Appendix A - Glossary

Acid Rain - The deposition of a variety of acidic pollutants in either wet (rain, snow, or fog) or dry forms (gas or dust particles).

Acid-Seep Spring - Springs or seeps form at the base of a slope where groundwater intersects with the land.  Acid results from the soil type characteristics or from acid mine drainage.

Acid Soil - A soil with a pH value less than 7.0.

Alliance - A level of the National Vegetation Classification of existing vegetation.  An alliance is a terrestrial plant community that is distinguished from other alliances by dominant or diagnostic species found in the canopy layer.  The concept of an alliance is similar to a "cover type." A cover type includes one or more alliances when the dominant species are widespread over varied environmental conditions.

Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ) - The quantity of timber that may be sold from the area of (ASQ) 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."

All-Weather Road versus Dry-Weather Road

All-Weather Road - A road capable of being used by two-wheel drive sedans or similar vehicles during all weather conditions, with only minor or short-term restrictions, such as following heavy snows.  On the Hoosier, all-weather roads would normally be either aggregate surfaced or paved.

Dry-Weather Road - A road that normally can be used by two- and four-wheel drive trucks and logging equipment without causing environmental damage only during dry weather or during the drier seasons of the year.  On the Hoosier, dry-weather roads would normally be unsurfaced dirt roads or roads surfaced with native materials only.

Alternate Roost - While primary roosts typically house substantial aggregations of female bats and their young, smaller numbers of these bats may use alternate trees as roosts depending on weather and ambient temperature.  In general, while primary roosts are typically exposed to solar radiation, alternate roosts may be located beneath the forest canopy.  Alternate roosts may be widely distributed across the landscape in relation to a maternal colony's primary roost or roosts; presumably this allows a maternal colony to select the most suitable microclimates or foraging area.  Alternate roosts tend to be more variable in size than are primary roosts, a maternal colony may use as many as 33 alternate roosts in addition to a primary roost or roosts. 

Aquatic Ecosystems - Stream channels, lakes, estuary beds; water; biotic communities; and the habitat features that occur therein. 

Arthropod - Any member of a large group of invertebrate animals with jointed legs and a segmented body: the arthropods include crustaceans, arachnids, insects, and myriapods.  

Aquatic passage - The ability for aquatic organisms to pass through a stream crossing structure.

Archaeological resource - Any material remains of prehistoric or historic human life or activities which are of archaeological interest and are at least 50 years of age, and the physical site, location, or context in which they are found.

ASQ - See Allowable Sale Quantity.

Barrens - Characterized by species of canopy trees tolerant of xeric conditions, which have a stunted, open-grown appearance, also characterized by the dominance of native warm-season grasses and prairie forbs, and, in glades, significant exposures of bedrock.

Basal Area - The cross sectional area of all stems of a species or all stems in a stand measured at breast height and expressed per unit of land area.

Benchmark - {A part of the analysis} to define the range within which alternatives can be constructed.

Benthic - Pertains to the plan and animal life whose habitat is the bottom of a sea, lake or river.

Best Management Practices (BMPs) - a practice or usually a combination of practices that are determined by a state or a designated planning agency to be the most effective and practicable means (including technological, economic, and institutional considerations) of controlling point and nonpoint source pollutants at levels compatible with environmental quality goals.

BF - See Board Foot.

Biological Diversity - The variety and abundance of life forms, processes, functions, and structures of plants, animals, and other living organisms, including the relative complexity of species, communities, gene pools, and ecosystems at spatial scales that range from local through regional to global.

Blind Valley - A valley that ends suddenly at a point where its stream disappears underground; some blind valleys have no present day streams.

BMPs - See Best Management Practices

Board Foot (BF) - The amount of wood contained in an unfinished board 1 inch thick, 12 inches long, and 12 inches wide.  MBF - One thousand board feet.  MMBF - One million board feet.

Bottomland - Lowlands along streams and rivers, usually on alluvial flood plains that are periodically flooded.  These are usually forested and are sometimes called bottomland hardwood forests. 

Canopy -1. The foliar cover in a forest stand consisting of one or several layers.  2. The overhead branches and leaves of streamside vegetation.

Carrying Capacity

Ecological:  The maximum number or biomass of organisms of a given species that can be sustained or survive on a long-term basis within an ecosystem.

Recreational:  The number of recreation users an area can accommodate during a given period of time and still provide protection of the resources and satisfaction of the users.

