Acronyms
Terms:
- AESRD = Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. As of 2015, the AESRD forestry responsibilities have been split between the newly formed Alberta Agriculture and Forestry agency (planning and administration) and Alberta Environment and Parks (regulation and enforcement).
- SRD = Sustainable Resource Development
- SLS = Spray Lake Sawmills
- MPB = Mountain Pine Beetle
- PAC = Public Advisory Committee
Acronyms
List of Initialisms
| AAC | Annual Allowable Cut |
| AOP | Annual Operating Plan |
| ARC | Approval Review Committee |
| BOR | Basic Operating Rules |
| CAPF | College of Alberta Professional Foresters |
| CAPFT | College of Alberta Professional Forest Technologists |
| CCFM | Canadian Council of Forest Ministers |
| CT | Commercial Thinning |
| COP | Codes of Practice (Watercourse Crossings Codes of Practice, Water Act). |
| CSA | Canadian Standards Association |
| C&I | Criteria and Indicators |
| DHAP | Detailed Harvest Area Plan |
| DFMP | Detailed Forest Management Plan |
| EFM | Enhanced Forest Management |
| FLUZ | Forest Land Use Zone |
| FMA | Forest Management Agreement |
| FMP | See definitions – Forest Management Plans (generic) |
| FMU | Forest Management Unit |
| G&Y | Growth and Yield |
| GDP | General Development Plan |
| IRM | Integrated Resource Management |
| IRP | Integrated Resource Management Plan |
| MAIMax | Maximum Mean Annual Increment |
| PCT | Pre-commercial Thinning |
| PDT | Plan Development Team |
| PFMP | Preliminary Forest Management Plan |
| PPG | Public Participation Group |
| RFP | Regulated Forestry Professional |
| RPF | Registered Professional Forester |
| RPFT | Registered Professional Forest Technologist |
| SFM | Sustainable Forest Management |
| SYU | Sustained Yield Unit |
| ToR | Terms of Reference |
| TMR | Timber Management Regulation made under the Forests Act |
| VOIT | Values, Objectives, Indicators and Targets |
Glossary of Terms
| Acceptance | Work with a more limited potential effect (such as, but not limited to silviculture reports, operations inspections). The work is considered approved on the date Alberta acknowledges receipt of the work. Alberta shall notify the organization by acknowledging receipt within 5 working days of submission. The notification date will be documented by Alberta as the start date for FHP approval. Alberta shall periodically check the work and supporting documentation to verify its accuracy. |
| Alberta | The Department of Sustainable Resource Development, including the Public Lands and Forests Division, Fish and Wildlife Division, and Forest Protection Division or as amended from time to time. The agency known as the SRD has now been split between the agency called Alberta Agriculture and Forestry and Alberta Environment and Parks. |
| Alberta Vegetation Inventory (AVI) | An inventory of vegetation and forest stands including non vegetated areas. |
| Analysis | A detailed examination of a body of data, a series of decisions, or the implications of one or more policies, and a determination of what this examination reveals about the nature, function and/or relationships in effect. |
| Annual allowable cut (AAC) | The volume of timber that can be harvested under sustained-yield management in any one year, as stipulated in the pertinent approved forest management plan. In Alberta it is the quadrant cut divided by the number of years in that quadrant, usually five. |
| Annual Operating Plan (AOP) | A plan prepared and submitted by the forest operator each year, which provides the authorization to harvest. An AOP is a requirement of the Timber Management Regulation. (See section B 1.4) |
| Approval | Issued by Alberta. Approval Decision is prepared outlining significant items considered in plan approval and outlining conditions to be met within specified time periods by the Organization or a decision made by Alberta on an AOP. |
| Approval Review Committee | Committee comprised of senior Alberta staff that provides recommendations to the Executive Director of Forest Management Branch regarding DFMPs. |
| Armillaria root rot | Armillaria spp. |
| A-spatial Proxy | A non-spatial representation of a forest management activity that has real elements of space and time. |
| Assumptions | A judgmental decision made by a planner or decision maker that supplies missing values, relationships, or societal preferences for some informational component necessary for making a decision |
| Atropellis canker | Atropellis piniphila |
| Audit | An official examination and verification of records, activities, accounts, actions, operations, etc., against stated standards of performance and compliance. |
| Bared soil | Any soil where the organic layers and vegetation have been removed. |
| Barriers to fire spread | Those biophysical landscape features that either do not burn, or at certain times of the fire season are “fire resistant.” Some of the features that do not burn include water, rock, cultivated fields, improved roads (with a grade). (Stegehuis) |
| Biological diversity (biodiversity) | The variety, distribution and abundance of different plants, animals and microorganisms, the ecological functions and processes they perform, and the genetic diversity they contain at local, regional or landscape levels of analysis. Biodiversity has five principal components: (1) genetic diversity (the genetic complement of all living things); (2) taxonomic diversity (the variety of organisms); (3) ecosystem diversity (the three-dimensional structures on the earth’s surface, including the organisms themselves); (4) functions or ecological services (what organisms and ecosystems do for each other, their immediate surroundings and for the ecosphere as a whole, i.e. processes and connectedness through time and space); and (5) the abiotic matrix within which the above exists, with each being interdependent on the continued existence of the other. [Dunster] |
| Borrow pit | A small quarry or excavation, which provides material for use in the construction project. [Revised from Dunster] |
| Buck | To cut a felled or downed tree into shorter lengths. |
| Buffer | Used in several contexts. 1 In protecting critical nesting habitat areas, the buffer is an area of forest land that reduces the impacts of adjacent activities on the critical area. The dangers associated with adjacent disturbances might include wind-throw or wind damage to nest trees and young birds in the nest, increased predation and loss of interior forest conditions. 2 A strip of land between two areas under different management regimes. Pesticide buffer zones are used to limit the possible drift, run-off or leachate of pesticide from a site into other areas, such as waterbodies or creeks. Streamside buffers are used to limit the effects of logging on creeks, such as siltation, loss of shading, loss of nutrient inputs from trees and degradation of riparian zones. The size and composition of the buffer zone depends on its intended function. 3 An area maintained around a sample or experimental plot to ensure that the latter is not affected by any treatment applied to the area beyond the buffer. 4 In GIS work, a new polygon computed on distance from a point, line or existing polygon. 5 In managing biosphere reserves, an area or edge of a protected area. Examples of compatible activities might include tourism, forestry, agroforestry, etc. The objective of the buffer zone is to provide added protection for the core reserve area. [Dunster] |
