Affected Environment - The physical, and human-related environment that is sensitive to changes resulting from the proposed actions.

Aggraded - A condition where sediment has accumulated in the stream channel.

Air Quality - Refers to standards for various classes of land as designated by the Clean Air Act, P.L. 88-206:Jan., 1988.

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

Allowable Cut - Amount of timber which can be harvested in any given year.

Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ) - The quantity of timber that may be sold, from the area of suitable land covered by the Forest Plan, for a time period specified by the Plan. This quantity is usually expressed on an annual basis as the “average annual allowable sale quantity.”

Allochthonous - Organic matter in the stream that is produced outside of the stream, usually by riparian plants and trees. Autothonous organic matter is produced in the stream, by algae and aquatic plants.

Alluvial - Materials transported and deposited by water.

Alternative - A mix of management prescriptions applied to specific land areas to achieve a set of goals and objectives. The alternative provides management direction for the proposed project which reflects identified public and management concerns for the Decision Area.

Analysis Area - The Analysis Area is the area that bounds the analysis for a particular resource and/or issue. It may be confused with the Project Area which is the area within which the proposed activities are limited to.

Background - That part of a scene, landscape, etc., which is furthest from the viewer, usually from three miles to infinity from the observer.

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

Best Management Practices (BMPs) - Practices determined by the State to be the most effective and practical means of preventing or reducing the amount of water pollution generated by non-point sources, to meet water quality goals.

Big Game - Those species of large mammals normally managed as a sport hunting resource.

Big Game Summer Range - A range, usually at higher elevation, used by deer and elk during the summer. Summer ranges are usually much more extensive than winter ranges.

Big Game Winter Range - A range, usually at lower elevation, used by migratory deer and elk during the winter months; more clearly defined and smaller than summer ranges.

Biological Diversity (Biodiversity) - The relative distribution and abundance of different plant and animal communities and species within an area.

Biological Evaluation - A documented Forest Service review of activities in sufficient detail to determine how an action or proposed action may affect any threatened, endangered, proposed or sensitive species.

Board Foot (bf) - The amount of wood equivalent to one foot by one inch thick.

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

Browse - Twigs, leaves, and young shoots of trees and shrubs on which animals feed.

Canopy - The more-or-less continuous cover of branches and foliage formed collectively by the crown of adjacent trees.

Cavity - The excavated hollow in trees by birds or other natural phenomena; used for roosting and reproduction by many birds and mammals.

Cavity Excavator - An animal that constructs cavities in trees for nesting or roosting.

Channel Types - The following are the channel types, as defined by Rosgen, 1985.

      A Type - is well confined and low sinuosity

      B Type - is moderately confined and moderate sinuosity

      C Type - is unconfined and moderate to high sinuosity

      D Type - is multiple channels and very high sinuosity

Chipping - The reduction of woody residue by a portable chipper to chips that are left to decay on the forest floor.

Classified Road – A road that is constructed or maintained for long-term highway vehicle use. Classified roads may be public, private, or forest development.

Clearcut Harvest - A harvest regeneration method under an even-aged silvicultural system in which the existing stand of trees is removed.

Climax - The culminating stage in plant succession for a given site where the vegetation has reached a highly stable condition over time and perpetuates itself unless disturbed by outside forces.

Climax Species - Those species that dominate a climax stand.

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) - The listing of various regulations pertaining to management and administration of the National Forests.

Commercial Thinning - Tree thinning that produces merchantable material at least equal in value to the direct costs of harvesting.

Compaction - The packing together of soil particles by forces exerted at the soil surface, resulting in increased soil density.

Compartments - A geographic area delineated by a sub-watershed drainage for management planning purposes.

Condition Class - A grouping of timber stands into size-age-stocking classes for Forest planning.

Conifer - Any of a group of needle and cone-bearing evergreen trees.

Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) - An advisory council to the President, established by NEPA. It reviews federal programs for their effect on the environment, conducts environmental studies and advises the President on environmental matters.

Cover - Vegetation used by wildlife for protection from predators or to escape the adverse effects of weather.

Cover complexity - Cover complexity is a qualitative rating of the combinations of different types of cover in one habitat unit. Greater cover complexity would be expected to yield greater fish abundance.

Cover/opening Ratio - The mixture of cover and forage areas on a unit of land, expressed as a ratio.

