elevation as areas with evidence of moving water, such as active or inactive flood channels, recent fluvial soils, sediment on the ground surface or in tree bark, rafted debris, and tree scarring.
Fluvial processes: all processes and events by which the configuration of a stream channel is changed; especially processes by which sediment is transferred along the stream channel by the force of flowing water.
Flyrock: rock displaced by blasting and propelled beyond recoverable limits.
Foliar analysis: chemical evaluation of the status of plant nutrients or the plant-nutrient requirements of a soil by the analysis of leaves or needles.
Forage: grasses, herbs and small shrubs that can be used as feed for livestock or wildlife.
Ford: a dip constructed in the roadbed at a stream crossing, instead of a culvert or bridge. The streambed must be of erosion-resistant material, or such material must be placed in contact with the streambed.
Forest: as defined by the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act includes all of the following - forest land, whether Crown land or private land; Crown range; Crown land or private land that is predominantly maintained in one or more successive stands of trees, successive crops of forage, or wilderness.
Forest Appeals Commission (FAC): the Forest Appeals Commission is the independent appeal body established under the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act to hear appeals from certain enforcement determinations.
Forest cover: forest stands or cover types consisting of a plant community made up of trees and other woody vegetation, growing more or less closely together.
Forest cover map: a map showing relatively homogeneous forest stands or cover types, produced from the interpretation of aerial photos and information collected in field surveys. Commonly includes information on species, age class, height class, site, and stocking level.
Forest cover type: a descriptive term used to group stands of similar characteristics and species composition (due to given ecological factors) by which they may be differentiated from other groups of stands.
Forest development plan: an operational plan guided by the principles of integrated resource management (the consideration of timber and non timber values), which details the logistics of timber development over a period of usually five years. Methods, schedules, and responsibilities for accessing, harvesting, renewing, and protecting the resource are set out to enable site-specific operations to proceed.
Forest Development Review Committee (FDRC): the group made up of government organizations, stakeholders, licensees, and the general public that is responsible for reviewing development plans.
Forest ecology: the relationships between forest organisms and their environment.
Forest Ecosystem Network (FEN): a planned landscape zone that serves to maintain or restore the natural connectivity within a landscape unit. A forest ecosystem network consists of a variety of fully protected areas, sensitive areas, classified areas, and old-growth management areas.
Forest fire: any wildfire or prescribed fire that is burning in forest, grass, alpine or tundra vegetation types.
Forest floor: layers of fresh leaf and needle litter, moderately decomposed organic matter, and humus or well-decomposed organic residue.
Forest floor displacement hazard: a ranking of the potential adverse impacts on forest productivity resulting from removal of the accumulated organic matter that constitutes the forest floor. It is determined in accordance with procedures set out in the Ministry of Forests' publication "Hazard Assessment Keys for Evaluating Site Sensitivity to Soil Degrading Processes Guidebook," as amended from time to time.
Forest health: a forest condition that is naturally resilient to damage; characterized by biodiversity, it contains sustained habitat for timber, fish, wildlife, and humans, and meets present and future resource management objectives.
Forest health agents: biotic and abiotic influences on the forest that are usually a naturally occurring component of forest ecosystems. Biotic influences include fungi, insects, plants, animals, bacteria, and nematodes. Abiotic influences include frost, snow, fire, wind, sun, drought, nutrients, and human-caused injury.
Forest health treatments: the application of techniques to influence pest or beneficial organism populations, mitigate damage, or reduce the risk of future damage to forest stands. Treatments can be either proactive (for example, spacing trees to reduce risk of attack by bark beetles) or reactive (for example, spraying insecticides to treat outbreaks of gypsy moth).
Forest interior conditions: conditions found deep within forests, away from the effect of open areas. Forest interior conditions include particular microclimates found within large forested areas.
Forest inventory: an assessment of forest resources, including digitized maps and a database which describes the location and nature of forest cover (including tree size, age, volume and species composition) as well as a description of other forest values such as soils, vegetation and wildlife features.
Forest land (Assessment Act): land which has as its highest and best use the growing and harvesting of trees, including land which is being managed in accordance with a forest management plan approved under regulations, but does not include a farm.
Forest land (Ministry of Forests): provincial forests and other unalienated Crown lands for which the Ministry of Forests is responsible, including both forested lands and non-forested lands such as tundra, wetlands, rangelands, deserts, rock, and ice.
Forest land (B.C. Assessment Authority): land having as its highest and best use the growing and harvesting of trees.
Forest landscape: a portion of the land that the eye can see in one glance and in which the forest is the most dominant element.
Forest licence: a forest licence allows orderly timber harvest over a portion of a sustained yield management unit, and the timely reforestation of harvested areas according to a strategic resource management plan prepared by the Forest Service for each timber supply area. The licence has a term of 15 to 20 years, generally replaceable every five years (some are non-replaceable) and operating areas that shift over time. Once an area is harvested and reforested the licensee moves to another part of the timber supply area. A forest licence specifies an annual allowable cut, requires a management and working plan, and specified management activities.
Forest management: the practical application of scientific, economic and social principles to the administration and working of a forest for specified objectives. Particularly, that branch of forestry concerned with the overall administrative, economic, legal and social aspects and with the essentially scientific and technical aspects, especially silviculture, protection and forest regulation.
Forest management cycle: the phases that occur in the management of a forest including harvesting, site preparation, reforestation, and stand tending.
Forest management plan: a general plan for the management of a forest area, usually for a full rotation cycle, including the objectives, prescribed management activitand standards to be employed to achieve specified goals. Commonly supported with more detailed development plans.
Forest mensuration: the measurement of volume, growth and development of individual trees and stands, and the various products obtained from them.
Forest officer: a person employed by the B.C. Ministry of Forests who is designated by the minister, chief forester, or regional manager to be a forest officer, through name or title.
Forest planning model: an analytical model (usually computer-based) that successively harvests and grows collections of forest stands over a period of several decades according to specific data and management assumptions.
Forest practice: (1) Any activity that is carried out on forest land to facilitate the use of forest resources, including but not limited to timber harvesting, road construction, silviculture, grazing, recreation, pest control, and wildfire suppression. (2) A term defined in the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act. Activities include timber harvesting, road construction, road maintenance, road deactivation, silviculture treatments, grazing, fire use, control and suppression, and other similar activities, provided these activities are carried out on Crown forest land, range land, or private land subject to a tree farm licence or woodlot licence by government, a tenure holder or a person engaged in a commercial enterprise (e.g., mining). Further explanation is contained in the definitions section of the act.
Forest Practices Advisory Council (FPAC): Cabinet may by regulation establish a Forest Practices Advisory Council to periodically review the Forest Practices Code and recommend changes.
Forest Practices Board (FPB): the Forest Practices Board is the "public watchdog" agency established under the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act to audit the activities of both the forest industry and the government.
Forest Practices Code (FPC): the Forest Practices Code is a term commonly used to refer to the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, the regulations made by Cabinet under the act and the standards established by the chief forester. The term may sometimes be used to refer to field guides as well. It should be remembered that unlike the act, the regulations and standards, field guides are not legally enforceable.
Forest profile: the range of forest conditions that exists across the landscape, including such factors as timber species, quality, condition and age, location, elevation, topography, accessibility, and economic viability.
Forest renewal: the renewal of a tree crop by either natural or artificial means.
Forest resources: a defined term in the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act meaning resources and values associated with forests and range including, without limitation, timber, water, wildlife, fisheries, recreation, botanical forest products, forage, and biological diversity.
Forest Service road: a road constructed, modified or maintained by the minister under the provisions of the Forest Act or declared a Forest Service road. Forest Service roads are used to provide access to managed forest land.
Forest tree breeding: the genetic study of trees to solve some specific problem or to produce a specially desired product.
Forest tree improvement: the control of parentage combined with other silvicultural activities (such as site preparation or fertilizing) to improve the overall yield and quality of products from forest lands.
Forest type: a group of forested areas or stands of similar composition (species, age, height, and stocking) which differentiates it from other such groups.
Forest type labels: the symbols which are used to code information about forest types on a forest cover map, such as site, disturbance, age and height class, species, stocking.
Forest type lines: lines on a map or aerial photo outlining forest types.
Forest yield: see Allowable Annual Cut.
Forest yield regulation: the administrative and technical process which facilitates yield control (regulation), often narrowly interpreted as a process that ensures regular and sustained forest yields.
Forester: a person engaged in the profession of forestry. In some countries the term is restricted to those who received formal post-secondary education in forestry or who possess the equivalent qualifications. A forester may or may not be a Registered Professional Forester, which is a legally-recognized title.
Forestry: the science, art and practice of managing and using for human benefit the natural resources that occur on and in association with forest lands.
Fragmentation: the process of transforming large continuous forest patches into one or more smaller patches surrounded by disturbed areas. This occurs naturally through such agents as fire, landslides, windthrow and insect attack. In managed forests timber harvesting and related activities have been the dominant disturbance agents.
Free-growing: young trees that are as high or higher than competing brush vegetation with one metre of free-growing space surrounding their leaders. As defined by legislation, a free growing crop means a crop of trees, the growth of which is not impeded by competition from plants, shrubs or other trees. Silviculture regulations further define the exact parameters that a crop of trees must meet, such as species, density and size, to be considered free growing.
Free-growing assessment: the determination for whether young trees have attained free-growing status.
Free use permits: an agreement entered into under Part 3, Division 8 of the Forest Act, which provides for the cutting and utilization of Crown timber for very specific purposes, free of stumpage assessment.
Freshet: high stream flow, usually confined to the stream channel and caused by a regularly recurring hydrological phenomenon (e.g., the snowmelt freshet) (regional term).
Fruiting body: the reproductive part of a fungus that contains or bears spores. Also known as a conk.
Fry: the young stage of fishes (i.e., less than one year old), particularly after the yolk sac has been absorbed.
Fuelbreak: an existing barrier or change in fuel type (to one that is less flammable than that surrounding it), or a wide strip of land on which the native vegetation has been modified or cleared, that act as a buffer to fire spread so that fires burning into them can be more readily controlled. Often selected or constructed to protect a high value area from fire.
Fuel management: the planned manipulation and/or reduction of living or dead forest fuels for forest management and other land use objectives (such as hazard reduction, silvicultural purposes, wildlife habitat improvement) by prescribed fire, mechanical, chemical or biological means and/or changing stand structure and species composition.
Fuelwood: trees used for the production of firewood logs or other wood fuel.
Full bench cut: forming the roadway entirely in cut.
Full-tree harvesting: a tree harvesting process that includes removing the trunk, branches and in some instances the roots from a forested site. In Canada this process is used to control root diseases.
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Genetic diversity: variation among and within species that is attributable to differences in hereditary material.
Genetically improved seed and/or vegetative propagules: seed or propagule that originate from a tree breeding program and that have been specifically designed to improve some attribute of seeds, seedlings, or vegetative propagules selection.
Genotype: the entire genetic constitution, or the sum total of genes of an organism, in contrast to the phenotype.
Geographic information system (GIS): a computer system designed to allow users to collect, manage and analyze large volumes of spatially referenced information and associated attribute data.
Geotextile filter fabric: a synthetic material placed on the flat, under road fill, with the primary functions of layer separation, aggregate confinement, and distribution of load.
Girdling: to kill a tree by severing or damaging the cambium layer and interrupting the flow of food between the leaves and the rest of the tree. A method of 'brushing' carried out using a hatchet or special tool to cut through the bark and cambium of the tree.
Goal: goals provide general purpose and direction. They are the end result of ultimate accomplishment toward which an effort is directed. They generally should reflect perceived present and future need. They must be capable of being effectively pursued.
Grading: classifying timber, lumber or logs according to quality or end-use.
Grapple yarder: a machine used in harvesting to bring logs into a landing. The grapple closes like teeth around the log and is controlled by the machine operator.
Grazing lease: a lease of Crown land issued for grazing purposes under the Land Act.
Grazing schedule: sets out the class and number of livestock that can use an area described in the schedule, the dates the livestock can use the area and other prescribed information.
Grazing season: a period during which livestock may graze on Crown land under a grazing licence or grazing permit.
Green tree retention: the reservation of live trees of a specific species and size from harvesting, to achieve a site-specific objective.
Greenbelt: an extensive area of largely undeveloped or sparsely occupied land associated with a community set aside to contain development, preserve the character of the countryside and community and provide open space.
Greened-up: a cutblock that supports a stand of trees that has attained the green-up height specified in a higher level plan for the area, or in the absence of a higher level plan for the area, has attained a height that is 3 m or greater, and if under a silvicultural prescription, meets the stocking requirements of that prescription, or if not under a silviculture prescription, meets the stocking specifications for that biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification specified by the regional manager.
Gross total volume: volume of the main stem of the tree including stump and top. Volume of the stand including all trees.
Ground-based systems: logging systems that employ ground-based equipment such as feller-bunchers, hoe chuckers, skidders, and forwarders.
Ground truthing: the use of a ground survey to confirm the findings of an aerial survey or to calibrate quantitative aerial observations.
Groundwater: water below the level of the water table in the ground; water occupying the sub-surface saturated zone.