| Clearcutting | A regeneration system where all or most of the merchantable trees in a defined area are harvested in one cutting with reproduction obtained through artificial or natural means. |
| Closed Access Road | |
| Coarse filter management | Conservation of land areas and representative habitats with the assumption that the needs of all associated species, communities, environments and ecological processes will be met. [Dunster] |
| College | The College of Alberta Professional Foresters (CAPF) or the College of AlbertaProfessional Forest Technologists (CAPFT). |
| Commercial Thinning | A partial cut where trees of a merchantable size and value are removed to provide an interim harvest while maintaining a high rate of growth on the remaining, well-spaced, final crop trees. Used to capture volume likely to succumb to competition pressures and be lost to disease, insect, or dieback. |
| Commercial timber permit (CTP) | A timber disposition issued under Section 22 of the Forests Act authorizing the permittee to harvest public timber. |
| Compaction | A transfer of wheel pressure to soils causing collapse of large air-filled pores, a type of disturbance when tire imprint is often invisible under the duff layer. Soil susceptibility to compaction is maximal when soil is at field capacity, which can be detected by stability of hand cast. Most of soil compaction occurs during the first passes of equipment because soil gains strength with each additional pass. |
| Compartment | A subsection of an FMA for which operational plans are developed. |
| Connectivity | A measure of how well different areas (patches or a landscape are connected by linkages, such as habitat patches, single or multiple corridors, or ”stepping stones” of like vegetation. The extent to which conditions among late successional/climax forest areas provide habitat for breeding, feeding, dispersal and movement of late successional – or climax-dependent wildlife or fish species. Natural landscapes often tend to be better connected than those that have been heavily influenced and disturbed by human activities. Consequently, there is a body of opinion that the best way to avoid fragmentation of landscapes is to maintain, or re-establish, a network of landscape linkages. At a landscape level, the connectivity of ecosystem functions and processes is of equal importance to the connectivity of habitats. [Dunster] |
| Constraints | The restriction, limiting, or regulation of an activity, quality or state of being to a predetermined or prescribed course of action or inaction. Constraints can be a result of policies or political will; management direction, attitudes and perceptions; or budget, time personnel and data availability limitations; or, more typically, a complex interaction of all these factors. [Dunster] |
| Corrective Actions | May include one or more of the following:- Direct that the work be corrected and re-submitted;- Carry-out an appropriate enforcement response;
– Refer the matter to the Complaints Director of the appropriate College to investigate the complaint. |
| Corridor | 1 A physical linkage connecting two areas of habitat and differing from the habitat on either side. Corridors are used by organisms to move around without having to leave the preferred habitat. A linear habitat patch through which a species must travel to reach habitat more suitable for reproduction and other life sustaining needs. Many corridors, linking several patches of habitat, form a network of habitats. The functional effectiveness of corridors depends on the type of species, the type of movement, the strength of the edge effects and its shape. 2 An area of uniform width bordering both or one side of a lineal feature, such as a stream or route. [Dunster] |
| Cross-drainage structures | Culverts or other drainage structures that permit water to move from one side of a road to the other, normally under the road grade. |
| 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. |
| Deactivation | Taking a road out of active use through implementation of erosion control measures, road blocks and/or other methods. |
| Deciduous timber allocation (DTA) | A quota of deciduous timber. |
| Deleterious material | Section 34(1) of the Fisheries Act defines “deleterious substance” as:(a) any substance that, if added to water, would degrade or alter or form part of a process of degradation or alteration of the quality of that water so that it is rendered or is likely to be rendered deleterious to fish or fish habitat or to the use by man of fish that frequent that water, or(b) any water that contains a substance in such quantity or concentration, or that has been so treated, processed or changed, by heat or other means, from a natural state that it would, if added to any other water, degrade or alter or form part of a process of degradation or alteration of the quality of that water so that it is rendered or is likely to be rendered deleterious to fish or fish habitat or to the use by man of fish that frequent that water. |
| Desired Future Forest | A spatially explicit projected range of conditions of the forest landscape 100+ years into the future. The range of forest conditions defines the goal towards which forest management will be directed. It is our best guess today on the arrangement of forest age classes, roads and habitats that will provide for a set of objectives and desired outcomes that have been identified for the area. |
| Detailed forest management plan (DFMP) | A long-term plan used to outline higher-level management objectives, sustainability and timber production assumptions for a Forest Management Agreement (FMA). |
| Displaced soil | Mixed mineral, surface and sub-surface horizons that have been deposited off the road or disturbed surface to a depth of 15 cm or greater. |
| Disturbance patterns | The spatial and temporal arrangement of disturbances. |
| Ditch blocks | Barriers constructed across ditches to retard water flow, to redirect water from the ditch or to form a small catch basin. |
| Downed woody debris | Woody material >1cm in diameter, stumps and snags < 1.3 m tall and dead trees leaning >45 degrees. The woody material left on site after logging including both pre-existing and harvest-generated material (downed boles, limbs, tops and stumps). Includes highly decomposed and vegetated material as long as it is recognizable as woody. |
| Drought | Extended period of below average precipitation causing a lowering of the water table. Generally occurs over several years but locally may happen seasonally. Signs would be lowering of lake levels and drying of streams that would normally flow all year. |
| Due Diligence | – taking and documenting steps to ensure that the desired outcome is achieved or that the chances of a negative consequence or outcome is minimized.– ensuring completeness, correctness, consistency and repeatability.- demonstrating how conclusions were reached.