Cultural Resources - The remains of sites, structures, or objects used by humans in the past-historic or prehistoric.

Cumulative Effect - The impact on the environment which results from the incremental impact of the action when added to other actions. Cumulative impacts can also result from individually minor, but collectively significant, actions taking place over a period of time.

Cumulative Effects Area (CEA) - The area that is used for assessing cumulative impacts (see above).

Decision Area - The geographic area defining the scope of this document and the alternatives proposed by it.

Decommissioning - Some of the roads are discussed in terms of “decommissioning”. This term is used to refer to a specific type of road closure. On a decommissioned road, access would be controlled by means of a moderately sized berm or “tank trap” impassable to vehicles but capable of being easily bulldozed to permit vehicle passage if the road is recommissioned in the future. For all decommissioned roads, water bars are installed, the road bed is seeded, all culverts are removed and self maintaining cross road drainage is provided.

Developed Recreation - Recreation dependent on facilities provided to enhance recreation opportunities in concentrated use areas. Examples are ski areas, resorts and campgrounds.

Diameter at Breast Height (dbh) - The diameter of a tree measured four feet, six inches above the ground.

Dispersed Recreation - Recreation that occurs outside of developed recreation sites requiring few, if any, facilities or other improvements and includes such activities as hunting, hiking, viewing scenery and cross-country skiing.

Displacement of Soil - The movement of the forest floor (litter, duff, and humus layers) and surface soils from one place to another by mechanical forces such as a blade used in piling and windrowing. Mixing of surface soil layers by disking, chopping, or bedding operation, is not considered displacement.

Duff - An organic surface soil layer below the litter layer in which the original form of plant and animal matter cannot be identified with the unaided eye.

Ecosystem - Any community of organisms along with its environment, forming an interacting system.

Ecotone - The boundary or transition zone between adjacent plant communities.

Edge - Where plant communities meet or where successional stage or vegetation conditions within the plant community come together.

Effects (or impacts) - Environmental consequences (the scientific and analytical basis for comparison of alternatives) as a result of a proposed action. Effects may be either direct, which are caused by the action and occur at the same time and place, indirect, which are caused by the action and are later in time or farther removed in distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable, or cumulative.

Endangered Species - Any plant or animal species which is in danger of extinction throughout all, or a significant portion of its range (Endangered Species Act of 1973).

Endemic- The population of potentially injurious plants, animals or diseases that are at their normal balances level, in contrast to epidemic.

Environment - The aggregate of physical, biological, economic, and social factors affecting organisms in an area.

Environmental Assessment (EA) - A concise public document which serves to: a. briefly provide sufficient evidence and analysis for determining whether to prepare an EIS, or a finding of No Significant Impact; b. Aid an agency’s compliance with NEPA when no EIS is necessary; c. facilitate preparation of an EIS when necessary.

Environmental Impact Statement - A detailed summary prepared by the responsible official in which a major Federal action which significantly affects the quality of the human environment is described, alternatives to the proposed action provided, and the effects analyzed.

Ephemeral Streams - Streams that flow only as a direct response to rainfall or snowmelt events. They have no baseflow.

Epidemic - The populations of plants, animals and diseases that build-up, often rapidly, to highly abnormal and generally injurious levels.

Erosion - The detachment and transport of individual soil particles by wind, water, or gravity.

Eutrophication - The process of excessive addition of inorganic nutrients, organic matter and/or silt to lakes and reservoirs, leading to increased biological production and a decrease in volume.

Evenaged Management - The application of a combination of actions that result in the creation of stands in which trees of essentially the same age grow together. Clearcut, shelterwood or seedtree harvest methods produce even-aged stands.

Evenaged Stands - Stands in which all trees are of about the same age ( a spread of 10 to 20 years is generally considered one age class).

Fauna - Animals, including lesser form such as insects, mites, etc.

Federal Candidate Taxa - A classification category for those threatened, endangered and sensitive plants or animals listed in the Federal Register (Sept. 27, 1985), and other plants recommended for addition to the Federal Candidate list.

Flatwater - Flatwater is slower flowing water that does not have the turbulence associated with a riffle due to lower gradient or more depth. For the fisheries survey, flatwater was classified as run, glide or pocketwater.

Floodplain - The lowland and relatively flat areas adjoining inland and coastal waters, including, at a minimum, that area subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year.