Cave - Any naturally occurring void, cavity, recess, or system of interconnected passages beneath the surface of the earth or within a cliff or ledge and which is large enough to permit a person to enter, whether the entrance is excavated or naturally formed. Such term shall include any natural pit, sinkhole, or other opening which is an extensive of a cave entrance or which is an integral part of the cave.  A significant cave is one which has been designated in accordance with 36 CFR 290. 

Caver - One who explores caves as a sport. 

Cleaning or Weeding - A release treatment made in an age class not past the sapling stage to free the favored trees from less desirable individuals of the same age class that overtop them or are likely to do so.

Clearcutting - 1. A stand in which essentially all trees have been removed in one operation - note depending on management objectives, a clearcut may or may not have reserved trees left to attain goals other than regeneration  2. A regeneration or harvest method that removes essentially all trees in a stand.

Cliffs or Overhangs - For the purposes of the Hoosier, these terms are defined as rock outcrop areas 15 feet or more in height and 100 feet or more in length.

Colluvial Soils - Mixed deposits of soil material and rock fragments accumulated near the base of steep slopes through soil creep, landslides, and local surface run off.

Commercial Thinning - Any type of thinning producing merchantable material at least equal to the value of the direct costs of harvesting.

Community - An assemblage of plants and animals living together and occupying a given area.

Cord -  A stack of fuelwood, pulpwood, or other material that measures 4 x 4 x 8 feet or 128 cubic feet, including wood, bark, and empty space within the stack.

Corridor - 1.  A linear strip of land identified for the present or future location of transportation or utility rights-of-way within its boundaries.  2. (Wildlife Corridors) The joining of fragmented habitats which helps to increase the gene flows between the individual habitats improving the fitness of species. Wildlife corridors are created as a means of conservation or general improvement of the environment.

Critical Habitat - 1. The specific areas within the geographic area occupied by a federally listed species on which physical and biological features are found that are essential to the conservation of the species and that may require special management or protection. 2. Specific areas outside the geographical area occupied by the species at the time it is listed in accordance with the provisions of Section 4 of ESA, upon a determination by the Secretary that such areas are essential for the conservation of the species.

Crop Tree Release - A treatment designed to free young trees from undesirable, usually overtopping, competing vegetation. 

Cumulative Effects - The combined effects resulting from sequential actions on a given area, note significant cumulative effects can result from individually minor but collectively important actions taking place over a period of time because of their being interconnected or synergistic. 

Developed Recreation - Activities associated with man-made structures and facilities that result in concentrated use of an area.  Examples are campgrounds and picnic areas. 

Diameter at Breast Height (DBH, dbh) -The diameter of the stem of a tree measured at breast height (4.5 feet) from the ground.

Disk - A plow drawn by a tractor or skidder having one or more heavy, round, concave, sharpened, freely rotating steel disks angled to cut and turn a furrow, note a disk is used in site preparation or in the construction of firelines.

Dispersed Recreation - In contrast to developed recreation, these activities are associated with low-density use distributed over large expanses of land or water.  When provided, facilities are more for protection of the environment than for comfort or convenience of the visitor.

Diversity - The distribution and abundance of different plant and animal communities and species within the area covered by a land and resource management plan.

Duff - The partially decomposed organic material on the forest floor beneath the litter of freshly fallen twigs, needles, and leaves.

Dry-Weather Road - See All-Weather Road.

Ecological Landtype (ELT) - An integrated mapping unit designed at a specific hierarchical level in the ECS.  Typical size generally ranges from tens to hundreds of acres.

Ecoregion - A continuous geographic area having a relatively uniform macroclimate, possibly with several vegetation types, used as an ecological basis for management or planning.

Ecosystem - A spatially explicit, relatively homogeneous unit of the earth that includes all interacting organisms and components of the abiotic environment within its boundaries.

Edge - The more or less well-defined boundary between two or more elements of the environment, e.g., a field adjacent to a woodland or the boundary of different silvicultural treatments.

Edge Effect -The modified environmental conditions or habitat along the margins (edges) of forest stands or patches.

Effects - Include: (a) Direct effects, which are caused by the action and occur at the same time and place; (b) Indirect effects, which are caused by the action and are later in time or farther removed in distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable.  Indirect effects may include growth inducing effects and other effects related to induced changes in the pattern of land use, population density or growth rate, and related effects on air and water and other natural systems, including ecosystems.