– using mechanisms, such as but not limited to checklists and standard operating procedures, to demonstrate that appropriate procedures were followed and to ensure that no relevant steps or considerations were missed. – keeping and maintaining appropriate files and filing systems as well as document retention policies and practices. |
| Duff layer | The organic horizons of the soil profile (LFH). Commonly referred to as the forest floor. |
| Dwarf mistletoe | Arceuthobium americanum Nutt. |
| 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. [Dunster] |
| Embedded operators | Includes quota holders, permittees and other industrial operators with dispositions located within a Forest Management Agreement Area. |
| Enhanced Forest Management (EFM) | Enhanced forest management is defined as improvements in growth projections that result from thinning, fertilizing, tree improvement or drainage. |
| Environmental field report (EFR) | A document that must be submitted for most green area disposition applications as required under the Public Lands Act. The disposition applicant completes the EFR, which includes details on construction practices and environmental issues, and contains operating conditions that apply to the approved disposition. The EFR forms part of the approval for the Public Lands Act disposition. |
| Even-aged stands | A stand of trees in which the age differences among trees are small, usually less than 10 to 20 years, or 30% of the rotation age in stands more than 100 years old. Even-aged stands result from disturbances occurring at one point in time, such as wildfires, a clearcut, a seed tree cut, or a shelterwood cut or coppicing. [Dunster] |
| Features | The features represented on a map which describe the physical aspects of the harvest design. E.g. harvest area boundaries, roads, buffers, wildlife habitat. |
| Fire hazard evaluation | A conversion of forest inventory classifications to fire behaviour prediction fuel typing (AVI2FBP), crown fire threshold modeling (CROSUM) and determination of head fire intensity percentiles (spring, summer and fall). |
| Fire risk occurrence | Location of person-caused and lightning fires in relation to the fire hazard evaluation. It is used to represent “fire danger” in a spatial context. |
| FireSmart Community Zone | A standard 10 kilometre radius around the community extending from the Wildland Urban Interface Zone. A unique data set will be gathered for this zone for community protection planning to provide a fundamental linkage between FireSmart Communities and FireSmart Landscapes |
| FireSmart Landscape Zone | This zone extends beyond the FireSmart Community Zone overlapping multiple jurisdictions at a broad landscape level. This zone focuses on mitigating the likelihood of large, high intensity, high severity fires. Fire, Forest and Land Management planning are integrated and designed to reduce the negative ecological, economic and social impacts of wildfire while maximizing the positive attributes of wildfire. |
| FireSmart Landscapes | The philosophy that seeks to mitigate the likelihood of large, high intensity and high severity fires. FireSmart landscapes are designed to recognize the interaction between ecological, economic and social impacts, hence maximize the positive ecological impacts and minimize the negative economic and social impacts. |
| Floodplains | Flat land bordering a stream or river onto which a flood will spread. The underlying materials are typically unconsolidated and derived from past stream transportation activity. The extent of the floodplain varies according to the volume of water, and its 50-year-old floodplain would be defined by the largest flood that would, on average, occur once within a 50-year-period, estimated from historic stream flow records. [Dunster] |
| Forest Area Manager | The senior Alberta manager located at a Forest Area charged with supervision of all forest management activities in a Forest Area. It may also mean someone else who is authorized to approve an AOP. |
| Forest Health | A condition of the forest; a forest is considered healthy if it can sustain itself to meet the specific forest land management objectives of today or in the future. |
| Forest Management Agreement (FMA) | A contract between the province of Alberta and the FMA holder whereby the province provides an area-based Crown timber supply. In return, the FMA holder commits to the following:Managing the timber resource on a perpetual sustained yield basis, taking into consideration a broad range of forest values in determining forest management practices.Meeting defined economic objectives, including capital investment and job creation, and seeking out new business opportunities that provide measurable economic benefits for both the province and the FMA holder.
