Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program - Glossary

Active Ecological Restoration – the process of assisting the recovery of resilience and adaptive capacity of ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed through human intervention by implementing ecological restoration treatments.

Best Available Science – disclosure of the relevant science that was considered to insure that science was appropriately interpreted and applied in the development of the proposal.

CFLR Fund (CFLRF) - the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund established by section 4003(f) of Title IV of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.

CFLR Program (CFLRP) - the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) established under section 4003(a) of Title IV of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.

Desired conditions - descriptions of forest landscape condition goals. These conditions may currently exist or may be achieved sometime in the future. Desired conditions may be based on ecological or social objectives, or both. Desired ecological conditions are typically based upon the concepts of ecosystem structural and functional sustainability, resilience and adaptive capability. Landscape restoration strategies must be developed upon a sound ecological framework. Desired conditions for local landscapes are described by stakeholders informed by best available science. They are normally expressed in broad, general terms and have no specific date by which they are to be achieved. Current conditions and desired condition goals are the focus of the restoration strategy and provide the basis for developing treatment objectives and priorities. Desired conditions constitute a framework for ecological sustainability and should clearly focus management activities.

Ecological restoration - the process of assisting the recovery of resilience and adaptive capacity of ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.

Ecological restoration treatments – all treatments that help recover ecosystem resilience and adaptive capacity of ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.

Forest land - Forested National Forest System (NFS) land is at least 10 percent stocked by forest trees of any size, including lands that formerly had such cover and will be naturally or artificially reforested.

Forest restoration by-products - forest products derived from active ecological restoration using tools such as commercial timber sales and permits, stewardship contracts, special forest products sales and permits, and through woody biomass utilization.

Large Tree Retention – vegetation treatment methods applicable to areas outside of identified old-growth stands to maximize the retention of large trees in a manner that is appropriate for the forest type based on ecological characteristics and that will reduce uncharacteristically severe wildland fire effects with the treated area and reduce fire risk to communities, municipal water supplies, and at-risk Federal land (see also “Large Tree Retention” section of the HFRA/HFI Interim Guide).

Leveraged – All non-Federal funds invested in the landscape in planning, conducting, and monitoring ecological treatments. Leveraged funds are any financial or in-kind contributions from foundations and other non-governmental organizations, State, local and tribal governments, and private investments. Some examples include private capitalization of infrastructure for woody biomass processing, collaborators time to monitor implementation of landscape ecological restoration plan, and private foundation grants to collaborating groups for capacity building.

Old growth forest structure - Standard definitions of old growth generally refer to a patch or stand condition, not individual trees. However, old trees can occur in smaller or larger spatial configurations, namely tree groups or patches, and forests or landscapes that may also be termed old growth. Although old trees must exist for the term “old growth” to be relevant at all, “old” is a relative term that varies greatly among species. There are varying definitions of old-growth forests because of differences in environment and influences of different disturbances (fire, wind, insects, disease, etc.). These disturbances determine the ecologically characteristic scale of old-growth forest patches. Two general types of forests reflect the role of disturbances:

1. Forests shaped by small-scale natural changes in structure and species composition. In these forests, plant succession processes are driven by competitive differences among species, individual trees, and by small-scale disturbances. These forests are typically structured as self-sustaining uneven-aged forest stands. Old-growth tree groups and patches are interspaced with canopy gaps and all ages of tree group patches, ranging from seedlings to mid-aged. Typically, these forests are maintained by high frequency, low intensity disturbance processes (ie: frequent fire dry forest types).
2. Forests where plant succession processes are disrupted by major physical/biological disturbances (fire, insects, wind, or disease) extending across larger areas. Forests in areas where climates are wet are typical examples of forests driven largely by natural plant succession and large-scale disturbances. Mature stages of such forests usually have an overstory dominated by large, old trees. Because these forests rarely become very dry and fire is unlikely for up to three or more centuries, there often is a large amount of decaying wood from fallen trees. Moderate to high-severity fire tends to structure these forests as even-aged landscapes or large-scale even-aged patches.

Pre-Suppression Old Growth – a reference condition applicable within old growth stands that approximates the composition and structure of these stands prior to the period of active fire suppression (circa 1900-1910). Further guidance is contained in the “Old Growth” section of the HFRA/HFI Interim Guide.

Project decisions – includes decisions documented in a decision notice (as that term is used in the USDA Forest Service Handbook) or a record of decision (as that term is used in applicable regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality).

Proposal – a collaborative forest landscape restoration proposal described in section 4003(b) of Title IV of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.

Resource management plans - a land and resource management plan prepared for one or more units of land of the National Forest System described in Section 3(1)(A) under Section 6 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604)  or equivalent plans used by other Federal agencies.

Secretary – the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.

Title IV – Title IV of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.

Woody biomass - the by-product of management, restoration, and hazardous fuel reduction treatments, including trees and woody plants (i.e., limbs, tops, needles, leaves, and other woody parts) grown in a forest, woodland, or rangeland environment.