Endangered Species - Any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Ephemeral Stream - A stream or portion of a stream that flows only in direct response to precipitation, receiving little or no water from springs and no long continued supply from snow or other sources, and whose channel is at all times above the water table.

Erosion - The wearing away of the land's surface by running water, wind, ice, gravity, or other natural or anthropogenic agents, including such processes as gravitational creep and tillage; kinds of erosion include the following:

Geological - The normal or natural erosion caused by geological processes acting over long geologic periods and resulting in the wearing away of mountains, the building up of floodplains, coastal plains, etc.  Also called natural erosion.

Erosion and sedimentation - Refer to two phases in the process of detaching material in one place, transporting and depositing in another.  Erosion refers to the detachment and transport of material and sedimentation to its deposition.  Particulate material is called sediment once transport has begun.

Even-aged Management - The application of a combination of actions that results in the creation of a stand in which trees of essentially the same age grow together.  Managed even-aged forests are characterized by a distribution of stands of varying ages (and, therefore, tree sizes throughout the forest area).  The difference in age between trees forming the main canopy level of a stand usually does not exceed 20 percent of the age of the stand at harvest rotation age.  Regeneration in a particular stand is obtained during a short period at or near the time that a stand has reached the desired age or size for regeneration and is harvested.  Clearcut, shelterwood, or seed tree cutting methods produce even-aged stands.

Exotic - A plant or species introduced from another country or geographic region outside its natural range.

Fauna - The animals of a specified region.

Fertility (Soil) - The quality of a soil that enables it to provide nutrients in adequate amounts and in proper balance for the growth of specified plants when other growth factors, such as light, moisture, temperature, and the physical condition of the soil, are favorable.

Fire Intolerant Species - A species with morphological characteristics that give it a higher probability of being injured or killed by fire than a fire-tolerant species, which has a "relatively low" probability of being injured or killed by fire.

Fire Management - All activities required for the protection of burnable wildland values from fire and the use of fire to meet land management goals and objectives.

Fire Tolerant Species - A plant species with morphological characteristics that give it a lower probability of being injured or killed by fire than a fire-intolerant species, which has a relatively high probability of being injured or killed by fire.

Floodplain - 1. A nearly level area situated on either side of a channel which is subject to overflow flooding.  2. As defined by Executive Order 11988, as amended, lowland and relatively flat areas adjoining inland and coastal waters including flood prone areas of offshore islands, including at a minimum, that area subject to a one percent (100 year recurrence) or greater chance of flooding in any given year.

Forage - Browse and herbage that is available either naturally or produced seasonally or annually on a given area that can provide food for grazing animals.

Foreground (Visual Distance Zone) - That part of a scene, landscape, etc., which is nearest to the viewer, and in which detail is evident, usually within 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the viewer.

Forest - When used with a capital F, this term refers to the Hoosier National Forest, including the landbase and administrative staff.

Forest Land - Land at least 10 percent occupied by forest trees of any size or formerly having had such tree cover and not currently developed for nonforest use.  Land developed for nonforest use includes areas for crops, improved pasture, residential, or administrative areas, improved roads of any width, and adjoining road clearing and powerline clearing of any width.

(Forest Land) Not Appropriate - Lands not selected for timber production in the Forest plan alternative due to; (1) the multiple-use objectives for the alternative preclude timber production; (2) other management objectives for the alternative limit timber production activities to the point where management requirements set forth in 36 CFR 219.27 cannot be met; and (3) the lands are not cost-efficient, over the planning horizon, in meeting forest objectives that include timber production.  Lands not appropriate for timber production shall be designated as unsuitable in the selected alternative and Forest plan.

(Forest Land) Suitable - Lands where timber production is an objective.

(Forest Land) Unsuitable - Forest land that is not managed for timber production because (1) the land has been withdrawn by Congress, the Secretary, or the Chief; (2) the land is not producing or capable of producing crops of industrial wood; (3) technology is not available to prevent irreversible damage to soils, productivity, or watershed conditions; (4) there is no reasonable assurance that lands can be adequately restocked within 5 years after final harvest, based on experience; (5) there is, at present, a lack of adequate information to respond to timber management activities; or (6) timber management is inconsistent with or not cost-efficient in meeting the management requirements and multiple-use objectives specified in the Forest Plan.