The FMA gives the FMA holder the right to access Crown fibre. In return, the FMA holder commits to forest management responsibilities, which may change from time to time. |
| Forest Management Plan | Generic term for Preliminary Forest Management Plans, Detailed Forest Management Plans, Forest Management Unit Plans, General Development Plans, Annual Operating Plans. |
| Forest Management Unit (FMU) | An administrative unit of forest land designated by the Minister, as authorized under Section 14(1) of the Forests Act. |
| Forest officer | An employee of Alberta appointed in accordance with the Public Service Act who represents the Minister in the administration of the Forests Act, the Timber Management Regulation, the Public Lands Act, and the Forest and Prairie Protection Act and Regulations on public forested lands. |
| Forest operations | Includes all activities related to timber harvesting, including site assessments, planning, road construction, harvesting, reclamation and reforestation. |
| Forest operator | The timber disposition holder or person responsible for controlling harvest planning and operations in the timber disposition. It also refers to those persons working on behalf of the disposition holder while conducting forest operations. |
| Forest tent caterpillar | Malacosoma disstria |
| Forests Act, the | The legislative statute that authorizes the Minister to administer and manage the forested lands of Alberta. |
| Full Review | An evaluation of the acceptability for approval of a submitted document involving referrals to government departments, independent experts, or others as appropriate, and a risk analysis prior to Alberta granting approval to the submitting Organization. |
| Genetic Diversity | The genetic variability within a population or a species; the number and relative abundance of alleles. Genetic diversity can be assessed at three levels:Diversity within breeding populations,Diversity between breeding populations within any one geographic area,
Diversity within the species |
| Grazing disposition | An authorization issued by Alberta for the purpose of domestic livestock grazing on public land (i.e., lease, license or permit). |
| Green-up period | The time needed to re-establish vegetation after a disturbance. Specific green-up periods may be established to satisfy visual objectives or hydrological requirements, or as a means of ensuring re-establishment of vegetation (for silviculture, wildlife habitat or hydrological reasons) before adjacent stands can be harvested. |
| Ground Rules | Standards for operational planning and field practices that must be measurable and auditable and based forest management plan objectives. |
| Growing Stock | The sum (by number, basal area or volume) of trees in a forest or a specified part of it. |
| Guideline | A preferred or advisable course of action respecting land and resource management. Guidelines imply a degree of flexibility, based on administrative judgment or feasibility of applying the guideline, and are consequently not normally enforceable through legal means. |
| Harvest area | A specified land area with defined boundaries where timber harvesting is scheduled, or has occurred. (commonly referred to as a cut block) |
| Harvest area form | A map and harvest area comments for each laid-out harvest area. |
| Hiding cover | See “sight distance.” |
| High-water mark | Stream course water levels corresponding to the top of the unvegetated channel or lakeshore. |
| Historical resource | Any work of nature or man that is primarily of value for its palaeontological, archaeological, prehistoric, historic, cultural, natural, scientific or aesthetic interest, including, but not limited to, the structure or object and its surrounding site. |
| Interpretive Bulletin | Document issued from time to time by Alberta describing protocols, standards, methods or other applicable to forest management planning. |
| Harvest area aesthetics | Overall quality of operations in respect to the real or imagined effect on visual quality and/or the environment within a particular harvest area. |
| Harvest Level | A volume or area of timber determined through timber supply analysis available for harvest on an annual sustainable basis within a DFA. A harvest level is not an AAC unless approved by the Minister. |
| Industrial Access Route | |
| Inoperable | Classification of a forest site based on the potential to harvest timber on that site, as affected by physiographic characteristics, moisture regime and harvesting equipment/technology. |
| Insects and Diseases | Biological, physiological, and environmental agents that have an adverse effect on the health of the forest. These agents include insects; nematodes; micro-organisms (viruses, bacteria, fungi); parasitic plants; mammals; birds; and non-infectious disorders caused by climate, soil, applied chemicals, air pollutants and other physiographic conditions. |
| Integrated resource management (IRM) | IRM is an interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach to decision making for the management of natural resources. IRM integrates decisions, legislation, policies, programs and activities across sectors to gain the best overall long-term benefits for society and to minimize conflicts. This approach recognizes that the use of a resource for one purpose can affect both the use of a resource for other purposes and the management and use of other resources. IRM is based on:Co-operation, communication, co-ordination and the comprehensive consideration of all resource values. This philosophy is centered on the belief that efforts to manage natural resources will be more successful if they are co-ordinated at all levels within government; andAppropriate consultation before action. Those who are significantly affected by a decision should have the opportunity to participate in the decision making process. |
| Integrated resource plan | A regional plan developed by provincial government agencies in consultation with the public and local government bodies. It provides strategic policy direction for the use of public land and its resources within the prescribed planning area. It is used as a guide for resource planners, industry and publics with responsibilities or interests in the area. This plan has been replaced with regional land use plans such as the SSRP. |
| Interests | The wants, needs, concerns and desires of each party that provide motivation to be concerned about an issue or topic. |