Group selection: see Selection silvicultural system.
Growing stock: the sum of all trees in a forest or specified part of it.
Grubbing and retention: removal of stumps, roots, embedded logs, organics, and unsuitable soils before or concurrently with subgrade construction.
Guidebooks: part of the Forest Practices Code but not included in the legislation. Guidebooks support the Regulations and Standards by stipulating detailed tolerances and evaluation criteria and by providing recommended procedures, processes, and results. Guidebooks may also contain new guidelines and recommendations which are still being tested or are awaiting formal approval. Specifications provided by guidebooks become legally enforceable when inserted in plans, prescriptions, and contracts.
Guideline: an optional practice or new practice not currently in the Forest Practices Code. Although guidelines are generally voluntary, the implication is that practitioners will use these concepts and principles in meeting their resource objectives.
Gully assessment procedure: a procedure for determining gully sediment and debris transport potential, and suggested management strategies.
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Habitat: the place where an organism lives and/or the conditions of that environment including the soil, vegetation, water, and food.
Habitat enhancement: any manipulation of habitat that improves its value and ability to meet specified requirements of one or more species.
Habitat management: management of the forest to create environments which provide habitats (food, shelter) to meet the needs of particular organisms.
Hack and squirt: a method of conifer release and juvenile spacing where the bark of a tree is cut (hack) and herbicides are injected (squirt) to kill the tree.
Hardwoods: trees which are generally deciduous, broad leafed species such as oak, alder or maple.
Harvest cut: the felling of the mature crop of trees either as a single clearcut or a series of regeneration cuttings.
Harvest forecast: the flow of potential timber harvests over time. A harvest forecast is usually a measure of the maximum timber supply that can be realized, over time, for a specified land base and set of management assumptions.
Harvest pattern: the spatial distribution of cutblocks and reserve areas across the forested landscape.
Harvest rate: the rate at which timber is harvested, commonly expressed as an (AAC).
Harvest schedule: a document listing the stands to be harvested year or period, usually showing types and intensities of harvests for each stand, as well as a timetable for regenerating currently non-productive areas.
Harvesting: the practice of felling and removing trees or the removal of dead or damaged trees from an area.
Harvesting method: the mix of felling, bucking, and yarding (skidding) systems used in logging a stand of timber.
Harvesting prescription: detailed plan on how, when, and where timber will be harvested from an area.
Harvesting system: the mix of felling, bucking and yarding systems used in logging a stand of timber.
Hauling: a general term for the transportation of logs from one point to another, usually from a landing to the mill or shipping point.
Hazard: a state that may result in an undesired event, the cause of risk. Hazard can apply to the probability of tree mortality or damage by an insect or disease and also represents material or fuel that will ignite and burn.
Hazardous or danger tree: a tree or any component of a tree that has sufficient structural infirmity to be identified as having a high risk of falling and causing personal or property damage.
Hazards, potential: a component of risk rating. Potential hazards are the detrimental events that could result from inappropriate harvesting practices.
Healthy ecosystem: an ecosystem in which structure and functions allow the maintenance of biodiversity, biotic integrity and ecological processes over time.
Heartwood: the inner core of a woody stem composed of nonliving cells and usually differentiated from the outer wood layer (sapwood) by its darker colour. See Cambium.
Height class: any interval into which the range of tree heights is divided for classification and use, commonly 3 m, 5 m, or 10 m classes.
Height/diameter curve: a graphic representation of the relationship between individual tree heights and diameters used to determine tree volumes in localized areas.
Helitack: initial attack on wildfires involving the use of helicopters and trained crews, deployed as a complete unit.
Helitanker: a helicopter equipped with a helitank - a specially designed tank used for transporting and dropping suppressants or retardants.
Helitorch: a specialized drip torch, using a gelled fuel, slung and activated from a helicopter.
Herbicide: chemical substances or living organisms (called bioherbicides) used to kill or control vegetation such as brush, weeds, and competing or undesirable trees.
Heritage areas: sites of historical, architectural, archaeological, paleontological, or scenic significance to the province.
Heritage trail: a trail having cultural significance by reason of established aboriginal use or use by early immigrants.
Highgrading: the removal of only the best trees from a stand, often resulting in a residual stand of poor quality trees.
High hazard (forest health): physical characteristics (including tree species, composition, age, and size) and biogeoclimatic factors that make a forest highly susceptible to attack by damaging agents.
High sensitivity areas: areas having special concerns, issues, or the potential for negative impacts on resource values, including any soils with high hazard or very high hazard for compaction, erosion, mass wasting, or displacement.
High value stream: as defined in the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Cutblock and Road Review Regulation a high value fish-bearing stream and a stream in a community watershed.
Higher level plan: strategic or operational plans that provide direction to any lower level of plans, prescriptions or forest practices. Higher level plans include:
-a plan formulated pursuant to Section 4(c) of the Ministry of Forests Act,
-a management plan as defined in the Forest Act,
-an objective for a resource management zone,
-an objective for a landscape unit or sensitive area,
-an objective for a recreation site, recreation trail or interpretive forest site, and
-a plan or agreement declared to be a higher level plan by the minister or the lieutenant governor.
Plans which might be declared to be a higher level plan by the minister or the lieutenant governor include plans such as Land Resource Management Plans and Local Resource Use Plans.
Highlead system: logging system that uses cables rigged to a spar high above the ground so that one end of the logs can be lifted during yarding.
Hip chain: a device used to measure distance by means of an anchored filament wrapped around a wheel that revolves as you walk (handy for measuring distances on your own).
Historical variation: the range of the spatial, structural, compositional and temporal characteristics of ecosystem elements during a period specified to represent "natural" conditions.
Hoe-chucking: a logging system that uses an excavator or hoe to yard logs to the roadside and/or landing.
Human dimension: an integral component of ecosystem management that recognizes people are part of ecosystems, that people's pursuits of past, present, and future desires, needs and values (including perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours) have and will continue to influence ecosystems and that ecosystem management must include consideration of the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, social, cultural and economic well-being of people and communities.
Human impact or influence: a disturbance or change in ecosystem composition, structure or function caused by humans.
Humus: a general term for the more or less decomposed plant and animal residues in the lower organic soil layer.
Hydrology: the science that describes and analyzes the occurrence of water in nature, and its circulation near the surface of the earth.
Hydroseeding: the application of seed in a water slurry that contains fertilizer, a soil binder and/or mulch.
Hypsometer: a simple instrument, often a stick or other straight edge, used to measure the heights of trees on the basis of similar angles.
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Immature: trees or stands that have grown past the regeneration stage, but are not yet mature.
Immature timber: stands of timber where the age of the leading species in a stand is less than the specified cutting age. Cutting ages are established to meet forest management objectives. Usually stands with lodgepole pine and whitebark pine or a deciduous species as the leading species are considered as immature timber when the stand age is less than 81 years. Otherwise, all stands having conifers other than lodgepole pine and whitebark pine as the leading species are immature when the stand age is less than 121 years.
Impact assessment: a study of the effect of resource development on other resources.
Improvement cutting: the removal of trees of undesirable species, form or condition from the main canopy of the stand to improve the health, composition and value of the stand.
Increment: the increase in diameter, basal area, height, volume, quality or value of individual trees or stands during a given period.
Increment borer: a tool used to extract a core of wood from a living tree for the purpose of studying the annual growth rings of the tree.
Increment core: that part of the cross section of a tree extracted by an increment borer. Used to determine tree age and growth pattern.
Incremental silviculture: a Ministry of Forests term that refers to the treatments carried out to maintain or increase the yield and value of forest stands. Includes treatments such as site rehabilitation, conifer release, spacing, pruning, and fertilization. Also known as intensive silviculture. See Basic silviculture.
Indicator species: species of plants used to predict site quality and characteristics.
Industrial operation: operations such as land clearing, timber harvesting, timber processing, mechanical site preparation and other silvicultural treatments, mining, and road construction.
Initial attack: the action taken to halt the spread or potential spread of a fire by the first fire fighting force to arrive at the fire.
Initial mature inventory: that portion of the existing total mature forest inventory which is available for harvest. This portion reflects all management constraints that are necessary to protect the environment and other forest uses and varies with the constraints identified for each option.
Inner gorge: a stream reach or portion of stream that is bounded by steep hillslopes (> 40% sideslope) and terminates upslope into more gentle topography.
Inoperable lands: lands that are unsuited for timber production now and in the foreseeable future by virtue of their: elevation; topography; inaccessible location; low value of timber; small size of timber stands; steep or unstable soils that cannot be harvested without serious and irreversible damage to the soil or water resources; or designation as parks, wilderness areas, or other uses incompatible with timber production.
Insloping: shaping the road surface to direct water onto the cut side of the road.
Integrated resource management (IRM): the identification and consideration of all resource values, including social, economic, and environmental needs, in land use and development decision making. It focuses on resource use and land use and management, and is based on a good knowledge of ecological systems, the capability of the land, and the mixture of possible benefits.
Integrated resource use: a decision making process whereby all resources are identified, assessed and compared before land use or resource management decisions are made. The decisions themselves, whether to approve a plan or carry out an action on the ground, may be either multiple or single use in a given area. The application of integrated resource management results in a regional mosaic of land uses and resource priorities which reflect the optimal allocation and scheduling of resource uses.
Intensive silviculture: see Incremental silviculture.
Interior: the geographic area east of the Cascade Mountains, as officially delineated by the Cascade Mountains Administrative Line through British Columbia from Washington state to Alaska, including the portions of the Kalum Forest District and Cariboo Forest Region lying west of the line, but excluding the lower Fraser River area south of Hell's Gate (south of Boston Bar), taking in the Coquihalla, Silverhope, and Skagit River drainages lying east of the line.
Interior conditions: at a point where edge effects no longer influence environmental conditions within a patch, interior conditions are achieved. For coastal B.C. forests, the edge effect is generally felt for a distance equivalent to 2 to 4 times average tree height into the stand. The effects usually involve light intensity, temperature, wind, relative humidity and snow accumulation and melt. See Edge effect.
Intermediate: intermediate trees have crowns below, but still extending into, the general level of the canopy and receive a little direct light from above but none from the sides.
Interpretive forest site: a designated forest site and ancillary facilities developed by the Ministry of Forests to interpret, demonstrate, or facilitate the discussion of the natural environment, forest practices, and integrated resource management.
Intertree distance: the distance between tree boles, usually used in the context of thinning. Recommended guidelines for intertree distances are established for different thinning programs depending on site variables, the species and age of trees, and management objectives.
Inventory, forest: a survey of a forest area to determine such data as area, condition, timber, volume and species for specific purposes such as planning, purchase, evaluation, management or harvesting.
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Joint administration: a term referring to the joint powers of the Ministry of Forests, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks and the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources to enforce the Forest Practices Code. It is also used to refer to the involvement of the Ministry of Forests and the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks in certain aspects of strategic and operational planning.
Judicial review: a review of a decision by a court authorized and conducted under the Judicial Review Procedure Act primarily concerned with the fairness of the procedures used to make a decision, whether or not the decision maker was acting within his or her jurisdiction, and errors of law.
Juvenile spacing: a silvicultural treatment to reduce the number of trees in young stands, often carried out before the stems removed are large enough to be used or sold as a forest product. Prevents stagnation and improves growing conditions for the remaining crop trees so that at final harvest the end-product quality and value is increased. Also called precommercial thinning.
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Key area: a relatively small area selected because of its location, use, or grazing value as a monitoring point for grazing use. It is assumed that key areas, if properly selected, will reflect the overall acceptability of current grazing management.
Key species: forage species that must, because of their high degree of use, be considered in the management program.
Keystone species: a species that plays an important ecological role in determining the overall structure and dynamic relationships within a biotic community. A keystone species presence is essential to the integrity and stability of a particular ecosystem.
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Ladder fuels: fuels that provide vertical continuity between the surface fuels and crown fuels in a forest stand, thus contributing to the ease of torching and crowning.
Lake: a naturally occurring static body of water greater than 2 m in depth and greater than 1 ha in size, or a licensed reservoir.
Lakeshore management area: the lands directly adjacent to a lake, in which forest practice standards are designed to maintain the unique combination of fish, wildlife, water, and recreation values that occur on and around lakes.
Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP): a strategic, multi-agency, integrated resource plan at the subregional level. It is based on the principles of enhanced public involvement, consideration of all resource values, consensus-based decision making, and resource sustainability.
Land-use planning: the process by which decisions are made on future land uses over extended time periods, that are deemed to best serve the general welfare.
Landform: a landscape unit that denotes origin and shape, such as a floodplain, river terrace, or till plain.
Landing: an area modified by equipment that is designed for accumulating logs before they are transported.
Landing pile or cull pile: an area of piled slash, logging residue, and stumps, created as a result of harvesting operations and the construction of roads and landings.
Landscape: the fundamental traits of a specific geographic area, including its biological composition, physical environment and antHRopogenic or social patterns.
Landscape ecology: the study of the distribution patterns of communities and ecosystems, the ecological processes that affect those patterns and changes in pattern and process over time.
Landscape inventory: see Visual landscape inventory.