Forest Openings - Openings maintained on the Hoosier to provide habitat or habitat components for plants and animals which require or are benefited by early successional stages of vegetation.  May include natural openings (barrens) and other openings with native or non-native vegetation.  These openings are maintained by periodic treatments, such as mowing, cutting, or prescribed burning.  These included openings previously identified as "wildlife openings."

Forest Plan - A document that guides all natural resource management and establishes management standards and guidelines for a national forest, and that embodies the provisions of the National Forest Management Act of 1976.

Forest Road - A road wholly or partly within, or adjacent to, and serving NFS land that is necessary for the protection, administration, and use of NFS land and the use and development of its resources; any road, regardless of jurisdiction (county or Forest Service), class (Arterial, Collector, Local), or standard (Traffic Service Level) that is considered to be on the Forest Road network.

Forest Road System - The inventory or network of roads, under all jurisdictions, that are needed for transporting forest products, accommodating planned motorized access for recreation purposes, and protecting and managing the Hoosier National Forest now and in the future. 

Forest Type - A category of forest usually defined by its vegetation, particularly its dominant vegetation as based on percentage cover of trees, e.g., oak-hickory.

Forestry - The profession embracing the science, art, and practice of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources for human benefit and in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values.

Fragmentation - The process by which a landscape is broken into small islands of forest within a mosaic of other forms of land use or ownership, note fragmentation is a concern because of the effect of noncontiguous forest cover on connectivity and the movement and dispersal of animals in the landscape.

Fuels - Combustible material. Includes vegetation such as grass, leaves, ground litter, plants, shrubs, and trees that feed a fire.

Goal - A concise statement that describes a desired condition to be achieved sometime in the future.  It is normally expressed in broad, general terms and is timeless in that it has no specific date by which it is to be completed.

Grapevine Control - Grapevine control is the practice on the Hoosier of reducing grapevines in a young forested stand.  The number of vines is reduced by cutting.  Sprouting is minimized by shading from the residual stand.  Additional control may be accomplished with herbicides applied directly to the cut surface of grapevines.  Small patches of vines may be left intentionally to provide wildlife food and cover.

Groundwater - Water within the earth that supplies wells and springs. Specifically, water in the zone of saturation where all openings in soils and rocks are filled- the upper surface of which forms the water table.

Water Table - The upper surface of the ground water, below which the soil is saturated with water.  

Group Selection Cutting - Trees are removed and new age classes are established in small groups.

Guidance - A term which includes both standards and guidelines permitted or limitations set on all lands on the Hoosier unless exceptions are stated.

Guidelines - Permissions or limitations that should be implemented in most cases to achieve the goals and objectives.  Deviation from a guideline does not require a forest plan amendment, but the rationale must be disclosed in the project decision documents.  

Habitat - 1. A unit of the environment. 2. The place, natural or otherwise, (including climate, food, cover, and water) where an animal, plant, or population naturally or normally lives and develops.

Hardwood - Usually broad-leaved and deciduous.

Herbicide - A pesticide used for killing or controlling the growth of plants.

Heritage Resource - Heritage resources are the physical remains of districts, sites, structures, networks, or objects used by humans in the past.  They may be historic or prehistoric, archaeological or architectural in nature.  Heritage resources on the Hoosier include hunting, quarrying, plant gathering, and living areas from the prehistoric period.  Historic period sites (at least 50 years of age) are associated with farming, logging, and a variety of industrial pursuits.  Heritage resources are land based and are non-renewable. 

Hibernacula - The winter den of a hibernating animal (plural: hibernaculum).

Hoosier - When used in this document, this term refers to NFS lands of the Hoosier National Forest or the Forest Service employees who manage the Forest.

Hydrology - The science dealing with the properties, distribution, and circulation of water on the surface of the land, in the soil and underlying rocks, and in the atmosphere.

Impoundment - A dam or body of water upstream of a dam or weir.

Infiltration - The downward entry of water into the soil to the groundwater system.

Insecticide - A pesticide employed against insects.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) - A process for selecting strategies to regulate forest pests in which all aspects of a pest-host system are studied and weighed.  The information considered in selecting appropriate strategies includes the impact of the unregulated pest population on various resource values, alternative regulatory tactics and strategies, and benefit/cost estimates for these alternative strategies.  Regulatory strategies are based on sound silvicultural practices and ecology of the pest-host system and consist of a combination of tactics such as timber stand improvement plus selective use of pesticides.  A basic principle in the choice of strategy is that it be ecologically compatible or acceptable.