Flora - Plants

Forage - All browse and non-woody plants that are available to livestock or game animals and used for grazing or harvested for feeding.

Forage Areas - Vegetated areas with less than 60 percent combined canopy closure of tree and tall shrub (greater than seven feet in height).

Forb - An herbaceous plant that is not a graminod.

Foreground - That part of a scene, landscape, etc., which is nearest to the viewer, and in which detail is evident, usually one quarter to one-half mile from the observer.

Forest Development Road – A road wholly or partially within or adjacent to a National Forest System boundary that is necessary for the protection, administration, and use of National Forest System lands, which the Forest Service has authorized and over which the agency maintains jurisdiction.

Fry - Recently hatched fish.

Fuel Treatment - Manipulation or reduction of natural or activity fuels (generated by a management activity such as slash left from logging) to reduce fire hazard.

Fuels - Combustible materials present in the forest which potentially contribute a significant fire hazard.

Genetic Seedlings - Tree seedlings from a genetically superior seed source. The seeds are collected from trees displaying exceptional form and raised in nurseries during outplanting. The seedlings usually have faster growth rates than naturally regenerated seedlings.

Graminoid - All grasses and grasslike plants, including sedges and rushes.

Group Selection - An uneven-aged silvicultural harvest system in which all trees in a small group are removed for regeneration purposes. The size of the group is small enough in area that all subsequent regeneration will be influenced by the surrounding uncut stand. Cuts are generally 0.25 - 2.0 acres in size.

Growing Season - That part of the year when temperatures and moisture are favorable for vegetation growth.

Habitat - The sum total of environmental conditions of a specific place occupied by a wildlife species or a population of such species.

Habitat Type - An aggregation of all land areas potentially capable of producing similar plant communities at climax stage.

Hardwood - A broad-leaved tree.

Hiding Cover - Vegetation capable of hiding 90 percent of a standing adult deer or elk at 200 feet or less. Includes some shrub stands and all forested stand conditions with adequate tree stem density or shrub layer to hide animals. In some cases, topographic features also can provide hiding cover.

High Risk - Individual or groups of trees that are live (green) but that have the physical characteristics favorable to insect infestation or disease infections. Trees in this category are subject to mortality and loss of economic value.

Immature Timber - Trees that have not attained full development, especially height.

Immediate Foreground - That part of the foreground which is extremely critical for visual detail, usually within 400 feet of the observer.

Indicator Species - See Management Indicator Species.

Indirect Effects - Secondary effects which occur in locations other than the initial action or significantly later in time.

Individual Tree Selection - An unevenaged silvicultural harvest system that removes selected trees of all size classes on an individual basis.

Intensive Management - A high investment level of timber management that includes precommercial and commercial thinnings, plantings with genetically improved stock, control of competing vegetation, and other practices which increase tree growth.

Interdisciplinary (ID) Team - A group of professional specialists with expertise in different resources that collaborate to develop and evaluate management alternatives.

Interdisciplinary Approach - Utilization of one or more individuals representing areas of knowledge and skills focusing on the same task, problem, or subject. Team member interaction provides needed insight to all stages of the process.

Intermediate Harvest - Any removal of trees from a stand between the time of its formation and the regeneration cut. Most commonly applied intermediate cuttings are release, thinning, sanitation and salvage.

Intermittent Stream - A stream that runs water in most months, but does not run water during the dry season of most years.

Invertebrates - Animals having no backbone such as earthworms, insects and lesser animals.

Irretrievable - Applies to losses of production, harvest, or a commitment of renewable natural resources. For example, some or all of the timber production from an area is irretrievable lost during the time an area is used as a winter sports (recreation) site. If the use is changed, timber production can be resumed. The production lost is irretrievable, but the action is not irreversible.

Irreversible - Applies primarily to the use of nonrenewable resources, such as minerals, or cultural resources, or to those factors that are renewable only over long-time spans, such as soil productivity. Irreversible also includes loss of future options.

Issue - A subject or question of public discussion or interest to be addressed or discussed in the planning process.

Land Allocation - The assignment of a management emphasis to particular land areas with the purpose of achieving goals and objectives. Land allocation decisions are documented in environmental analysis documents such as the Idaho Panhandle National Forests’ FEIS and Forest Land and Resource Management Plans.