Landscape level: a watershed, or series of interacting watersheds or other natural biophysical (ecological) units, within the larger Land and Resource Management Planning areas. This term is used for conservation planning and is not associated with visual landscape management and viewscape management.
Landscape sensitivity: a component of the landscape inventory that estimates the sensitivity of the landscape based on: the visual prominence of importance of features; conditions that affect visual perception; and social factors that contribute to viewer perceptions.
Landscape unit: a planning area, up to 100 000 ha in size, based on topographic or geographic features such as a watershed or series of watersheds. They are established by the Ministry of Forests' district manager in consultation with a designated B.C. Environment official to ensure Crown land in a provincial forest and private land in a tree farm licence or woodlot licence are managed and used in accordance with Section 2 of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act.
Landscape unit objectives: objectives established for a landscape unit to guide forest development and other operational planning. Landscape objectives are established by the Ministry of Forests' district manager and a designated B.C. Environment official.
Large Organic Debris (LOD): entire trees or large pieces of trees that provide channel stability or create fish habitat diversity in a stream channel.
Large woody debris: a large tree part, conventionally a piece greater than 10 cm in diameter and 1 m in length.
Leader: the length of tree stem from the top of the tree down to the first set of branches, representing one year of growth and reflecting the tree's vigor and the site's growing potential.
Leave trees: all trees, regardless of species, age, or size, remaining on a harvested area as a result of a predetermined silviculture prescription to address a possible range of silviculture or resource needs.
Licence to cut: an agreement under the Forest Act allowing a person who purchases or occupies land, and who does not otherwise have the right to harvest Crown timber from the land, to cut and/or remove timber on the land.
Lightning detection system: a network of electronic field sensors linked to a central computer to detect, triangulate, plot the location of and record cloud-to-ground lightning flashes in real time over a predetermined area.
Limiting factor: a factor present in an environment in such short supply that it limits growth or some other life process.
Linear developments: straight line industrial development that is typical of power lines, highways, gas lines, and seismic activities.
Litter layer: the layer of organic debris, mainly bark, twigs, and leaves, on the forest floor.
Littoral zone: the shore zone between the high and low water mark.
Livestock: as defined in theRange Act and Silviculture Planning Regulations means animals of the genus Bos, horses, mules, asses, sheep and goats, but does not include wildlife designated under the Wildlife Act, exotic game animals, buffalo, swine or poultry but does include llamas.
Local Resource Use Plan (LRUP): a plan approved by a district manager for a portion of a timber supply area or tree farm licence that provides management guidelines for integrating resource use in the area. Such a plan may become a higher level plan if declared to be so by the ministers or Cabinet.
Log boom: floating logs tied together in rafts to be towed by boat to their destination.
Logging: see Harvesting.
Logging (cutting) plan: a map, along with a written plan, describing the road building, harvesting, and other related operations that are submitted for a forest officer's approval to ensure that the applicable standards and obligations stated in the Pre-Harvest Silviculture Prescription and the harvesting agreement are met.
Logging trail: a narrow, temporary path used by harvesting equipment.
Long Run Sustainable Yield (LRSY): the long run sustainable yield for any Timber Supply Area (TSA) is equal to the culmination of mean annual increment weighted by area for all productive and utilizable forest land types in that TSA including all not satisfactorily restocked, disturbed stocking doubtful, and potentially usable noncommercial cover.
Lopping: chopping branches, tops and small trees after felling into lengths such that the resultant slash will lie close to the ground.
Lopping and scattering: lopping the slash created after felling and spreading it more or less evenly over the ground without burning.
Loss factors: reductions made to gross timber volumes to allow for decay, waste, and breakage.
Low Ground Pressure (LGP) machines: machines that exert a total ground pressure of less than 43.4 KPa (6.3 pounds per square inch).
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Major culvert: a stream culvert having a pipe diameter of 2000 mm or greater, or a maximum design discharge of 6 m3/sec or greater.
Management area: stands or forest types that require similar management practices and can be grouped for treatment as a management unit.
Management assumptions: approximations of management objectives, priorities, constraints and other conditions needed to represent forest management actions in a forest planning model.
Managed forest land: forest land that is being managed under a forest management plan utilizing the science of forestry.
Management option: a prescription of management activities over time that will achieve specified management objectives.
Management plan: detailed long-term plan for a forested area. Contains inventory and other resource data.
Management unit plan: the third level of planning in the Ministry of Forests hierarchical planning system. A plan prepared for a Timber Supply Area which takes into account regional goals and land use interactions. Management unit plans provide a basis for Forest Service programs. The annual allowable cut for the management unit is calculated on the basis of the management unit plan.
Management zone: the outer portion of a riparian management area situated adjacent to a stream, lake, or wetland and established to conserve and maintain the productivity of aquatic and riparian ecosystems when harvesting is permitted.
Map folio: a series of maps bound together, often produced as overlays of information, e.g., soils, fish, water, forest, and wildlife.
Marine-sensitive zones: herring spawning areas, shellfish beds, marsh areas, aquaculture sites, juvenile salmonid rearing areas, and adult salmon holding areas.
Mass wasting: movement of soil and surface materials by gravity.
Mature: trees or stands that are sufficiently developed to be harvestable.
Mature timber: stands of timber where the age of the leading species in a stand is greater than the specified cutting age. Cutting ages are established to meet forest management objectives. Usually stands with lodgepole pine or a deciduous species as the leading species are classified as mature timber when the stand age is greater than 80 years. Otherwise, all stands having conifers other than lodgepole pine and whitebark pine as the leading species are mature when the stand age is greater than 120 years.
Maximum density: the maximum allowable stand density above which stands must be spaced to a target density of well-spaced acceptable stems to achieve free-growing status.
Mean Annual Increment (MAI): the average annual increase in volume of individual trees or stands up to the specified point in time. The MAI changes with different growth phases in a tree's life, being highest in the middle years and then slowly decreasing with age. The point at which the MAI peaks is commonly used to identify the biological maturity of the stand and its readiness for harvesting.
Mechanical site preparation: any activity that involves the use of mechanical machinery to prepare a site for reforestation.
Mechanized access and use: refers to access and use by, for example, mountain bikes and other bicycles, hang gliders, and other human-powered mechanized equipment. Associated facilities include aircraft landing facilities, boat docks, and heliports.
Mechanized stand tending treatment: any stand tending activity that involves the use of mechanical machinery to treat a stand.
Memorandum of understanding (MOU): an agreement between ministers defining the roles and responsibilities of each ministry in relation to the other or others with respect to an issue over which the ministers have concurrent jurisdiction.
Merchantable timber: a tree or stand that has attained sufficient size, quality and/or volume to make it suitable for harvesting.
Merchantable volume: the amount of sound wood in a single tree or stand that is suitable for marketing under given economic conditions.
Meridian line: a north-south reference line often appearing on maps. Meridian lines are also etched into the bearing plate on a compass.
Microclimate: generally the climate of small areas, especially insofar as this differs significantly from the general climate of the region. Stands often create microclimates.
Microsite: a small area which exhibits localized characteristics different from the surrounding area. For example, the microsites created by a rock outcrop with thin soils, or the shaded and cooled areas created on a site by the presence of slash.
Mineral soil: soil consisting predominately of, and having its properties determined by, inorganic matter. Usually contains less than 20 per cent organic matter.
Minimum utilization standard: included in every licence authorizing the harvesting of timber, a standard which is expressed as a maximum stump height, diameter at stump height, and top diameter and which can vary by species and timber supply area (and supply blocks within timber supply areas).
Mixed stand: a stand composed of two or more tree species.
Modified burning zone: a zone within or adjacent to a smoke-senstive area that requires special considerations and burning techniques, even under favourable conditions, to maintain air quality within a smoke-sensitive area.
Monoculture: in general, even-aged, single-species forest crops.
Mortality: death or destruction of forest trees as a result of competition, disease, insect damage, drought, wind, fire and other factors (excluding harvesting).
Motorized access and use: refers to access and use by, for example, float planes, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, motorboats, motor bikes, all-terrain vehicles,
snowmobiles, and motorized equipment.
Multiple use: a system of resource use where the resources in a given land unit serve more than one user. Multiple use can be effected in three ways:
-different uses of adjacent sub-areas which together form a composite multiple use area;
-the alternation in time of different uses on the same areas; and
-more than one use of an area at one time.
In multiple use planning, where differing resource uses are conducted at the same time on the same area and conflicts between users will occur, one resource is determined to be the dominant use and all other secondary uses are integrated only in-so-far as they are compatible with the first. Often multiple use planning sacrifices the production of the individual resources in favour of the over-all mix of resource uses that brings the greatest social and economic benefits.
Multiple Use Sustained Yield Calculation (MUSYC): a linear programming forest planning model developed by the United States Forest Service. MUSYC is currently used as the British Columbia Forest Service's standard forest planning model for carrying out TSA timber supply computer analysis.
Mycorrhiza: a rootlet of a higher plant modified through integral association with a fungus to form a constant structure which differs from either component but is attached to the root system and functions somewhat as a rootlet. It is usually considered to be beneficial to the associated plant.
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Natural boundary: the visible high water mark of any lake, stream, or other body of water where the presence and action of the water are so common and usual and so long continued in all ordinary years as to mark upon the soil of the bed of the lake, river stream, or other body of water a character distinct from that of the banks, both in vegetation and in the nature of the soil itself.
Natural disturbance regimes: the historic patterns (frequency and extent) of fire, insects, wind, landslides and other natural processes in an area.
Natural justice: a set of procedures designed to ensure that decisions are made fairly.
Natural range barrier: a river, rock face, dense timber or any other naturally occurring feature that stops or significantly impedes livestock movement to and from an adjacent area.
Natural regeneration: the renewal of a forest stand by natural seeding, sprouting, suckering, or layering seeds may be deposited by wind, birds or mammals.
Natural resource: means land, water and atmosphere, their mineral, vegetable and other components, and includes flora and fauna on or in them.
Naturally resistant seed sources: tree species or provenances that have been shown to exhibit increased resistance to some specific pest, over that of the species or provenance that would normally be used in artificial regeneration in a particular situation.
Net down procedure: The process of identifying the net land base, which is the number of hectares of forest land which actually contribute to the allowable annual cut. The process involves "netting down" the TSA gross area to the TSA gross forest area then to the TSA net forest area. Areas and/or volumes are sequentially deleted or reduced from the gross land base for a number of considerations, including: private ownership, non- forest or non-productive, environmentally sensitive, unmerchantible and inaccessible.
Net land base: see Net down procedure.
Net present value (NPV): a stand's present worth before harvesting once costs associated with its establishment and tending have been subtracted.
Net volume: volume of the main stem excluding stump and top as well as the defective and decayed wood of trees or stands.
New forestry: a philosophy or approach to forest management that has as its basic premise the protection and maintenance of ecological systems. In new forestry the ecological processes of natural forests are used as a model to guide the design of the managed forest.
Non-designated wilderness: Areas within the provincial forest that have been zoned as wilderness through approved integrated resource management plans including regional land-use plans and Land and Resource Management Plans (LRMPs).
Non-forest land: land not primarily intended for growing or supporting a forest.
Non-timber resource values: values within the forest other than timber which include but are not limited to biological diversity, fisheries, wildlife, minerals, water quality and quantity, recreation and tourism, cultural and heritage values, and wilderness and aesthetic values.
Non-timber resources: resources other than timber, such as recreation, aesthetics, wildlife, fish, forage, range, water, and soils.
Normal forest: an outdated concept, drawing on the idea of a norm or standard forest structure against which existing forest structures can be compared. A normal forest is a forest composed of even-aged fully-stocked stands representing a balance of age classes such that for a specified rotation period, one age class can be harvested in each year. At the end of the rotation, the stands that were harvested first in the cycle would be ready for harvesting again.
Not Satisfactorily Restocked (NSR): productive forest land that has been denuded and has failed, partially or completely, to regenerate either naturally or by planting or seeding to the specified or desired free growing standards for the site.
No-work zones: areas in which equipment and people are not allowed during forestry operations, usually for safety or ecological reasons.
Noxious weeds: any weed so designated by the Weed Control Regulations and identified on a regional district noxious weed control list.
Nurse log: a larger and decomposing fallen log which acts as a germination substrate for tree species establishing in the understorey. Such logs provide moisture, nutrients and often some degree of elevation above other potentially competing vegetation on the forest floor.
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Objective: the end result(s) that must be achieved through management at any given administrative level. Objectives are quantified and indicate time and agency responsibility.
Old growth: old growth is a forest that contains live and dead trees of various sizes, species, composition, and age class structure. Old-growth forests, as part of a slowly changing but dynamic ecosystem, include climax forests but not sub-climax or mid-seral forests. The age and structure of old growth varies significantly by forest type and from one biogeoclimatic zone to another.
Old-growth attributes: structural features and other characteristics of old-growth forests, including: large trees for the species and site; wide variation in tree sizes and spacing; accumulations of large dead standing and fallen trees; multiple canopy layers; canopy gaps and understory patchiness; elements of decay such as broken or deformed tops or trunks and root decay; and the presence of species characteristic of old growth.