| Interior forest conditions | The environmental conditions typical of the central or interior part of a habitat patch. They are usually relatively stable and are not influenced by the changing climatic conditions and other variables (noise, wind, sunlight, temperature, moisture) associated with edge conditions. [Dunster] |
| Issue | The topic to be discussed. The problem to be solved. The theme of the discussion. |
| Jack pine budworm | Choristoneura pinus |
| Land Management Unit | An ecological grouping of compartments. See map 4 of the C5 Forest Management Plan. |
| Landing | Any area where logs are gathered for processing or further transport to a mill site. |
| Landscape | A landscape (or LMU) is a heterogeneous area in which the pattern of the mosaic of local ecosystems or land uses is repeated in similar form throughout kilometres wide area (after Forman 1986). Landscapes may coincide with a climatic, physiographic or ecological boundary. However, landscapes are not strictly ecologically based and include human use and modification of the area. |
| Landscape fire assessment | Information on the effects of fire which may be used to influence forest management strategies and tactics over a landscape. The wildfire threat component of the landscape fire assessment handles the negative aspects of fire, and fire regime analysis handles the positive attributes. Both “wildfire threat” and “fire regime” need to be considered in order to provide a balanced “landscape fire assessment.” [Stegehuis] |
| Large patch of residual trees | A 0.2 to 2 ha patch of undisturbed canopy forest surrounded by harvested area. At least half of the trees in the patch should be large residual trees. |
| Large residual tree | A residual tree with a diameter measured at breast height (DBH) greater than the approximate average merchantable tree DBH of the harvest area. |
| Letter(s) of Understanding | An agreement(s) signed between the Organization and the Crown outlining commitments and timelines for each party on future timber production audits as referenced in the “Timber Audit Framework.” |
| License of occupation (LOC) | A disposition issued by Alberta authorizing occupation of a linear corridor, often for an access road. |
| Logfill | Stream crossings constructed with logs placed in a streambed parallel to the flow of the water. |
| Logging slash | The unusable trees, shrubs or portions thereof that result after tree felling, skidding and processing at the harvest site. |
| Machine-free zone | The area protected from machinery which would cause soil damage. |
| Mass-wasting | Movement of large masses of land, soil or regolith (i.e., slumping, landslides, rock slides and massive undercut erosion). |
| Mature stands | Stands that have reached rotation age or have a decreasing growth rate. |
| Mean Annual Increment | 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. |
| Maximum Mean Annual Increment | The volume available at the culmination of mean annual increment. The volume/ha described by the point on a volume/ha:age graph where the curve of mean annual increment crosses the curve of the current annual increment (CAI). |
| Mixedwood forest | A forest type in which the softwood component is between 20% and 80% by crown closure. |
| Model | An idealized representation of reality developed to describe, analyse or understand the behaviour of some aspect of this reality. A mathematical representation of relationships under study. The quest to find a subset of variables and a function between them that predicts one or more dependent variables. |
| Mountain pine beetle | Dendroctonus ponderosae |
| Noxious Weed | A plant designated under the Weed Regulation (AR 171/2001) of the Weed Control Act. |
| Organization | The proponent charged with developing the FMP. This may be a corporation, cooperative, or a public agency. |
| Partial cutting | A treatment where significantly less than 100% of the trees are harvested from a stand or area. It includes commercial thinning, even when the intention is leading to a final clearcut. |
| Pattern | The arrangement of forest stands or harvest units. |
| Permanent reserve | An area permanently excluded from harvesting in the DFMP. |
| Permanent roads | Roads that will be in use for more than five years. |
| Permanent sample plots (PSP) | A fixed or variable area plot established for (forest) sampling and measurement purposes, and designed for remeasurement. |
| Phase III forest inventory | A provincial forest inventory of the forested lands of Alberta. |
| Planning Horizon | The length of time over which a series of defined management actions occur. For the purposes of modeling, usually equivalent to two full rotations. |
| Precautionary AAC | A level of harvest set that minimizes the risk of negatively impacting forest resources from an inadequately justified management assumption or in the absence of a comprehensive DFMP for the DFA. |
| Pre-commercial Thinning | A silvicultural treatment to reduce tree density in young stands, carried out before the stems reach merchantable size. The intent is to concentrate the site’s growth potential on fewer trees thereby accelerating stand development and reducing the time to final harvest, retaining more live crown, creating opportunities for future commercial thinning activities and improving stand operability. |
| Preliminary ForestManagement Plan | A plan submitted by FMA holders within 12 months of signing a new agreement (includes a major revision to an existing agreement). It establishes an interim harvest level and cut sequence complete with justifications. This plan is the basis for harvest authorization until replaced by the Detailed Forest Management Plan. |
| Prescribed burn | The planned use of carefully controlled fire to accomplish predetermined management goals (e.g., site preparation for planting, reduction of fire hazards or pest problems, improvement of the ease with which the site can be traversed, and creation of better quality browse for wildlife). [Dunster] |
| Prohibited debris | Any flammable debris or waste material that, when burned, may result in the release of dense smoke, offensive odours or toxic air contaminants. It includes:(a) Garbage or refuse from commercial or industrial operations(b) Rubber or plastic, or anything containing or coated with rubber or plastic or similar substances
(c) Used oil from internal combustion engines, hydraulic oil and lubricants (d) Motor vehicle tires. |
| Quadratic Diameter | The diameter of the tree with average basal area for a given stand. |