Landtype - A unit of land with similar designated soil, vegetation, geology, topography, climate, and drainage. The basis for mapping units in the land systems inventory.

Limiting Factor - The environmental influence that exceeds the tolerance limit of an animal to restrict it in its activities, functions, or geographic range.

Limnology - The study of bodies of inland waters, as lakes and ponds, especially with reference to their physical and biological features.

Linkage - A belt or band of cover or habitat which allows animals to move from one location to another.

Litter - An organic surface soil layer usually composed of identifiable leaves, branches or other vegetative material, and animal remains.

Lodgepole Pine - See Timber types.

Long-term Sustained Yield - The estimated timber harvest that can be maintained indefinitely over time, once all stands have been converted to a managed state under a specific management intensity consistent with multiple-use objectives.

Lop and Scatter - Fuel treatment where, following tree felling, limbs and branches are cut off and scattered in the unit.

Management Area - Geographic areas, not necessarily contiguous, which have common management direction, consistent with the Forest Plan allocations.

Management Direction - A statement of multiple use and other goals and objectives, along with the associated management prescriptions and standards and guidelines to direct resource management.

Management Indicator Species - A species selected because its welfare is presumed to be an indicator of the welfare of other species sharing similar habitat requirements. A species of fish, wildlife, or plants which reflect ecological changes caused by land management activities.

Management Prescriptions - A set of land and resource management policies that, as expressed through Standards and Guidelines, creates the Desired Future Condition over time.

Mature Timber - Trees that have attained full development, particularly height.

Middleground - That part of a scene or landscape which hits between the foreground and background zones.

Minimum Management Requirement (MMR) - Minimum standards for resource protection to meet the goals and objectives of the National Forest System.

Mitigation - Actions to avoid, minimize, reduce eliminate, replace, or rectify the impacts of a management practice.

Mixed Conifer - See Timber Types

Model - A formalized expression of a theory to describe, analyze or understand a particular concept.

Monitoring and Evaluation - The evaluation, on a sample basis, of Forest Plan management practices to determine how well objectives are being met, as well as the effects of those management practices on the land and environment.

Mortality - In forestry, trees in a stand that die of natural causes.

Mountain Pine Beetle - The common name for the bark beetle (Dendroctonous Ponderosae Hopkins) which is the most destructive insect pest in the intermountain west.

Mulching - Covering the surface of the soil with natural (e.g. litter) or deliberately applied organic materials (e.g. straw, wood chips, foliage).

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Process - An interdisciplinary process, which concentrates decisionmaking around issues, concerns, alternatives, and the effects of alternatives on the environment.

National Forest Management Act (NFMA) - Law passed in 1976 as an amendment to the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act, requiring preparation of Regional Guides and Forest Plans, and the preparation of regulations to guide that development.

Natural Regeneration - Reforestation of a site by natural seeding from the surrounding trees. Natural regeneration may or may not be preceded by site preparation.

No Action Alternative - The No Action Alternative is required by regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (40 CFR 1502.14). The No Action Alternative provides a baseline for estimating the effects of other alternatives. When a project activity is being evaluated, the No Action Alternative is defined as one where current management direction would continue unchanged.

Noxious Weed - A plant species that is highly injurious or destructive and has a great potential for economic impact. A plant species that is listed as noxious by the State of Idaho.

Obliteration- Obliteration of an existing road would involve; removal of all culverts, establishing permanent drainages and recontouring of the road surface.

Old Growth Habitat - Habitat for certain wildlife that is characterized by mature coniferous forest stands with large snags and decaying logs.

Oligotrophic - An oligotrophic lake or reservoir is low in nutrients and organic productivity. Oligotrophic lakes are usually deep, with nutrient poor sediments, few macrophytes and large amounts of dissolved oxygen.

Open Road Density - A standard set in the Forest Plan that is applied to most Management Areas important to big game. This road density standard of three-quarters of a mile of open road per square mile of habitat correlates directly to the elk habitat effectiveness of the area (i.e. 68 percent).

Optimum Habitat - The amounts and arrangement of cover and forage that results in the greatest level of production that is consistent with other resource requirements.

Overstory - The portion of trees in a forest which form the uppermost layer of foliage.

Overstory Removal - A harvest method that removes the overstory of a two-story stand and leaves the smaller understory for further development.

Partial Cut - Term to relate harvest units where many trees are left and forested appearance is retained. Partial cutting usually provides no long-term benefits to forest health and productivity.