Old-growth management areas: areas which contain, or are managed to replace, specific structural old-growth attributes and which are mapped out and treated as special management areas.
Operable forest: that portion of the production forest that, under current market conditions, can be harvested at a profit.
Operable land: all lands that are not considered inoperable lands (see Inoperable lands).
Operable timber: see also Timber operability. Available timber that can be economically logged with present harvesting methods after consideration of access, timber quality and market price.
Operability line: a line drawn on a map to differentiate between areas that are operable and those that are not, given status quo harvesting and reforestation technology. Inoperable areas are not economically viable to harvest without seriously impairing the site or other resource values. The operability line is used to determine the operable land base in long-run, sustained yield calculations.
Operating area: geographic sub-units of timber supply areas that have been assigned to individual major licensees for the purposes of long-term planning. The boundaries are subject to change as the timber profile within a timber supply area changes over time.
Operational cruise: an estimate, to a specified degree of accuracy, of the volume of timber on an area to be harvested.
Operational plans: within the context of area-specific management guidelines, operational plans detail the logistics for development. Methods, schedules, and responsibilities for accessing, harvesting, renewing, and protecting the resource are set out to enable site-specific operations to proceed. Operational plans include a forest development plan, logging plan, access management plan, range use plan, silviculture prescription, stand management prescription and 5 year silviculture plan.
Option: a set of assumptions representing a possible management direction. Options are constructed as a normal part of a planning process in order to provide a framework for analysis and to facilitate management decision-making.
Organic soil: soil containing a high proportion (greater than 20 or 30 percent) of organic matter.
Orthophoto: a completely rectified copy of an original photograph. All variations in scale and displacements, due to relief, have been eliminated, hence the name ortho (correct) photography. Orthorphoto and orthophoto map are synonymous, an orthophoto is, very simply, a photo map.
Outslope: to shape the road surface to direct water away from the cut slope side of the road.
Overlanding: placing road construction fill over organic soil, stumps and other plant materials, corduroy or geotextiles, any of which is required to support the fill.
Overlay: a transparent sheet (either clear or mylar matte film material) accompanying a map, on which information, colouring, or symbols are entered so that when the overlay is placed on the map the effect is identical to having entered the overlay information on the map, itself.
Overmature: in even-aged management, those trees or stands past the mature stage.
Overstorey: that portion of the trees in a forest of more than one storey forming the upper or uppermost canopy layer.
Overtopped: trees with crowns entirely below the general level of the crown cover receiving little or no direct light from above or from the sides.
Overtopping: vegetation higher than the favored species, as in brush or deciduous species shading and suppressing more desirable coniferous trees.
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Partial cutting: a general term referring to silvicultural systems other than clearcutting,in which only selected trees are harvested. Partial cutting systems include seed tree, shelterwood, selection, and clearcutting with reserves.
Pass: in timber harvesting, one of a planned sequence of harvesting operations designed to harvest a management unit over an extended period of time in discrete phases, so that the size of individual cutblocks and the total area harvested in any one pass does not exceed prescribed limits.
Patch: in landscape ecology, a particular unit with identifiable boundaries which differs from its surroundings in one or more ways. These can be a function of vegetative composition, structure, age or some combination of the three.
Patch cutting: a silvicultural system that creates openings less than 1 hectare in size and is designed to manage each opening as a distinct even-aged opening.
Patch logging: a modification of the clearcutting system whereby patches of from about 5 to 200 hectares are logged as single settings and separated for as long as practicable (preferably until the regeneration is adequately shading the forest floor) by living forest.This secures the optimum dispersal of seed and avoids the high fire hazard represented by large continuous areas of slash.
Pathological rotation age: the maximum rotation age through which a stand of trees may be grown without significant volume loss from disease. The stand age at which annual volume loss from disease equals annual volume increment.
Peace officer: a person employed for the preservation and maintenance of public peace, typically a police officer, police constable, mayor, sheriff or sheriff officer, warden, corrections officer, or any other permanent employee of a penitentiary, prison, or correctional centre.
Performance-based logging: "performance-based logging" means approval of future logging activities contingent upon a company's current practices. Until a company is in compliance with the Forest Practices Code the Government may refuse to enter into a new or replacement agreements, approve new logging plans, and issue new cutting permits.
Periodic harvest (periodic cut): the removal of several years' accumulated AAC in one year or other period.
Permanent access structure: a structure, including a road, bridge, landing, gravel pit or other similar structure, that provides access for timber harvesting, and is shown expressly or by necessary implication on a forest development plan, access management plan, logging plan, road permit or silviculture prescription as remaining operational after timber harvesting activities on the area are complete.
Permanent bridge: a bridge having all its major components constructed of steel, concrete, or pressure-treated timber.
Pest: any forest health agent designated as detrimental to effective resource management.
Pest incidence: a measurement of the presence and magnitude of pests within a given area.
Pesticide: any substance or mixture of substances (other than a device ) intended for killing, controlling, or managing insects, rodents, fungi, weeds, and other forms of plant or animal life that are considered to be pests as defined under the B.C. Pesticide Control Act.
Pesticide buffer zone: a strip of land between the 10 m pesticide-free zone and the pesticide treatment area for preventing entry of pesticides or pesticide residues by drift, runoff, or leachate into the pesticide-free zone.
Phenotype: an organism as observed by its visible characteristics, resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.
Phloem: a layer of tree tissue just inside the bark that conducts food from the leaves to the stem and roots. See Cambium.
Pioneer plants: a succession term for plants capable of invading bare sites, such as a newly exposed soil surface, and persisting there, i.e., 'colonizing' until supplanted by invader or other succession species.
Pitch tubes: a tubular mass of resin that forms on the surface of bark at bark-beetle entrance holes.
Planned grazing system: a system approved by the regional manager or district manager respecting the use of land for grazing and the dispersal of livestock over land.
Planning: the determination of the goals and objectives of an enterprise and the selection, through a systematic consideration of alternatives, of the policies, programs and procedures for achieving them.An activity devoted to clearly identifying, defining, and determining courses of action, before their initiation, necessary to achieve predetermined goals and objectives.
Planning horizon: the time period which will be considered in the planning process.
Planning term: the term of the actual plan before it must be updated.
Plant community: an assemblage of plants occurring together at any point in time, thus designating no particular ecological status.
Plant harvesting: the collection of plant life including, but not limited to, bark, berries, boughs, branches, burls, cones, conks, ferns, flowers, grasses, herbs, fungi, lichens, mosses, mushrooms, roots, sedges, shrubs, sprays and twigs.
Planting: establishing a forest by setting out seedlings, transplants or cuttings in an area.
Plot: a carefully measured area laid out for experimentation or measurement.
Plug: a seedling grown in a small container under carefully controlled (nursery) conditions. When seedlings are removed from containers for planting, the nursery soil remains bound up in their roots. See Bareroot seedling.
Plus tree: a phenotype judged (but not proven by test) to be unusually superior in some quality or qualities such as an exceptional growth rate relative to the site, desirable growth habit, high wood quality, exceptional apparent resistance to disease and insect attack or to other adverse locality factors.
Point sampling: a method of selecting trees for measurements and of estimating stand basal area at a sample location or point sample. Also called plotless cruising, angle count method, Bitterlich method. A 360 degree sweep is made with an angle gauge about a fixed point and the stems with breast height diameters appearing larger than the fixed angle subtended by the angle gauge are included in the sample.
Policies: statements on how the authority is to achieve its goals and objectives with regard to a specific subject area or class of subject areas, e.g., a policy for development on floodplains.
Polygon: a closed geometric entity used to graphically represent area features with associated attributes.
Potentially unstable soil area: any area where there is a moderate to very high likelihood of slope failure following conventional road construction or timber harvesting.
Precommercial thinning: see Juvenile spacing.
Pre-harvest silviculture assessment (or survey): the survey carried out on a stand prior to logging to collect specific information on the silvicultural conditions such as planting survival, free-growing status, stocking, etc. See: Silviculture survey.
Pre-Harvest Silviculture Prescription (PHSP): a document that applies site-specific field data and develops forest management prescriptions for areas in advance of logging. Replaced under the Forest Practices Code by Silviculture Prescriptions.
Prescribed burning: the knowledgeable application of fire to a specific unit of land to meet predetermined resource management objectives.
Prescription: a course of management action prescribed for a particular area after specific assessments and evaluations have been made.
Preservation: the action of reserving, protecting or safeguarding a portion of the natural environment from unnatural disturbance. It does not imply preserving an area in its present state, for natural events and natural ecological processes are expected to continue. Preservation is part of, and not opposed to, conservation.
Prime mover: heavy equipment used to tow other machines such as disc trenchers for site preparation.
Prism: an optical instrument used as an angle gauge, consisting of a thin wedge of glass which establishes a fixed (critical) angle of projection in a point sample.
Problem forest type: non-merchantable forest types, including: stands of unfavourable stocking (i.e., dense small trees), low productivity sites and decadent stands with high waste and breakage.
Procedure: a particular way of accomplishing an objective; generally refers to the method rather than the result. Procedures are usually developed to describe the methods for implementing policy.
Proclamation date: the date on which a statute has legal effect.
Production forest: the forest used for production of various commodities, for example timber.
Productive forest land: forest land that is capable of producing a merchantable stand within a defined period of time.
Professional engineer, professional geoscientist: a member in good standing of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia.
Professional forester: see Registered professional forester.
Protected areas: areas such as provincial parks, federal parks, wilderness areas, ecological reserves, and recreation areas that have protected designations according to federal and provincial statutes. Protected areas are land and freshwater or marine areas set aside to protect the province's diverse natural and cultural heritage.
Protection forest: forest maintained on steep, unstable slopes to prevent accelerated erosion.
Protocol agreements: an agreement between two or more ministries or two or more areas of the same ministry stating the role of each party in relation to the other or others with respect to an issue, or issues over which the parties have concurrent jurisdiction.
Provenance: the geographical area and environment to which the parent trees and other vegetation are native, and within which their genetic constitution has been developed through natural selection.
Provincial forest: forest land designated under Section 4 of the Forest Act. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may designate any forest land as a provincial forest. The uses of provincial forests include timber production, forage production, forest recreation, and water, fisheries and wildlife resource purposes.
Provincial forest inventory: a description of the quantity and quality of forest trees, non-wood values, and many of the characteristics of the land base compiled from statistical data for the forest lands of the province.
Pruning: the manual removal, close to or flush with the stem, of side branches, live or dead, and of multiple leaders from standing, generally plantation-grown trees. Pruning is carried out to improve the market value of the final wood product by producing knot-free wood for the improvement of the tree or its timber.
Public: the entire population of British Columbia, including all organizations, companies, and groups.
Public hearing: a hearing formally advertised and convened to afford any person who deems their interest in property to be affected by a proposal an opportunity to be heard by the Forest Service. The Forest Service is not required to follow the tenor of the statements made at the hearing. A public hearing must be convened in respect of tree farm licence applications.
Public highway: a highway for which public money has been spent and which is dedicated to public use by a plan deposited in the Land Titles Office for the district in which the road is situated.
Public involvement: the procedures for obtaining and considering the views of the general public in planning and decision-making processes.
Public Sustained Yield Unit (PSYU): a portion of a TSA. And area of Crown land, usually a natural topographic unit determined by drainage areas, managed for sustained yield by the Crown through the Ministry of Forests. It includes all Crown lands within the currently established boundaries of the unit and excludes federal lands, provincial parks, experimental forest reserves, gazetted watersheds and tree farm licences. Crown land designated as a public sustained yield unit under Section 6 of the Forest Act.
Pulpwood agreement: a pulpwood agreement allows the holder of a woodfibre processing facility to harvest Crown pulp timber, if sufficient quantities of raw material are not available to the holder from other sources. An agreement covers a 25-year term, may be replaceable every ten years and applies to a large area in one or more timber supply areas. Harvesting authority is provided through a timber sale licence where the licensee is responsible for all operational planning, development, basic silviculture and forest protection.
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Quasi-judicial: a decision made by a government official or tribunal which involves the application of policy to a particular set of facts requiring the exercise of discretion and the application of the principles of natural justice.
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Rain-on-snow events: rainstorms that result in large amounts of surface runoff due to the combined effects of heavy rainfall and snow melt. Rapid snow melt is caused by heat supplied from the warm air that is characteristic of intense rainstorms and by heat released during condensation of moisture from the air onto the snow surface.
Range development: any practice, treatment or structure designed to achieve plant community, production and integrated resource management goals.
Range enhancement: any treatment, development, or structure designed to achieve or maintain the desired plant community.
Range of variability: the spectrum of conditions possible in ecosystem composition, structure and function considering both temporal and spatial factors.
Range readiness: the stage of plant growth at which grazing may begin under a specific management plan without permanent damage to vegetation or soil.
Range type: a defined area with specific physical characteristics, which differs from other areas in its ability to produce distinctive kinds and amounts of vegetation and in its response to management.
Range use plan: an operational plan that describes the range and livestock management measures that will be implemented to ensure that range resources are protected and that the management objectives for other identified resource values are achieved.
Rangelands: a broad category of land characterized by native plant communities that are often associated with grazing. Rangelands are managed by ecological rather than agronomic methods.