| Quota | The timber quota is a share of the allowable cut of coniferous timber within a forest management unit. |
| Reclamation of roads | Permanent removal of watercourse crossings; re-contouring of road crown and ditches; reseeding or planting of the former right-of-way. |
| Recreationalist | A person who participates in outdoor activities in the forest, such as horseback riding, ATV riding, snowmobiling, hiking, cross-country skiing, wilderness area experience, hunting, fishing, berry-picking, wildlife viewing, photography, camping, canoeing, etc. |
| Recreation Site/Forest Land Use Zones (FLUZ) | Includes areas designated by Alberta as Ecological Reserves, Wilderness Areas, Wildland Parks, Provincial Parks, Heritage Rangelands, Natural Areas, Recreation areas, and Recognized Random Camp Sites or designated trails as shown in the C5 FMP or on FLUZ maps. |
| Regeneration | The renewal of a tree crop by natural or artificial means. It may also refer to the young crop itself. |
| Regulated Forestry Professional | A Registered Professional Forester (RPF) on the Registered Professional Forester Register of the College of Alberta Professional Foresters (CAPF) or a Registered Professional Forest Technologist (RFPT) on the Registered Professional Forest Technologist Register of the College of Alberta Professional Forest Technologists (CAPFT). |
| Reserve | In its strictest sense, an area of land designated as being off-limits to any exploitive activities that might change the nature of the area. Not all reserves are so tightly controlled. [Dunster] |
| Residual structure | Standing structure that is taller than 3 m, within a harvested area. Areas buffered for sensitive ecological or wildlife habitat may be included for residuals. Required buffers for lakes and small and large permanent streams are not included. This includes non-merchantable trees and shrubs, live merchantable trees, snags and stubs. |
| Residual tree | A live canopy tree that is spatially within a harvested area. Areas buffered for sensitive ecological or wildlife habitat may be included for residuals. Required buffers for lakes, small and large permanent streams are not included. |
| Resources | Physical and intrinsic features of the land, including but not limited to timber, wildlife, water and soil. |
| Restricted Weed | A plant designated under the Weed Regulation (AR 171/2001) of the Weed Control Act. |
| Review | Acceptance or appraisal conducted by Alberta |
| Review Team | A group of senior Alberta officials and the Forest Management Planning Forester formed to review detailed forest management plans. |
| Right-of-way (ROW) | A cleared area, usually linear, containing a road and its associated features such as shoulders, ditches, cut and fill slopes, or the area cleared for the passage of utility corridors containing power lines or over- or under-ground pipelines. Typically, the right-of-way is a specially designated area of land having very specific rights of usage attached. Rights-of-way may be owned by someone else. [Dunster] |
| Riparian area or management zone | (1) The band of land that has a significant influence on a stream ecosystem or is significantly affected by the stream. It often has specialized plant and animal communities associated with it. [Anon](2)Terrestrial areas where the vegetation complex and microclimate conditions are products of the combined presence and influence of perennial and/or intermittent water, associated high water tables and soils that exhibit some wetness characteristics. Normally used to refer to the zone within which plants grow rooted in the water table of these rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, springs, marshes, seeps, bogs and wet meadows. The riparian zone is influenced by, and exerts an influence on, the associated aquatic ecosystem. [Dunster] |
| Root collar weevils | Hylobius spp. |
| Rotation | The period of years required to establish and grow even-aged timber crops to a specified condition of maturity. |
| Ruts | Machine depressions in the soil which are determined by depth and length: where the depth of the organic dark humus material is greater than 30 cm, a rut is a depression that shears the organic layer of soil (a sheared organic will expose a vertical face greater than 20 cm of the organic layer).Where the depth of the organic material is less than 30 cm, a rut is a depression exceeding 10 cm into the mineral soil.Length: An impacted area meeting the rut depth criteria that is greater than 4 m long.
A continuous track with a rut less than 4 m because of stumps, logs or rocks lifting the vehicle will still count as a rut if the total length of the smaller holes is greater than 4 m. |
| Rutting/ puddling | A paste-like behaviour of wet soil when most of the soil pores are filled with water and soil literally flows from underneath the wheel to the sides and upward forming visible tire imprint into the mineral soil. Intensity/depth of rutting is directly related to the number of equipment passes. Soil is considered susceptible to rutting when it forms a stable hand cast. |
| Selection Harvesting | A silvicultural system used to create or maintain uneven aged stands. Usually accomplished through the periodic removal of groups of trees or individual trees, while full residual stand growth rates are maintained and natural regeneration from overstory trees is encouraged. Not to be confused with selective harvesting, or high-grading, where trees are selected and removed periodically based solely on economic criteria. Selective harvest is not designed to improve the growing conditions of the remaining crop trees as Selection harvest is. |
| Sensitive or Complex sites | Sites that have soil, water, slope, aesthetic, vegetation or wildlife characteristics that require special protection beyond the normal precautions described in the ground rules. They may be complex if many values or issues are involved. |
| Sensitive soil site | Any site that may be prone to soil movement, soil erosion, mass wasting or siltation due to steep slopes, wet ground, seepage areas, springs, fine textured soils or soils prone to mass wasting. |
| Sensitivity Analysis | An analytical procedure in which the value of one or more parameters is varied; the changes that this produces are analysed in a series of iterative evaluations. If a small change in a parameter results in a proportionately larger change in the results, the results are said to be sensitive to the parameter. |