Particulates - Small particles suspended in the air and generally considered pollutants.

Pathogen - A specific causative agent of disease, such as a virus.

Peak Flow - The greatest flow attained during the melting of the winter snowpack.

Pelagic Zone - It is the open water zone in a lake, that is characterized by freely floating organisms (zooplankton and phytoplankton) and certain fish species.

Perennial Streams - Streams that flow continuously throughout the year.

Pioneer Species - A plant capable of invading a bare site (newly exposed soil surface) and persisting there until replaced by another species or community as succession progresses.

Plant Community - An assembly of plants living together.

Pole Timber - Trees of at least five inches in diameter at breast height (DBH), but smaller than the minimum utilization standard for sawtimber.

Pool tail embeddedness - Pool tail embeddedness is the degree to which larger particles are covered or surrounded by finer sediments in the downstream end of the pool. A qualitative rating was assigned. The pool tail is where salmonids generally create redds for spawning. Greater pool tail embeddedness would be expected to reduce biotic productivity.

Pools - Pools are very slow or stagnant water that forms were the channel bottom is substantially lower in elevation than upstream or downstream. For the fisheries survey, pools were classified by the feature that caused the pool to form. These features are undesignated, artificial, beaver, bedrock, boulder, culvert, large woody debris, meander and rootwad.

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

Preferred Alternative - The alternative recommended for implementation in the EIS (40 CFR 1502.14).

Prescribed Burning - The application of fire to fuels in either a natural or modified state under such conditions as to allow the fire to be confined to a predetermined area and at the same time to produce the intensity of heat and rate of spread required to further certain planned objectives (i.e. silviculture, wildlife management, reduction of fuel hazard, etc.).

Prescription - Management practices selected and scheduled for application on a designated area to attain specific goals and objectives.

Private Road – A road under private ownership authorized by an easement to a private to a private party, or a road which provides access pursuant to a reserved or private right.

Project Area - The Project Area is the area within which the proposed activities are limited to. It may be confused with the Analysis Area which is the area that bounds the analysis for a particular resource and/or issue.

Public Road – A road open to public travel that is under the jurisdiction of and maintained by a public authority such as States, counties and local communities.

Puddling, Soil - A physical change in soil properties due to shearing forces that alters soil structure and porosity. Puddling occurs when the soil is at or near liquid limit.

Range of Alternatives - An alternative is one way of managing the National Forest, expressed as management emphasis leading to a unique set of goods and services being available to the public. A range of alternatives is several different ways of managing the Forest, offering many different levels of goods and services.

RARE II – The acronym for the second Roadless Area Review and Evaluation conducted by the Forest Service in 1979 that resulted in an inventory of roadless areas considered for potential wilderness designation.

Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) - A system for defining the types of outdoor recreation opportunities the public might desire and identifies that portion of the spectrum a given area might be able to provide. It is used for planning and managing the recreation resource and recognizes recreation activity, setting, and experience opportunities.

Reforestation - The natural or artificial restocking of an area with forest trees.

Regeneration - The renewal of a tree crop, whether by natural or artificial means. This term may also refer to the crop itself (i.e. seedlings or saplings).

Regeneration Harvest - Used in reference to harvest methods which remove an existing stand to prepare the site for regeneration.

Rehabilitation - To return environments into good health.

Release - Freeing trees from competition for light, water and nutrients by removing or reducing the vegetation growth that is overtopping or closely surrounding them.

Research Natural Area - An area in as near a natural condition as possible, which exemplifies typical or unique vegetation and associated biotic, soil, geological, and aquatic features. The area is set aside to preserve a representative sample of an ecological community primarily for scientific and educational purposes; commercial and general public use is not allowed.

Residual Stand - The trees remaining standing after some activity, such as an individual tree selection.

Restricted Road - A National Forest road or segment which is restricted from a certain type of use or all uses during certain seasons of the year or yearlong. The use being restricted and the time period must be specified. The closure is legal when the Forest Supervisor has issued and posted an order in accordance with 36 CFR 261.

Riffles - Riffles are relatively fast flowing water that has a substantial amount of turbulence. For the fisheries survey three types of riffles were recorded including low gradient riffles, high gradient riffles and cascades.