Rapattack: a method of initial attack whereby firefighters are transported to the fire in a specially-equipped helicopter, from which they descend during a hover by means of rappelling down a rope fitted with a mechanical device to control the rate of descent. In this way fire crews can be transported to fires which would otherwise pose difficult access problems.
Rappel crew: an initial attack crew which rappels from a helicopter to access fires.
Rate-of-cut: the proportion of the watershed area allowed to be cut each year.
Rate of Spread (ROS): the speed at which a fire extends its horizontal dimensions, expressed in terms of distance per unit area of time. Generally thought of in terms of a fire's forward movement or head fire rate of spread, but also applicable to backfire and flank fire rate of spread.
Reach: a length of stream channel, (lake or inlet) exhibiting, on average, uniform hydraulic properties and morphology.
Reconnaissance: the field examination of a proposed road location to determine its feasibility and possible impact on other resources, and to lay out the proposed centreline.
Recreation: any physical or psychological revitalization through the voluntary pursuit of leisure time. Forest recreation includes the use and enjoyment of a forest or wildland setting, including heritage landmarks, developed facilities, and other biophysical features.
Recreation feature: a biological, physical, cultural or historic feature that has recreational significance or value.
Recreation feature objective: a resource management objective which reflects how a recreational feature or features will be managed, protected, or conserved.
Recreation feature significance: the quality, uniqueness, and availability of a recreation feature as classified in the recreation inventory.
Recreation features inventory: one component of the Recreation Inventory. The identification, classification, and recording of the types and locations of biophysical recreation and cultural features, existing and potential recreation activities, feature significance and feature sensitivity.
Recreation inventory: the identification, classification and recording of recreation features, visual landscapes, Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS), recreation features of rivers and specific point locations of recreation sites, trails, caves etc.
Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS): a mix of outdoor settings based on remoteness, area size, and evidence of humans, which allows for a variety of recreation activities and experiences. The descriptions used to classify the settings are on a continuum and are described as: rural, roaded resource, semi-primitive motorized, semi-primitive non-motorized, and primitive.
Recreation Opportunity Spectrum objectives: resource management objectives in approved integrated resource management plans, reflecting the desired Recreation Opportunity Spectrum setting to provide for specific types of recreation opportunities and experiences.
Recreation resource: a recreation feature, a scenic or wilderness feature or setting that has recreational significance or value or a recreation facility.
Recreation site: a site and its ancillary facilities developed by the B.C. Ministry of Forests for recreation or to protect a recreation resource.
Recreation trail: a trail and its ancillary facilities developed by the B.C. Ministry of Forests for recreation or to protect a recreation resource.
Recreation value: see Recreation resource.
Red-listed species: see Threatened or endangered species.
Referral: the process by which applications for permits, licences, leases, etc., made to one government agency by an individual or industry are given to another agency for review and comment.
Reforestation: the natural or artificial restocking (i.e., planting, seeding) of an area with forest trees. Also called forest regeneration.
Regeneration: the renewal of a tree crop through either natural means (seeded on-site from adjacent stands or deposited by wind, birds, or animals) or artificial means (by planting seedlings or direct seeding).
Regeneration delay: the maximum time allowed in a prescription, between the start of harvesting in the area to which the prescription applies, and the earliest date by which the prescription requires a minimum number of acceptable well-spaced trees per hectare to be growing in that area.
Regeneration Performance Assessment (RPA): a sampling survey carried out to collect field data on the height growth, competition, and stocking of young stands (5-10 years).
Regeneration survey: carried out to determine the initial restocking of a site. It is used to describe the number of trees on a site that have reached acceptable standards.
Regional plan: the second level of planning in the Ministry of Forests hierarchical planning system. The regional forestry plan contains forest management alternatives based on a detailed analysis of timber supply within the region. Regional priorities for integrated use are identified and taken into account in setting production goals for timber, range, and forest recreation.
Regional Resource Management Committee (RRMC): a committee comprised of senior regional representatives of government agencies responsible for or affected by resource management decisions who meet in each of the six regions in British Columbia on a regular or periodic basis to consider resource management problems.
Regionally important species: the regionally identified sensitive/vulnerable (blue-listed) species and those species not at risk but which require identification and protection of habitat critical at specific periods of their life cycle, and which are thus essential to the maintenance of their populations (e.g., moose, deer, and mountain goat).
Registered Professional Forester (RPF): a person registered under the Foresters Act, who performs or directs works, services, or undertakings that require specialized knowledge, training, and experience in forestry.
Regulated unit: a Special Sale Area (SSA) describes a Crown area not under sustained yield management on which timber may be sold at the discretion of the Minister of Forests. It is not planned that the allowable annual cut on these units will be maintained in perpetuity.
Reinventory: the complete restratification of an area on recent, mid-scale aerial photographs based on extensive field work.
Release: freeing a tree or group of trees from more immediate competition by cutting or otherwise eliminating growth that is overtopping or closely surrounding them.
Remediation: measures undertaken in respect to an area of land to remedy contravention of the Forest Practices Code.
Remote Automatic Weather Station (RAWS): a weather station at which the services of an observer are not required. A RAWS unit measures selected weather elements automatically and is equipped with telemetry apparatus for transmitting the electronically recorded data via radio, satellite or by a landline communication system at predetermined times on a user-requested basis.
Remote sensing: any data or information acquisition technique that utilizes airborne techniques and/or equipment to determine the characteristics of an area.
Reportable erosion event: a natural or man-made disturbance to the forest land base which is causing or will likely cause substantial environmental impacts, or which is a threat to life or property.
Reserve: an area of forest land that, by law or policy, is not available for harvesting. Areas of land and water set aside for ecosystem protection, outdoor and tourism values, preservation of rare species, gene pool, wildlife protection etc.
Reserve zone: the inner portion of a riparian management area situated adjacent to a stream, lake, or wetland and established to conserve and maintain the productivity of aquatic and riparian ecosystems when harvesting is not permitted.
Reserved trees: trees specifically reserved from harvesting and often referenced in Pre Harvest Silviculture Prescriptions or cutting authorities or by map notations.
Reserves: the retention of live or standing dead trees, pole size or larger, on site following harvest for purposes other than regeneration. Reserves can be uniformly distributed as single trees or left in small groups, and they can be used with any silvicultural system.
Residual basal area: the basal area per hectare of acceptable trees left standing after harvest.
Residual stand structure: the age class or height structure of the stand or remaining trees after harvesting.
Residuals (residual trees): trees left standing after harvesting.
Residue: the volume of timber left on the harvested area which meets or exceeds the size requirements but is below the log grade requirements of the minimum utilization standards in the cutting authority. It is part of the allowable annual cut for cut control.
Resilience: the ability of an ecosystem to maintain diversity, integrity and ecological processes following disturbance.
Resistance to control: the relative ease of establishing and holding a fireguard and/or securing a control line as determined by the difficulty of control and resistance to fireguard construction.
Resource features: localized resource values or sites of special interest, such as caves, raptor-nesting trees, mineral licks, heritage sites, and recreation trails.
Resource folio: a collection of resource capability and forest inventory maps, other resource data, interpretations, and management objectives for each resource sector. General prescriptions are developed to achieve the stated integrated use of objectives. A resource folio forms the basis for the timber licensee's development plan or working plan.
Resource industry: an industry based on the primary resources obtained from agriculture, fisheries, forestry or mining.
Resource Management Zone (RMZ): an area established by the chief forester in accordance with any policy direction from Cabinet or designated ministers. Resource management zones are used to implement broad land use policy, as provided in land and resource management plans or other Cabinet-level directives. An RMZ might include a major travel corridor which has scenic values or an area managed for intensive timber production such as Crown land in a provincial forest and private land in a tree farm licence or woodlot licence that must be managed and used in accordance with the requirements of Section 2 of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act.
Resource Management Zone objectives: provide strategic direction on a regional or subregional scale (1:100 000 to 1:250 000 map scale). The chief forester is authorized by the Ministers of the Ministry of Forests, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, and Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources to establish RMZs and associated objectives, in consultation with other resource agencies.
Resource values: products or commodities associated with forest lands and largely dependent on ecological processes. These include, but are not limited to, water quality and quantity, forage, fish, wildlife, timber, recreation, energy, minerals, and cultural and heritage resources.
Restoration: the return of an ecosystem or habitat to its original community structure, natural complement of species and natural functions.
Retention: retaining or saving a portion of the original stand in a cluster or clump.
Retention visual quality objective: a visual landscape strategy derived from landscape analysis which applies to areas of high landscape value (for example, continuously forested or steep slopes facing important viewpoints or recreation use areas, foreground areas adjacent to important viewpoints or recreation use areas, and certain shorelines). Forest management activities may be present, but should not be noticed by the average viewer. Some visual change may be discernible, but should not be recognized as being different from existing natural features in the landscape.
Right-of-way: the strip of land over which a power line, railway line, road, etc., extends.
Riparian: an area of land adjacent to a stream, river, lake or wetland that contains vegetation that, due to the presence of water, is distinctly different from the vegetation of adjacent upland areas.
Riparian Management Area (RMA): a classified area of specified width surrounding or adjacent to streams, lakes, riparian areas, and wetlands. The RMA includes, in many cases, adjacent upland areas. It extends from the top of the streambank (bank full height) or from the edge of a riparian area or wetland or the natural boundary of a lake outward to the greater of: 1) the specified RMA distance, 2) the top of the inner gorge, or 3) the edge of the flood plain. Where a riparian area or wetland occurs adjacent to a stream or lake, the RMA is measured from the outer edge of the wetland.
Riparian management zone: the area within and adjacent to riparian and other wetlands required to meet the structural and functional attributes of riparian ecosystems.
Riprap: an apron of coarse rock installed over the fillslope to prevent erosion.
Risk: the probability of an undesirable event occurring within a specified period of time. With regard to insect populations, risk involves components to evaluate the likelihood of an outbreak, the likelihood of trees being attacked (susceptibility) or the likelihood of trees being damaged (vulnerability). In fire prevention, risk involves those things or events that cause fires to start (including the physical igniting agents and people).
Risk rating (assessment): the process of identifying the degree of risk that timber harvesting imposes on adjacent and downslope social, economic, and forest resource values. The severity of each potential hazard and the magnitude of the potential consequences that correspond to each hazard provide the overall risk associated with harvesting a site.
Road deactivation: measures taken to stabilize roads and logging trails during periods of inactivity, including the control of drainage, the removal of sidecast where necessary, and the re-establishment of vegetation for permanent deactivation.
Road location line: the marked location of proposed roads.
Road permit: an agreement entered into under Part 8 of the Forest Act to allow for the construction or modification of a forest road to facilitate access to timber planned for harvest.
Road prism: the area of the ground containing the road surface, cut slope and fill slope.
Rotation: the planned number of years between the formation or regeneration of a tree crop or stand and its final cutting at a specified stage of maturity. Can be based on physical, biological, pathological or economic criteria.
Rotation age: the age at which a stand is considered mature and ready for harvesting.
Roundwood: sections of tree stems, with or without bark. Includes logs, bolts, posts, and pilings.
RPF: see Registered Professional Forester.
Rules: informal working term for draft forest practices requirements proposed for the Forest Practices Code. Following review and public input, Rules may be incorporated into the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act or in Regulations under the Act.
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Salmonid: a fish of the fish family Salmonides; for example salmon, trout and chars.
Salvage harvesting: logging operations specifically designed to remove damaged timber (dead or in poor condition) and yield a wood product. Often carried out following fire, insect attack or windthrow.
Sanitation treatment: tree removal or modification operations designed to reduce damage caused by forest pests and to prevent their spread.
Sapling: a loose term for a young tree no longer a seedling but not yet a pole, about 1 - 2 m high and 2 - 4 cm DBH, typically growing vigorously and without dead bark or more than an occasional dead branch. Also, a young tree having a DBH greater than 1 cm but less than the smallest merchantable diameter.
Sapwood: the light-coloured wood that appears on the outer portion of a cross-section of a tree. See Cambium.
Scaling: the measuring of lengths and diameters of logs and calculating deductions for defect to determine volume.
Scalping: site preparation method which exposes favorable mineral soil for tree seedlings to be planted in.
Scarification: a method of seedbed preparation which consists of exposing patches of mineral soil through mechanical action.
Scenic area: any visually sensitive area or scenic landscape identified through a visual landscape inventory or planning process carried out or approved by the district manager.
Screefing: removal of herbaceous vegetation and soil organic matter to expose a soil surface for planting.
Second growth: a forest or stand that has grown up naturally after removal of a previous stand by fire, harvesting, insect attack or other cause.
Second pass: the next entry to harvest timber after green-up (or other recovery objective) occurs.
Secondary channel: subordinate channel in a stream reach with more than one channel; minor channel in a floodplain.
Sedimentation: the process of subsidence and deposition by gravity of suspended matter carried in water; usually the result of the reduction of water velocity below the point at which it can transport the material in suspended form.
Seedlot: a quantity of cones or seeds having the same species, source, quality and year of collection.
Seed orchard: a plantation of specially selected trees that is managed for the production of genetically improved seed.