| Seral stages | A stage in succession. A series of plant community conditions that develop during ecological succession from a major disturbance to the climax stage. Most common characteristics/classifications include tree species and age. |
| Sight distance | The distance at which 90% or more of an adult big game animal is hidden from the view of a human. This distance may vary from one stand to another. |
| Silt fence | Permeable fabric barriers installed along the contour to filter surface water runoff and trap sediment from sheet or overland flow and prevent it from entering streams. |
| Silvicultural systems | Systems that follow accepted silvicultural principles, whereby the tree crops are tended, harvested and replaced to produce a crop of a desired form. This includes even-aged (i.e., clearcutting, shelterwood or seed tree cutting) or uneven-aged (i.e., selection cutting) systems. A planned program of silviculture treatments over the life of a stand, it includes the harvesting and the follow-up tending to the next rotation. [Smith, 1996] |
| Silvicultural Transitions | Stand type or cover type changes resulting from planned silvicultural practices on the DFA in natural and managed stands (i.e. natural to managed, managed to managed). Changes relate to species and species mixes, densities and growth trajectories from basic or enhanced management. |
| Silviculture | The theory and practice of controlling the establishment, composition, health, structure and growth of forests in order to achieve specified management objectives. |
| Site preparation | Any action taken in conjunction with a reforestation effort (natural or artificial) to create an environment favourable for survival of suitable trees during the first growing season. Altering the ground cover, soil or microsite conditions can create this environment; using biological, mechanical or manual clearing; prescribed burns; herbicides or a combination of methods. [Dunster] |
| Skid trail | An unimproved temporary forest trail suitable for use by equipment such as bulldozers and skidders in bringing trees or logs to a landing or road. |
| Slenderness Coefficient | The ratio of height to diameter at breast height. Used to estimate windthrow and breakage potential of a stand. |
| Small patch of residual trees | A patch of less than 0.2 ha of undisturbed canopy forest surrounded by harvested area. The patch must be composed of at least four canopy trees. At least two of the trees in the patch should be large residual trees. |
| Snag | A dead tree that is taller than 2 m. |
| Soil Displacement | A loss of nutrient-rich organic layers, and top mineral soil as a result of harvesting activities. Bare mineral soil is susceptible to raindrop impact causing soil crusting, increased surface runoff, and erosion. |
| Soil disturbance | In the context of the 5% maximum allowable area within a harvest area, includes bared landing areas, temporary roads, displaced soils or ruts. |
| Soil productivity | The capacity of a soil to provide for growth. |
| Spacing Factor | Inter-tree distance expressed as a percentage of the stand’s top height. |
| Spatial | Of, or existing in, space. [Webster’s] |
| Species at risk | Any species known to be ”at risk” after formal detailed status assessment and designation as “Endangered” or “Threatened” in Alberta. The list of species is maintained by Alberta. |
| Species of management concern | Species within the forest management planning area that have an identified value (social, economic, ecological) and are managed to ensure their continued protection and/or use. This includes species that are hunted or trapped, as well as those that are endangered or threatened. |
| Spruce beetle | Dendroctonus rufipennis |
| Stakeholders | Includes all persons with a disposition on the land as well as recognized interest groups eg. trail users, off highway vehicles, or watershed groups. |
| Stand | A community of trees sufficiently uniform in species, age, arrangement or condition as to be distinguishable as a group in the forest or other growth in the area. A stand may also be that polygon as defined in the AVI or Phase III inventory. |
| Stand Density Management Diagram (SDMD) | A stand model based on data from the –3/2 power law for self-thinning. Illustrates the relationships between diameter and height with stand density over time. |
| Strippings | Layers of humus-bearing topsoil and fine woody material above mineral soil that have been stripped off during road or landing construction. |
| Stub | A large residual tree that has been “topped off” at approximately 6 m to create an artificial snag. |
| Subgrade | The road base. |
| Subsequent pass | Any harvest occurring after the first harvest pass. |
| Suppression capability | The effectiveness of traditional fire suppression tactics. It is an objective evaluation of initial attack response time, access for ground support resources, water availability and terrain which might adversely impact movement of resources. |
| Sustainable forest management (SMF) | Management to maintain and enhance the long-term health of forest ecosystems, while providing ecological, economic, social and cultural opportunities for the benefit of present and future generations. |
| Temporal | Of, or limited by, time. [Webster’s] |
| Temporary field authority (TFA) | An authority issued under Section 19 of the Public Lands Act by an Alberta officer to grant short-term land use activities on public land in the White or Green Areas. The TFA may or may not be related to an existing disposition that has also been issued under the Public Lands Act. The concept is to provide field-level service to an applicant, with access to public land for a specific purpose/use/activity, for a term of less than or equal to one year. |
| Temporary road | Roads that are part of a harvest area or that connect harvest areas, and are built, used and reclaimed before expiry of the Annual Operating Plan (AOP) or reclaimed within five years of construction. |
| Thermal cover | Generally, an area of at least 10 ha having a coniferous canopy at least 10 m in height, with at least 70% crown closure and a minimum width of 200 m. This cover is used by animals to assist in their temperature regulation during extreme weather conditions. |
| Three-pass harvest | A harvest pattern in which all the available merchantable timber in an area is harvested in three separate passes. Normally it is done over approximately equal areas and in equal volumes. |
| Timber disposition | Licenses and permits that allow forest operators to harvest from Crown lands. |