Riparian - Pertaining to areas of land directly influence by water. Riparian areas usually have visible vegetative or physical characteristics reflecting this water influence. Stream sides, lake borders, or marshes are typical riparian areas. Vegetation bordering watercourses, lakes or swamps; it requires a high water table.

Road – A vehicle travel way of over 50 inches wide.

Road Maintenance - The upkeep of the entire Forest Development Transportation Facility including surface and shoulders, parking and side areas, structures and such traffic control devices as are necessary for its safe and efficient utilization.

Roadless Area - A National Forest-system area which is larger than 5,000 acres or, if smaller than 5,000 acres, is contiguous to a designated Wilderness or primitive area; contains no roads, and has been inventoried by the Forest Service for possible inclusion into the wilderness preservation system.

Rotation - The planned number of years required to establish (including the regeneration period) and grow timber to a specified condition or maturity for regeneration harvest. Selected management prescriptions provide the basis for the rotation age.

Salvage Harvest - Intermediate harvests made to remove trees that are dead or in imminent danger of being killed by injurious agents such as insects.

Sanitation Harvest - Intermediate harvests made to remove dead, damaged or susceptible trees to prevent the spread of pests or pathogens.

Sawtimber - Trees containing at least one 12 foot sawlog or two non-contiguous eight foot logs, and meeting regional specifications for freedom from defect.

Scoping - The procedures by which the Forest Service determines the extent of analysis necessary for a proposed action, i.e. the range of actions, alternatives, and impacts to be addressed, identification of significant issues related to a proposed action, and establishing the depth of environmental analysis, data, and task assignment.

Scree - Any slope covered with loose rock fragments.

Sediment - Any material carried in suspension by water, which will ultimately settle to the bottom. Sediment has two main sources; from the channel itself, and from upslope areas.

Seed Tree - A tree selected as a natural seed source within a shelterwood or seed tree harvest cut; sometimes also reserved for seed collection.

Seed Tree Harvest - An evenaged regeneration harvest of a portion of the mature timber from an area, except for a small number of seed bearing trees left singly or in small groups for regeneration of a stand.

Seedlings and Saplings - Non-commercial size young trees.

Selection Harvest - The periodic removal of trees, usually at 10-20 year intervals, individually or in small groups, from an unevenaged forest in order to realize yield and establish regeneration or irregular constitution.

Sensitive Species - Those species identified by the Regional Forester for which population viability is a concern as evidenced by significant current or predicted downward trends in population numbers or density, or habitat capability that would reduce a species’ existing distribution.

Seral - A biotic community which is a development, transitory stage in ecological succession.

Series - A group of habitat types having the same climax tree species.

Shelterwood Harvest - An evenaged regeneration harvest of a portion of the mature stand while retaining a portion of the stand as a source for seed and protection during the regeneration period.

Silvicultural System - A management process whereby forests are tended, harvested, and replaced, resulting in a forest of distinctive form. Systems are classified according to the method of carrying out the cuttings that remove the mature crop and provide for regeneration, and according to the typed of forest thereby produced.

Silviculture - The art and science of growing and tending forest vegetation, i.e. controlling the establishment, composition, and growth of forests, for specific management goals.

Site Preparation - A general term for a variety of activities that remove or treat competing vegetation, slash and other debris that may inhibit the establishment of regeneration.

Site Productivity - Production capability of specific areas of land.

Slash - The residue left on the ground after felling and other silvicultural operations and/or accumulating there as a result of storm, fire, girdling, or poisoning of trees.

Snag - A standing dead tree usually without merchantable value for timbre products, but may have characteristics of benefit to some cavity nesting wildlife species.

Special Use Permit - A permit issued under established laws and regulations to an individual, organization, or company for occupancy or use of National Forest land for some special purpose.

Stand - A community of trees or other vegetation uniform in composition, constitution, spatial arrangement, or condition to be distinguishable from other adjacent communities.

Stand Replacing Fire - A fire that consumes an entire stand of trees. These fires are generally quite hot and can burn hundreds of acres.

Stocking - The degree to which trees occupy the land, measured by basal area and/or number of trees by size and spacing, compared with a stocking standard; that is, the basal area and/or number of trees required to fully utilize the land’s growth potential.

Stream Order - It is often convenient to classify streams within a drainage basin by systematically defining the network of branches. Each nonbranching channel segment (smallest size) is designated a first-order stream. A stream which receives only first-order segments is termed a second-order stream, and so on. The order of a particular drainage basin is determined by the order of the principle or largest segment.