Seed source: the locality where a seedlot was collected. If the stand from which collections were made was exotic, the place where its seed originated is the original seed source.
Seed tree silvicultural system: an even-aged silvicultural system in which selected trees (seed trees) are left standing after the initial harvest to provide a seed source for natural regeneration. Seed trees can be left uniformly distributed or in small groups. Although regeneration is generally secured naturally, it may be augmented by planting. Seed trees are often removed once regeneration is established or may be left as reserves.
Seed trees: trees selected to be left standing to provide seed sources for natural regeneration. Selection is usually on the basis of good form and vigor, the absence of serious damage by disease, evidence of the ability to produce seed, and wind firmness.
Seedbed: in natural regeneration, the soil or forest floor on which seed falls; in nursery practice, a prepared area over which seed is sown.
Seedling: a young tree, grown from seed, from the time of germination to the sapling stage, having a DBH equal or less than 1 cm.
Seedlots: seed from a particular collection event, either from a single tree collection or a pooling of seed from many trees.
Seepage zone: an area on a hillslope or at the slope base where water frequently or continuously springs to the surface.
Seismic line: a constructed trail used for seismographic exploration.
Selection silvicultural system: a silvicultural system that removes mature timber either as single scattered individuals or in small groups at relatively short intervals, repeated indefinitely, where the continual establishment of regeneration is encouraged and an uneven-aged stand is maintained. As defined in the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Operation Planning Regulation, group selection removes trees to create openings in a stand less than twice the height of mature trees in the stand.
Selective logging: removal of certain trees in a stand as defined by specific criteria (species, diameter at breast height, or height and form). It is analogous to highgrading. Not to be confused with the selection silvicultural system.
Semi-permanent bridge: a bridge having a substantial proportion of its components constructed of steel, concrete, or timber that has been pressure-treated with a suitable preservative.
Senior official: a senior official means:
-a district manager or regional manager,
-a person employed in a senior position in the Ministry of Forest, Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks or the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, who is designated by name or title to be a senior official for the purposes the Act by the minister of that ministry.
Sensitive areas: small areas designated to protect important values during forest and range operations. These areas, established by a Ministry of Forests district manager in consultation with a designated B.C. Environment official, guide operations on a site-specific basis and require a combination of forest practices. Sensitive areas will be mapped by resource agencies, and include regionally significant recreational areas, scenic areas with high visual quality objectives, and forest ecosystem networks.
Sensitive areas objectives: to adequately manage, protect, and conserve the resources of the area. Sensitive areas may be designated under the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, through a planning process, or by the Ministry of Forests district manager and designated B.C. Environment official (for example, forest ecosystem networks and the setting of visual quality objectives for sensitive scenic areas).
Sensitive resource area: an identifiable geographic unit of the forest land base that requires a specific combination of forest practices to adequately protect important resource values.
Sensitive slopes: any slope identified as prone to mass wasting.
Sensitive soils: forest land areas that have a moderate to very high hazard for soil compaction, erosion, displacement, mass wasting or forest floor displacement.
Sensitive/vulnerable species: species identified as "blue listed" by the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, these are indigenous species that are not threatened but are particularly at risk.
Sensitive watershed: a watershed that is used for domestic purposes or that has significant downstream fisheries values, and in which the quality of the water resource is highly responsive to changes in the environment. Typically, such watersheds lack settlement ponds, are relatively small, are located on steep slopes, and have special concerns such as extreme risk of erosion.
Seral stage: any stage of development of an ecosystem from a disturbed, unvegetated state to a climax plant community.
Settlement pond: larger than a catchment basin and preferably with lower velocity waterflows that enable suspended sediment to settle before the flow is discharged into a creek.
Shade tolerance: the capacity of a tree or plant species to develop and grow in the shade of, and in competition with, other trees or plants.
Shearing: in Christmas tree culture, to prune the branches to make dense foliage and give the tree a conical shape.
Shelterwood silvicultural system: a silvicultural system in which trees are removed in a series of cuts designed to achieve a new even-aged stand under the shelter of remaining trees.
Sidecast: moving excavated material onto the downslope side of a temporary access structure, excavated or bladed trail, or landing during its construction.
Sills: a single structural member used as a foundation to transfer the loads from the bridge superstructure to the supporting soil.
Silvics: the study of the life history, requirements and general characteristics of forest trees and stands in relation to the environment and the practice of silviculture.
Silvicultural system: a process that applies silviculture practices, including the tending, harvesting, and replacing of a stand, to produce a crop of timber and other forest products. The system is named by the cutting method with which regeneration is established. The six classical systems are seed tree, shelterwood, selection, and clearcut.
Silviculture: the art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health and quality of forests and woodlands. Silviculture entails the manipulation of forest and woodland vegetation in stands and on landscapes to meet the diverse needs and values of landowners and society on a sustainable basis.
Silviculture prescription: a site-specific integrated operational plan to carry out one or a series of silviculture treatments.
Silviculture regime: a series of site-specific silviculture treatments planned over time.
Silviculture survey: a sampling procedure to determine silvicultural conditions such as planting survival, free-growing status, stocking, etc., leading to management decisions. See: Pre-Harvest Silviculture Assessment.
Silviculture treatment: any silviculture activity on forest stands to meet stand-specific objectives.
Silviculture treatments: activities that ensure the regeneration of young forests on harvested areas and enhance tree growth and improve wood quality in selected stands.
Single tree selection: see Selection silvicultural system.
Site: an area described or defined by its biotic, climatic, and soil conditions in relation to its capacity to produce vegetation; the smallest planning unit.
Site class: the measure of the relative productive capacity of a site for a particular crop or stand, generally based on tree height at a given age and expressed as either good, medium, poor or low.
Site index: an expression of the forest site quality of a stand, at a specified age, based either on the site height, or on the top height, which is a more objective measure.
Site preparation: the treatment of the soil and ground vegetation to prepare the soil surface as a favorable seedbed for either naturally or artificially disseminated seed or for planted seedlings.
Site productivity: the inherent capabilities of a site to produce or provide the commodities or values for which the area will be managed in accordance with Section 4 of the Ministry of Forests Act, that is, timber, forage, recreation, fisheries, wildlife, and water.
Site rehabilitation: the conversion of the existing unsatisfactory cover on highly productive forest sites to a cover of commercially valuable species.
Site sensitivity: an assessment of the susceptibility of a site to soil-degrading processes, such as soil compaction, erosion, mass wasting, and forest floor displacement.
Site-specific: pertaining to a specific planning unit.
Situation Report (SITREP): an itemized list and/or written account, usually issued on a daily basis, detailing the status of various fire-related activities. A SITREP generally contains information on fire occurrence and area burned to date, fire suppression resources committed to going fires and resources on standby, number of fires in the various stages of control, fire danger class, fire weather forecast and forest closures (if any).
Skid road: a bladed or backhoe-constructed pathway where stumps are removed within the running surface as necessary. Skid roads are suitable only for tracked or rubber-tired skidders bringing trees or logs from the felling site to a landing.
Skid trail: a random pathway travelled by ground skidding equipment while moving trees or logs to a landing. A skid trail differs from a skid road in that stumps are cut very low and the ground surface is mainly untouched by the blades of earth moving machines.
Skidder: a wheeled or tracked vehicle used for sliding and dragging logs from the stump to a landing.
Skidding: the process of sliding and dragging logs from the stump to a landing, usually applied to ground-based as opposed to highlead operations.
Skyline: a type of cable logging system in which a skyline is stationary and a carriage moves along it carrying logs above the ground, from the felling site to the landing.
Slash: the residue left on the ground as a result of forest and other vegetation being altered by forest practices or other land use activities.
Slide: a mass movement process in which slope failure occurs along one or more slip surfaces and in which the unit generally disintegrates into a jumbled mass en route to its depositional site. A debris flow or torrent flow may occur if enough water is present in the mass.
Slope failure: see Slide.
Slope processes: all processes and events by which the configuration of the slope is changed; especially processes by which rock, surficial materials and soil are transferred downslope under the dominating influence of gravity.
Slope stability: susceptibility of a slope to erosion and slides.
Slump: a mass movement process in which slope failure occurs on a usually curved slip surface and the unit moves downslope as an intact block, frequently rotating outward. Slumps appear as discrete block movements, often in place, whereas slides usually break up and travel downslope.
Small Business Forest Enterprise Program (SBFEP): this program permits the Ministry of Forests to sell Crown timber competitively to individuals and corporations who are registered in the SBFEP.
Small-scale forestry: in general, non-industrial forestry operations. In B.C., small-scale forestry operations are carried out by woodlot licensees, Indian bands, municipalities and private landowners.
Smoke management: the scheduling and conducting of a prescribed burning program under predetermined burning prescriptions and firing techniques that will minimize the adverse effects of the resulting smoke production in smoke-sensitive areas.
Smoke-sensitive area: an area that has been identified in which smoke accumulations may cause a safety or public health hazard, or may unreasonably deny aesthetic enjoyment to the public.
Snag: a standing dead tree or part of a dead tree from which at least the smaller branches have fallen.
Softwoods: cone-bearing trees with needle or scale-like leaves such as Douglas-fir, western red cedar and ponderosa pine.
Soil: the naturally occurring, unconsolidated mineral or organic material at the surface of the earth that is capable of supporting plant growth. It extends from the surface to 15 cm below the depth at which properties produced by soil-forming processes can be detected. The soil-forming processes are an interaction between climate, living organisms, and relief acting on soil and soil parent material. Unconsolidated material includes material cemented or compacted by soil-forming processes. Soil may have water covering its surface to a depth of 60 cm or less in the driest part of the year.
Soil displacement hazard: a soil displacement hazard as determined in accordance with procedures set out in the Ministry of Forests' publication "Hazard Assessment Keys for Evaluating Site Sensitivity to Soil Degrading Processes Guidebook," as amended from time to time.
Soil disturbance: disturbance caused by a forest practice on an area covered by a silviculture prescription or stand management prescription including areas occupied by excavated or bladed trails of a temporary nature, areas occupied by corduroyed trails, compacted areas, and areas of dispersed disturbance.
Soil disturbance hazard: an assessment of the susceptibility of a soil to adverse impacts on its productive capability due to soil compaction, soil puddling, surface erosion, mineral soil displacement, mass wasting, or forest floor displacement.
Soil erosion: the wearing away of the earth's surface by water, gravity, wind, and ice.
Soil pit: an excavation into the mineral soil of sufficient depth to allow assessment of variability in soil physical properties within a defined area of land.
Soil productivity: the capacity of a soil, in its normal environment, to support plant growth.
Soil verification pit: an excavation into the mineral soil of sufficient depth to allow assessment of the soil properties used to evaluate soil productivity and sensitivity to forest management-related disturbances. This generally requires an excavation 90 cm deep unless a watertable, compact soil, or bedrock is encountered closer to the soil surface, in which case the depth to one of these layers is the minimum depth of pit required.
Spacing: the removal of undesirable trees within a young stand to control stocking, to maintain or improve growth, to increase wood quality and value, or to achieve other resource management objectives.
Special forest products: as defined under Section 1 of the Forest Act and B.C. Regulation 355/87, these are: poles; posts; pilings; shakes; shingle bolts; Christmas trees; building logs; mining timbers, props, and caps; cribbing; firewood and fuel logs; hop poles; orchard props; car stakes; round stakes, sticks, and pickets; split stakes, pickets, palings, and lagging; and shake bolts, blocks, and blanks.
Special sale area: see Regulated unit.
Species: a singular or plural term for a population or series of populations of organisms that are capable of interbreeding freely with each other but not with members of other species. Includes a number of cases:
-endemic species: a species originating in, or belonging to, a particular region. Both "endemic" and "indigenous" are preferred over "native."
-exotic species: a species introduced accidentally or intentionally to a region beyond its natural range. "Exotic" is preferred over "alien," "foreign" and "non-native.'
-subspecies: a subdivision of a species. A population or series of populations occupying a discrete range and differing genetically from other subspecies of the
same species.
Species at risk:
a) any wildlife species that, in the opinion of the Deputy Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks, or a person authorized by that deputy minister, is threatened, endangered, sensitive or vulnerable,
b) any threatened and endangered plants or plant communities identified by the Deputy Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks, or any person authorized by that deputy minister, as requiring protection and
c) regionally important wildlife as determined by the Deputy Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks or a person authorized by that deputy minister.
Species composition: the percentage of each recognized tree species comprising the forest type based upon the gross volume, the relative number of stems per hectare or basal area.
Species conversion: a change from one tree species to another.
Spot burning: a modified form of broadcast burning in which only the larger accumulations of slash are fired and the fire is confined to these spots.
Spring: a flow of ground water emerging naturally onto the earth's surface and used as a domestic water source within a community watershed. The watershed area of a spring is defined as the total recharge area of the spring.
Stabilized road width: the width of the travelled portion of the road that has been surfaced with material of sufficient strength and quantity to support the intended traffic.
Stagnant: of stands whose growth and development have all but ceased due to poor site and/or excessive stocking.