| Timber Management Regulation | The legislative statute that describes the mechanism and regulations by which the forested lands of Alberta are managed. The Regulation is associated with the Forests Act. |
| Timber Operations | Includes all activities related to timber harvesting including site assessments, planning, road construction, harvesting, reclamation and reforestation. |
| Timber supply analysis (TSA) | Calculations/computer models with built-in assumptions regarding forest growth patterns, used to determine the annual allowable cut (AAC). |
| Timing constraints | A restriction or limitation on when an activity may be carried out. |
| Tolerance Limits | Acceptable degree of change that can be allowed before corrective action is taken. |
| Trapper | Holder of a trapping license. |
| Two-pass harvest | A harvest pattern in which all the merchantable timber in an area is harvested in two harvest passes. Normally, the harvest is done over approximately equal areas and in equal volumes. |
| Understorey | The trees and other woody species growing under the canopies of larger adjacent trees and other woody growth. [Dunster] |
| Uneven-aged stand | Stands in which the trees differ markedly in age, usually with a span greater than 20 years. |
| Unstable slope | Slopes of loose or poorly consolidated materials beyond the angle of repose, geological features having a high probability of failure, or soils that will not support loads. |
| Utilization | The portion of the stand or individual tree used for manufacture of wood products, defined in terms of piece length and diameter at each end. Minimum standards for utilization are defined in the timber disposition. |
| Validated work (Validation) | Work that has been prepared by, or reviewed and approved by an RFP. These professionals are subject to an enforceable code of ethics and standards of practice and are expected to complete their work with due diligence to ensure such work is accurate. The RFPs who validate the work may have done the work themselves, contracted the work to be done, or supervised those who did the work, but in any case, the validating RFPs are accountable for the work being prepared with due diligence and being accurate. If more than one RFP is involved in preparing the work, the RFP that is most directly involved in the work is to validate the work. |
| Values at risk | A listing of values which may be at risk of being reduced by wildfire. In order to complete a spatial “priority” evaluation, information regarding values is required. |
| Variance (SHS) | Any deletion to a stand scheduled in the spatial harvest sequence. Additions to stands identified in the spatial harvest sequence are not considered variance but are tracked in section 4.1 of the ground rules. |
| Viable understorey | Trees of desirable merchantable species that are windfirm and of sufficient vigour that they will continue to grow after harvest. |
| Viewshed | The visible area, as it appears from one or more viewpoints. |
| Visual impact analysis (VIA) | Estimates visual impact potential, determines acceptable design and layout, and guides measures to be taken during and upon completion of operations to reduce visual contrast. |
| Visual quality objectives (VQO) | Broad objectives for visual resource management that set limits considered acceptable to the average viewer, as to the form and scale of visible alteration. |
| Visual resource assessment (VRA) | A relatively intensive reconnaissance of a landscape or parts of a landscape. A forest management planning framework for assessing Alberta’s visual resource base in a consistent and systematic manner. Consists of four planning phases: visual resource inventory, visual quality objectives, visual impact analysis and total resource design. |
| Visual resource inventory (VRI) | A quick and simple process of recording the expanses of viewable area, noting key features, their prominence and sensitivity in order to better direct proposed harvesting operations in scenic or visually important areas. |
| Visual Resource Management | A standardized process of identifying and assessing visual values to ensure that proposed industrial developments in visually sensitive areas of Alberta, are planned and developed in a consistent manner. The process used is called a Visual Resource Assessment. |
| Water availability | Availability of water which can be utilized for fire suppression. |
| Water regime | Timing of water flow. |
| Water source area | That portion of a watershed where soils are water-saturated and/or surface flow occurs and contributes directly to streamflow. The area of saturated interflow associated with a stream. |
| Watercourse | The bed, bank or shore of a river, stream, creek or lake or other natural body of water, whether it contains or conveys water continuously or intermittently. |
| Watershed | An area of land, which may or may not be under forest cover, that drains water, organic matter, dissolved nutrients and sediments into a lake or stream. The topographic boundary, usually a height of land, that marks the dividing line from which surface streams flow in two different directions. [Dunster] |
| Western gall rust
Wetlands |
Endocronartium harknesii
Land that is saturated with water long enough to promote the formation of water altered soils, growth of water tolerant vegetation, and biological activity adapted to a wet environment (government of Alberta 2013). |
| Wildland Urban Interface Zone | The area where various structures and other human developments meet or are intermingled with the forest and other vegetative fuel types. |
| Wildlife | Any species of amphibian, bird, fish, mammal and reptile found in the wild, living unrestrained or free roaming and not domesticated. Some definitions include plants, fungi, algae and bacteria. [Dunster] |
| Wildlife corridor | A strip of forest with a minimum width of 100m that connects two forested areas. |
| Wildlife zone | As defined on Fish and Wildlife Referral Maps. |
| Windfirm boundaries | Harvest area boundaries established at locations that are stable and that minimize the potential for timber losses from wind. |
| Yield Curve | Graphical representation of a yield table. |
| Yield Table | A summary table showing, for stands (usually even aged) of one or more species on different sites, characteristics at different ages of the stand. |
| Zone of Imminent Competition Mortality (ZICM) | The density at which mortality occurs due to intra-specific competition. |