Stream Segment of Concern - State of Idaho designation of streams identified for special emphasis as part of the State Antidegradation Policy. Local working committees are charged with development of site-specific Best Management Practices for the stream and associated watershed.

Streambed Particle Size Distribution - A graphical representative of the size and class composition of the streambed at a cross section of a stream reach. The composition is determined by statistically valid sampling of the particles comprising the streambed in the cross section. It is not based on the area covered by the individual particles.

Succession - The progressive changes in plant communities toward climax habitat.

Successional Stage - A stage or recognizable condition of a plant community which occurs during its development from the bare ground to climax habitat.

Suitable Forest Land - Forest land (as defined in CFR 219.3, 219.14) for which technology is available that will insure timber production without irreversible resource damage to soils, productivity, or watershed conditions; for which there is a reasonable assurance that such lands can be adequately restocked (as provided in CFR 219.14); and for which there is management direction that indicates that timber production is an appropriate use of that area.

Sustained Yield - See long-term sustained yield.

Talus - The loose accumulation of fragmented rock material on slopes, such as at the base of a cliff.

Thermal Cover - Vegetative cover used by animals to modify the adverse affects of weather.

Thinning - Cutting in evenaged stands to redistribute growth potential or benefit the quality of the residual stand.

Threatened Species - Any species of plant or animal which is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Tiering - Refers to the coverage of general matters in broader Environmental Impact Statements or Environmental Assessments with subsequent other related statements in Environmental Assessments incorporated, by reference, the discussions contained in the previous document, solely on the issues specific to the statement subsequently prepared.

Timber Types - A descriptive classification of forest land based on present occupancy of an area by tree species (i.e. lodgepole, mixed conifer). More appropriately called cover types, this category is further defined by the composition of its vegetation and/or environmental factors that influence its locality.

Trophic State - The state of nutrient enrichment of a lake or reservoir.

Unclassified Road – A road that is not constructed, maintained, or intended for long-term highway use, such as, roads constructed for temporary access and other remnants of short-term use roads associated with fire suppression, timber harvest, and oil, gas, or mineral activities, as well as travel ways resulting from off-road vehicle use.

Understory - Vegetation (trees or shrubs) growing under the canopy formed by taller trees.

Unevenaged Management - The application of a combination of actions needed to simultaneously maintain continuous high-forest cover. Harvest systems that develop or maintain unevenaged stands are individual tree and group selection.

Ungulate - A mammal having hoofs, i.e. deer, elk, and moose.

Unroaded Area – An area that does not contain classified roads.

Vertebrates - Animals having a backbone, or a spinal column, including mammals, fishes, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.

Viable Population - A population which has adequate numbers and dispersion of reproductive individuals to ensure the continued existence of the species population on the planning area.

Viewshed - Subunits of the landscape where the scene is contained by topography similar to a watershed.

Visual Condition Class (VCC) - A measure of the level of disturbance to the visual resource, expressed in acres. The visual condition classes are used as indicators to measure the existing conditions and effects of alternatives.

Visual Quality Objective (VQO) - A system of indicating the potential expectations of the visual resource by considering the frequency an area is viewed and the type of landscape. Specific VQOs are in Chapter 3 - Visual Quality.

Visual Resource - The composite of landforms, water features, vegetative patterns, and cultural features which create the visual environment.

Water Yield - The measured output of the Forest’s streams.

Watershed - Entire area that contributes water to a drainage system or stream.

Wetlands - Areas that are inundated by surface or ground water with a frequency sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetative or aquatic life that requires saturated or seasonally saturated soil conditions for growth and reproduction. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, wet meadows, river overflows, mud flats, and natural ponds.

Wilderness - All lands included in the National Wilderness Preservation System by public law; generally defined as undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements or human habitation.

Wildfire - Any wildfire not designated and managed as a prescribed fire with an approved prescription.

Wildlife Diversity - The relative degree of abundance of wildlife species, plant species, communities, habitats, or habitat features.

Windrowing - Slash or debris piled in a row along the contour of the slope.

Yarding - A method of bringing logs into a roadside area or landing, for truck transport. Methods may include forms of skyline cable logging systems, ground-based skidding, balloon, helicopter, etc.