Stand: a community of trees sufficiently uniform in species composition, age, arrangement, and condition to be distinguishable as a group from the forest or other growth on the adjoining area, and thus forming a silviculture or management entity.
Stand composition: the proportion of each tree species in a stand expressed as a percentage of either the total number, basal area or volume of all tree species in the stand.
Stand conversion: changing the species composition of a stand to more desirable tree species which are less susceptible to damage or mortality from certain insects or diseases.
Stand density: a relative measure of the amount of stocking on a forest area. Often described in terms of stems per hectare.
Stand development: the part of stand dynamics concerned with changes in stand structure over time.
Stand dynamics: the study of changes in forest stand structure over time, including stand behavior during and after disturbances.
Stand level: the level of forest management at which a relatively homogeneous land unit can be managed under a single prescription, or set of treatments, to meet well-defined objectives.
Stand management prescription: a site-specific plan describing the nature and extent of the silviculture activities that will occur on a free-growing stand to facilitate the achievement of, among others, social, economic, and environmental objectives.
Stand model: a computer model that forecasts the development of a forest stand, usually in terms of stand attributes such as mean diameter or height.
Stand strategy: a documented plan of stand treatments to achieve management objectives during the life of a particular stand.
Stand structure: the distribution of trees in a stand, which can be described by species, vertical or horizontal spatial patterns, size of trees or tree parts, age, or a combination of these.
Stand table: a summary table showing the number of trees per unit area by species and diameter class, for a stand or type. The data may also be presented in the form of a frequency distribution of diameter classes.
Stand tending: a variety of forest management treatments, including spacing, fertilization, pruning, and commercial thinning, carried out at different stages during a stand's development.
Stand types: see Stand, Stand structure.
Standard: the required level or measure of practice established by authority of the Forest Practices Code and referenced in legislation.
Standing: status held by a person or group which allows the person or group to challenge or appeal a particular decision.
Statutory framework: where forest practices are primarily regulated by legislation.
Stewardship: caring for land and associated resources and passing healthy ecosystems to future generations.
Stocking: a measure of the area occupied by trees, usually measured in terms of well-spaced trees per hectare, or basal area per hectare, relative to an optimum or desired level.
Stocking class: a numeric code representing a range of stems per hectare, sometimes estimated by crown closure on aerial photographs, e.g. stocking class 1 is mature with 76+ stems/ha of > 27.5 cm DBH; class 2 is mature with < 76 stems/ha; class 0 is immature.
Stocking plan: a plan that provides objectives and strategies for land allocation and/or resource management, including regional plans, subregional plans, and local resource plans.
Stocking standard: the required range of healthy, well-spaced, acceptable trees.
Stocking survey: the determination of the stocking of an area of both well-spaced and total trees; also used to generate an inventory label.
Strategic plan: a plan that provides objectives and strategies for land allocation and/or resource management, including regional plans, subregional plans, and local resource plans.
Strategy: a broad non-specific statement of an approach to accomplishing desired goals and objectives.
Stream: a watercourse, having an alluvial sediment bed, formed when water flows on a perennial or intermittent basis between continuous definable banks.
Stream bank: the rising ground bordering a stream channel.
Stream channel: the streambed and banks formed by fluvial processes, including deposited organic debris.
Stream class: the British Columbia Coastal Fisheries/Forestry Guidelines defines three stream classes:
- Stream Class A includes streams or portions of streams that are frequented by anadromous salmonids and/or resident sport fish or regionally significant
fish species; or streams identified for fishery enhancement in an approved fishery management plan; stream gradient is usually less than 12 percent.
- Stream Class B includes streams or portions of streams populated by resident fish not currently designated as sport fish or regionally significant fish; stream gradient is usually 8-20 percent.
- Stream Class C includes streams or portions of streams not frequented by fish; stream gradient is usually greater than 20 percent.
Stream culvert: a culvert used to carry stream flow in an ephemeral or perennial stream channel from one side of the road to the other.
Stream gradient: the general slope, or rate of vertical drop per unit of length of a flowing stream.
Streambed: the bottom of the stream below the usual water surface.
Streamside Management Zone (SMZ): the land, together with the vegetation that supports it, immediately in contact with the stream and sufficiently close to have a major influence on the total ecological character and functional processes of the stream. (see also Riparian Management Area)
Stumpage: is the fee that individuals and firms are required to pay to the government when they harvest Crown timber in British Columbia. Stumpage is determined through a complex appraisal of each stand or area of trees that will be harvested for a given timber mark. A stumpage rate ($ per m3) is determined and applied to the volume of timber that is cut (m3). Invoices are then sent to individuals or firms
Subgrade: the material movement necessary to construct the roadway, excluding surfacing.
Substructure: the part of a bridge that supports the superstructure and carries all the applied lateral and vertical loads; includes caps, sills, piles, and posts, each comprising elements known as abutments and piers.
Subsurface drainage: water flow through permeable soil or rock beneath the surface of the land.
Sub-unit plan: the fourth level of planning in the Ministry of Forests hierarchical planning system. The aggregation of a number of courses of action in map and written form designed to achieve sub-unit objectives. Normally centred on watersheds.
Succession: the gradual supplanting of one community of plants by another, the sequence of communities being termed a sere and each stage seral.
Suitability mapping: a habitat interpretation that describes the current potential of a habitat to support a species. Habitat potential is reflected by the present habitat condition or successional stage.
Superstructure: the part of a bridge found above or supported by the caps or sills, including the deck, girders, stringers, and curbs.
Supply block: an area of Crown land that is relatively homogeneous with respect to forest characteristics, access development and management concerns. Supply blocks are the next smaller timber management unit within a Timber Supply Area.
Surface soil erosion: means for an area where a forest practice has been carried out, the movement of soil particles from the area by wind, gravity or water at a rate that is greater than that which would have occurred had the forest practice not been carried out.
Surplus forest: a forest in which existing stands can provide more harvest volume than is needed to maintain the harvest at the level of long run sustained yield until the stands created when the existing stands are cut become available for harvest. See also deficit forest.
Sustainability: the concept of producing a biological resource under management practices that ensure replacement of the part harvested, by regrowth or reproduction, before another harvest occurs.
Sustainable development: preservation and protection of diverse ecosystems-the soil, plants, animals, insects and fungi while maintaining the forest's productivity.
Sustainable forest management: management regimes applied to forest land which maintain the productive and renewal capacities as well as the genetic, species and ecological diversity of forest ecosystems.
Sustained yield: a method of forest management that calls for an approximate balance between net growth and amount harvested.
Switchback: a horizontal road curve used for surmounting the grade of a step hill, usually with a small radius (15-10 m) and curving 180 degrees.
System road: a permanent road required for long-term management of the forest.
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Target stocking standards: the number of well-spaced acceptable trees per hectare that will, in normal circumstances, produce an optimum free-growing crop; the standards at which silviculture treatments are aimed.
Temporary access structure: a structure that would be a permanent access structure except that it is not shown on a forest development plan, access management plan, logging plan, road permit or silviculture prescription as remaining operational after the completion of timber harvesting activities.
Temporary bridge: a bridge having most of its major components constructed of untreated wood.
Temporary tenures: non-alienated lands on which the timber is alienated to private interests, but where the Crown retains ownership of the lands. These lands include timber licences, timber leases and timber berths as well as pulp licences and pulp berths, including those now in tree farm licences under Schedule "A."
Tending: any operation carried out for the benefit of a forest crop or an individual thereof, at any stage of its life. It includes operations both on the crop itself and on competing vegetation but not site preparation or regeneration cuttings.
Tenure: the holding, particularly as to manner or term (i.e., period of time), of a property. Land tenure may be broadly categorized into private lands, federal lands, and provincial Crown lands. The Forest Act defines a number of forestry tenures by which the cutting of timber and other user rights to provincial Crown land are assigned.
Tenure holder: an individual, group, or company that holds a licence agreement as defined in Section 10 of the Forest Act or Section 3 of the Range Act.
Tenure management plan: a plan that relates to the management, development and use, by the holder of a licence or permit granted under the Range Act, of the Crown range to which the licence or permit applies, including the management and use, affecting Crown range, of the following land: to which a licence or permit is made appurtenant, land which is subject to an agreement under section 17 of the Range Act, and unfenced land used for grazing purposes in common with Crown range to which a licence or permit applies.
Terrain: the physical features of a tract of land.
Terrain hazard assessment: an assessment or characterization of unstable or potentially unstable slopes on forested lands. A determination of the relative potential of landslide initiation and the type of landslide that may occur on different types of terrain, based on the data obtained from a review of available maps, photos, site data, and field observations.
Terrain stability risk: a combined assessment of both the likelihood of landslide initiation and an order of magnitude estimate of the amount of landslide debris that might enter a stream or of the potential lengths of scour of a stream by a landslide.
Thinning: a cutting made in an immature crop or stand primarily to accelerate diameter increment but also, by suitable selection, to improve the average form of the trees that remain.
Threatened or endangered habitats: ecosystems that are:
- restricted in their distribution over a natural landscape (e.g., freshwater wetlands within certain biogeoclimatic) or are restricted to a specific geographic area or a
particular type of local environment; or
- ecosystems that were previously widespread or common but now occur over a much smaller area due to extensive disturbance or complete destruction by such practices as intensive harvesting or grazing by introduced species, hydro projects, dyking, and agricultural conversion.
Threatened or endangered species: species identified as red listed by the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks; these are indigenous species that are either threatened or endangered.
Timber: trees, whether standing, fallen, living, dead, limbed, bucked or peeled.
Timber cruising: the collection of field data on forests commonly by the measurement and recording of information in sample plots. Includes the measurement and estimation of volumes of standing trees.
Timber harvesting land base: the portion of the total area of a management unit considered to contribute to, and be available for, long-term timber supply. The harvesting land base is defined by reducing the total land base according to specified management assumptions.
Timber licence: area-based tenures which revert to the government when merchantable timber on the area has been harvested and the land reforested. Many of these licences have been incorporated into tree farm licences.
Timber management prescriptions: recommended forest management practices, usually pertaining to the sub-unit and operational levels of planning.
Timber mark: a hammer indentation made on cut timber for identification purposes.
Timber operability (see also Operable timber): in a planning context, the term refers to the economic suitability of timber for harvesting. Parameters to consider in assessing operability include: terrain, timber quality, timber size, operating season, labour costs, development costs, and transportation costs. In the Environmental Protection Area program, operability refers to freedom from harvesting constraints which include environmental protection and other forest uses.
Timber sale licence: an agreement entered into under Part 3, Division (3) of the Forest Act. A timber sale licence usually defines a specific volume of timber to be harvested from a specific area. In special circumstances, an allowable annual cut (AAC) is specified. Allows the orderly harvest of relatively small volumes of timber by
-operators with small cuts;
-operators registered under the Small Business Forest Enterprise Program or others with temporary cutting rights; and
-holders of pulpwood agreements.
Timber supply: the available timber categorized by species, end-use, and relative value.
Timber supply analysis: an assessment of future timber supplies over long planning horizons (more than 200 years) by using timber supply models for different scenarios identified in the planning process.
Timber Supply Area (TSA): an area defined by an established pattern of wood flow from management units to the primary timber-using industries.
Timber Supply Block (TSB): a division of a timber supply area.
Timber supply model: an analytical model (usually computer-based) that simulates the harvest and growth of collections of forest stands over several decades according to specific data and management assumptions.
Timber utilization: the dimensions and quality of timber that is actually cut and removed from an area.
Tolerance: the ability of an organism or biological process to subsist under a given set of environmental conditions. The range of these under which it can subsist, representing its limits of tolerance, is termed its ecological amplitude. For trees, the tolerance of most practical importance is their ability to grow satisfactorily in the shade of and in competition with other trees.
Top height: the average height of the hundred trees of largest diameter per hectare.
Topographic break: a distinct change in the slope of the land.
Topography: the physical features of a geographic area, such as those represented on a map, taken collectively; especially, the relief and contours of the land.
Total chance planning: early planning over an entire development area for the best overall realization of all objectives identified by broader planning.
Total resource plan: a plan for long-term forest management over an entire area, such as a watershed. The plan identifies known resource values, capabilities and sensitivities; confirms or refines management objectives for those values; and establishes detailed management guidelines by which to achieve those objectives on the ground.
Trade-off: a management decision whereby there is a reduction of one forest use in favour of another, such as a reduced timber yield in favour of improved wildlife habitat. In some cases, a management decision favouring one use in one location, is offset by a reverse decision favouring another use in another location.
Treatment prescription: operational details required for carrying out individual silviculture activities such as site preparation and planting.
Treatment season: the season or year the planned treatment activity will be carried out.
Treatment unit: the geographic unit of productive forest land area designated in a prescription for a specific silviculture activity or series of treatments.
Tree Farm Licence (TFL): TFLs are privately managed Sustained Yield Units. TFLs are designed to enable owners of Crown-granted forest lands and old temporary tenures or the timber licences which replace them, to combine these with enough unencumbered Crown land to form self-contained sustained yield management units. These licences commit the licensee to manage the entire area under the general supervision of the Forest Service. Cutting from all lands requires Forest Service approval through the issuance of cutting permits. TFLs should not be confused with Certified Tree Farms under the Taxation Act, though some Certified Tree Farm land (Crown-granted) may comprise a part of the TFL. A TFL has a term of 25 years.
Tree-length harvesting system: a method of harvesting that includes felling a tree, cutting of the top and delimbing it before transport to a mill.
TSA plan: the overall forest management plan developed for a TSA. The TSA Plan establishes the overall direction for the management of the timber, range and recreation resources under Forest Service jurisdiction in the TSA.
Turnout: a widening in the roadway where a vehicle may pull or park to allow other vehicles to pass safely.
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Underplanting: planting young trees under the canopy of an existing stand.
Understorey: any plants growing under the canopy formed by other plants, particularly herbaceous and shrub vegetation under a tree canopy.
Uneven-aged silvicultural system: a silvicultural system designed to create or maintain and regenerate an uneven-aged stand structure. Single-tree and group selection are uneven-aged silvicultural systems.
Uneven-aged stand: a stand of trees containing three or more age classes. In a balanced uneven-aged stand, each age class is represented by approximately equal areas, providing a balanced distribution of diameter classes.
Unmanaged forest land: forest land that is not subject to management under a forest management plan.
Unmerchantable: of a tree or stand that has not attained sufficient size, quality and/or volume to make it suitable for harvesting.
Unrecovered timber: timber as described in the Provincial Logging Residue and Waste Management Procedures Manual.
Unrecovered volume: timber that is within the cutting specifications of the minimum utilization standards of the cutting authority and not removed from the area.
Unsalvaged losses: the volume of timber destroyed by natural causes such as fire, insect, disease or blowdown and not harvested, including the timber actually killed plus any residual volume rendered non-merchantable.
Unstable or potentially unstable terrain: an area where there is a moderate to high likelihood of landslides.
Uplands: terrain not affected by water table or surface water or else affected only for short periods so that riparian (hydrophilic) vegetation or aquatic processes do not persist.
Urban forestry: the cultivation and management of trees and forests for their present and potential contributions to the physiological, sociological and economic well-being of urban society.
Utilization (of forage and browse): the level of forage and browse use on a site. For herbaceous species, it is measured as a percentage of the current year's growth removed; for browse species, it is measured as a percentage of stem ends removed.
Utilization standards: the dimensions (stump height, top diameter, base diameter, and length) and quality of trees that must be cut and removed from Crown land during harvesting operations.
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Values-at-risk: the specific or collective set of natural resources and man-made improvements/developments that have measurable or intrinsic worth and that could or may be destroyed or otherwise altered by fire in any given area.
Variable area plot sampling method: a method of timber cruising commonly used for industrial timber cruising in which sampling area (plot size) varies with tree diameter.
Variable retention (dispersed, aggregate): a relatively new silvicultural system that follows nature's model by always retaining part of the forest after harvesting. Standing trees are left in a dispersed or aggregated form to meet objectives such as retaining old growth structure, habitat protection and visual quality. Variable retention retains structural features (snags, large woody debris, live trees of varying sizes and canopy levels) as habitat for a host of forest organisms.
There are two types of variable retention: Dispersed retention - retains individual trees scattered throughout a cutblock, Aggregate (group) retention - retains trees in clumps or clusters.
The main objectives of variable retention are to retain the natural range of stand and forest structure and forest functions. With retention systems, forest areas to be retained are determined before deciding which areas will be cut. This system offers a range of retention levels. The system also provides for permanent retention of trees and other structures after regeneration is established. Variable retention can be implemented with a range of harvesting systems and can be combined with traditional silvicultural systems such as shelterwood or selection.
Vegetative lot: a quantity of vegetative material or vegetative propagules having the same species, source and year of collection.
Vegetative material: plant parts or tissues used to produce vegetative propagules through asexual means.
Vegetative propagules: plants produced through asexual means.
Vehicle side-tracking: the lateral displacement of vehicles on a curve caused by the length of the vehicle manoeuvring through the turn; the wider path that the rear of a vehicle takes when negotiating a curve.
Ventilation Index (VI): a term commonly used in air pollution meteorology. The VI is a numerical value relating to the potential of the atmosphere to disperse airborne pollutants from a stationary source (such as smoke from a prescribed fire). It is calculated by multiplying the mixing height by the average wind speed in the mixed layer.
Very unstable terrain: terrain units classified as being in Terrain Class V in the coastal terrain stability classification, or as having a very high mass wasting hazard according to the Mass Wasting Hazard Assessment Key for interior sites. For these areas there is a high likelihood that slope failures will follow harvesting or conventional road building.
Veteran: in growth and yield, a tree that is at least 30 years older than the age of the main stand. In multi-layered or complex-layered stands, a tree that is at least 100 years older than the oldest sample tree of the main stand.
Viewshed: a physiographic area composed of land, water, biotic, and cultural elements which may be viewed and mapped from one or more viewpoints and which has inherent scenic qualities and/or aesthetic values as determined by those who view it.
Visual Absorption Capability (VAC): The relative capacity of a landscape to absorb land-use alterations and still maintain its visual integrity.
Visual green-up: see Green-up.
Visual impact assessment: an evaluation of the visual impact of resource development proposals on forest landscape.
Visual landscape analysis: the process of recommending visual quality objectives based on the visual landscape inventory and social factors.
Visual landscape inventory: the identification, classification, and recording of the location and quality of visual resources and values.
Visual landscape management: the identification, assessment, design, and manipulation of the visual features or values of a landscape, and the consideration of these values in the integrated management of provincial forest and range lands.
Visual quality: the character, condition, and quality of a scenic landscape or other visual resource and how it is perceived, preferred, or otherwise valued by the public.
Visual Quality Objective (VQO): an approved resource management objective that reflects a desired level of visual quality based on the physical and sociological characteristics of the area; refers to the degree of acceptable human alteration to the characteristic landscape.
Visual sensitivity: a component of the visual landscape inventory that estimates the sensitivity of the landscape based on the visual prominence or importance of features, conditions that affect visual perception, and social factors that contribute to viewer perceptions.
Visually sensitive areas: viewsheds that are visible from communities, public use areas, and travel corridors, including roadways and waterways, and any other viewpoint so identified through referral or planning processes.
Volume table: a table showing the estimated average tree or stand volume based on given tree measurements, usually diameter and height.
Vulnerable species: see Sensitive/vulnerable species.
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Waste: the volume of timber left on the harvested area that should have been removed in accordance with the minimum utilization standards in the cutting authority. It forms part of the allowable annual cut for cut-control purposes.
Waste area: a pre-approved site for disposal of excavations.
Waterbar: a shallow ditch dug across a road at an angle to prevent excessive flow down the road surface and erosion of road surface materials.
Water bomber: see Airtanker.
Water management: the planned development, distribution and use of water resources.
Water quality: the physical, chemical and biological properties of water.
Water resources: the supply of water in a given area or basin interpreted in terms of availability of surface and underground water.
Waterbar: a shallow ditch excavated across a road at an angle to prevent excess surface flow down the road surface and subsequent erosion of road surface materials. A small excavation across a road to collect and divert roadway surface water flow.
Watercourse: a natural stream or source or supply of water, whether usually containing water or not, such as a lake, river, creek, spring, ravine swamp, and gulch.
Watershed: an area of land that collects and discharges water into a single main stream through a series of smaller tributaries.
Watershed assessment: evaluates the present state of watersheds and the cumulative impact of proposed development on peak flows, suspended sediment, bedload, and stream channel stability within the watershed.
Watershed integrity: refers to a stable overall physical condition of the watershed (bedrock, landforms, soils, drainage ways) within which transfers of energy, matter and, especially of water occur. It is prerequisite for the security of forest and stream ecosystems.
Watershed management: the planned use of drainage basins in accordance with predetermined objectives.
Weeding: a release treatment in stands during the seedling stage that eliminates of suppresses undesirable vegetation regardless of crown position.
Wetland: a swamp, marsh or other similar area that supports natural vegetation that is distinct from adjacent upland areas.
Wilderness: an area of land generally greater than 1000 ha that predominantly retains its natural character and on which the impact of man is transitory and, in the long run, substantially unnoticeable.
Wilderness area: a part of the provincial forest designated by order in council as a wilderness area.
Wildfire: an unplanned or unwanted natural or human-caused fire, or a prescribed fire that tHReatens to escape its bounds.
Wildland urban interface: a popular term used to describe an area where various structures (most notably private homes) and other human developments meet or are intermingled with forest and other vegetative fuel types.
Wildlife: raptors, threatened species, endangered species, game, and other species of vertebrates prescribed as wildlife by regulation.
Wildlife habitat areas: units of habitat recommended for the maintenance, enhancement, or restoration of red-listed wildlife, threatened, and endangered habitats, and those species identified as being regionally important.
Wildlife management: the application of scientific and technical principles to wildlife populations and habitats to maintain such populations (particularly mammals, birds and fish) essentially for recreational and/or scientific purposes.
Wildlife trees: dead, decaying, deteriorating, or other designated trees that provide present or future habitat for the maintenance or enhancement of wildlife.
Wildling: a seedling naturally reproduced outside of a nursery, used in reforestation.
Windrow: an accumulation of slash, branchwood and debris on a harvested cutblock created to clear the ground for regeneration. Also refers to an accumulation of fill or surfacing material left on the road shoulder as a result of grading operations.
Winter range: a range, usually at lower elevation, used by migratory deer, elk, caribou, moose, etc., during the winter months and typically better defined and smaller than summer range.
Wolf tree: a dominant tree, which is often a remnant from a previous stand, having a broad crown and many limbs.
Woodlot: the wooded portion of a private property upon which small-scale forestry operations are carried out.
Woodlot licence: an agreement entered into under Part 3, Division 5 of the Forest Act. It is similar to a Tree Farm Licence but on a smaller scale, and allows for small-scale forestry to be practised in a described area (Crown and private) on a sustained or perpetual yield basis.
Working plan: See Management and Working Plans.
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Yarding (yarding systems): in logging, the hauling of felled timber to the landing or temporary storage site from where trucks (usually) transport it to the mill site. Yarding methods include cable yarding, ground skidding, and aerial methods such as helicopter and balloon yarding.
Yield Analysis: the study of forest yield over time using mathematical models and inventory data.
Yield curve: a representation of stand volume, usually as a function of stand age, in graphical or tabular form.
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Sources of definitions
Definitions given here are a compilation of general terms used in Ministry of Forests reports, Brochures and correspondence. They are intended for staff, students, general public and interest groups. Definitions provided in an official document, such as an Act or Regulation, shall apply in those instances. Definitions have been based on a variety of resource material documented in the bibliography at the end of this document.
Aird, Paul L. 1994. Conservation for the sustainable development of forests worldwide: a compendium of concepts and terms. The Forestry Chronicle 70(6):666-674.
Clayoquot Sound Scientific Panel. 1995. Sustainable ecosystem management in Clayoquot Sound: planning and practices. Cortex Consultants, Victoria, B.C. Appendix IV, Glossary, pp.271-293.
DMR Group Inc. 1992. Data model rationalization project for the Resources Inventory Committee, of the B.C. Government - general distribution summary (detail) RIC data model by subject area. DMR Group, Victoria, B.C. viii + 122 p.
Doliner, Laura H. and J.H. Borden. PESTERMS: a glossary of forest pest management terms. Pest Management Report Number 3. Ministry of Forests, Victoria, B.C. v + 34 p.
Forestry Canada. 1992. Silvicultural terms in Canada. Policy and Economics Directorate, Forestry Canada. Hull, Quebec. 63 p.
Forman, Richard T.T. and M. Godron. 1986. Landscape ecology. John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York. Glossary, pp.589-601.
Giles, Hal (coordinator). 1994. Planning glossary of terms. Cariboo Forest Region, Ministry of Forests, Williams Lake, B.C. Mimeo. 51 p.
Hadley, Melissa J. 1993. Determining timber supply & allowable cuts in B.C. - seminar proceedings, March 1993. Association of B.C. Professional Foresters. n.p. Glossary, pp.95-100.
Hunter, Jr., Malcolm L. 1990. Wildlife, forests and forestry - principles of managing forests for biological diversity. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. xiv + 370 p.
Inventory Branch, Ministry of Forests. 1992. Forest inventory manual, volume 1 - Glossary of terms.
Kaufmann, Merrill R. et al. 1994. An ecological basis for ecosystem management, General Technical Report RM-246. USDA Forest Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. pp.16-17.
Merrill, D.F. and M.E. Alexander (editors). 1987. Glossary of forest fire management terms. Canadian Committee on Forest Fire Management, National Research Council Canada. Ottawa, Ontario. v + 91 p.
Ministry of Forests. 1991. Silvicultural systems: their role in British Columbia's forest management. Ministry of Forests, Victoria, B.C. Glossary, pp.35-36.
Ministry of Forests. 1993. Fraser TSA timber supply analysis. Ministry of Forests, Victoria, B.C. Glossary, pp.35-36.
Ministry of Forests. 1995. Glossary of resource planning terms (draft). Resource Planning Section: Range, Recreation and Forest Practices Branch, Ministry of Forests, Victoria, B.C. 37p.
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