Intermediate treatment - Any treatment or tending designed to enhance growth, quality, vigor, and composition of the stand after establishment or regeneration and prior to final harvest.

Intermittent Stream - A stream, or portion of a stream, that does not flow year-round but only when it (a) receives base flow solely during wet periods, or (b) receives groundwater discharge or protracted contributions from melting snow or other erratic surface and shallow subsurface sources.

Invasive species - An alien (nonnative) species whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

IPM - See Integrated Pest Management.

K-V Funds - In 1930, Congress passed the Knutson-Vanderberg Act (K-V Act) to authorize collection of funds (K-V Funds) for reforestation and timber stand improvement work, wildlife habitat work, and other resource improvements on areas cut over by timber sales.

Karst Topography - The word karst is taken from an area in Yugoslavia, where karst features were first documented.  Karst is a terrain, underlain by limestone, in which the topography is chiefly formed by the dissolving of rock, and which is commonly characterized by closed depressions, subterranean drainage, and caves.  Features found in karst terrain include rises, swallowholes, sinking streams, blind valleys, karst valleys, gulfs, cave springs, and other karst features.

Landbase - A specific area of the earth's surface and all its attributes including water bodies, from which goods, services, and uses can be supplied.

Land Easement - An interest in land restricting the manner in which an owner may develop or use his property, or allowing the holder of the easement to use the property in some specified way.

Landform - Term used to describe the many types of land surfaces which exist as a result of geological activity, such as a plateau, plain, basin, mountain, etc.

Landline - Property boundaries located between the NFS lands and other lands.

Land management planning - A formal process of management planning involving four iterative steps: monitoring, assessment, decision-making, and implementation.

Log Landing - A cleared area in the forest to which logs are yarded or skidded for loading onto trucks for transport.

Long Range Planning - (U.S. Forest Service usage) Planning for the period covered by basic resource management plans, usually 10 or more years.

Long-Term Sustained-Yield Timber Capacity (LTSY) - The highest uniform wood yield from lands being managed for timber production that may be sustained under a specified management intensity consistent with multiple-use objectives.

LTSY - See Long-Term Sustained-Yield Timber Capacity above.

MA - See Management Area.

Maintenance Level -  A formally established set of objectives which describe the conditions necessary to achieve the planned operation of a road.

Maintenance Level 1 - This level is assigned to intermittent service roads during the time management direction requires that the road be closed or otherwise blocked to traffic.  Basic custodial maintenance is performed to protect the road investment and to keep damage to adjacent resources to an acceptable level.  Drainage facilities and runoff patterns are maintained. 

Maintenance Level 2 - This level is assigned where management direction requires that the road be open for limited passage of traffic.  Roads in this maintenance level are intended for use by high clearance vehicles.  Passenger car traffic is not a consideration.  Administrative, permitted, other specialized use, or log haul may occur at this level.

Maintenance Level 3 - This level is assigned where management direction requires the road to be open and maintained for safe travel by a prudent driver in a passenger car.  Traffic volumes are minor to moderate.  Use, comfort, and convenience are not considered a priority. 

Maintenance Level 4 - This level is assigned where management direction requires the road to provide a moderate degree of user comfort and convenience at moderate travel speeds. 

Maintenance Level 5 - This level is assigned where management direction requires the road to provide a high degree of user comfort and convenience. 

Management Area (MA) - An area with similar management objectives and a common management prescription.

Management Direction - A statement of multiple use and other goals and guidance for attaining them.

Management Indicator Species (MIS) - 1. A species whose condition can be used to assess the impacts of management actions on a particular area.  2.  A species whose population changes are believed to indicate the effects of management activities, and is monitored to track population numbers and habitat conditions, as a way of monitoring biodiversity.

Management Practice - A specific activity, measure, course of action, or treatment.

Management Prescription - Management practices and intensity selected and scheduled for application on a specific area to attain multiple use and other goals and objectives.

Mast - 1.  Nuts, acorns, and similar products of hardwood species, which are consumed by animals.  2.  The fruit of trees and shrubs. 

Maternity Roosts - With respect to the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), a maternity roost is a site used by a colony of pregnant or nursing female bats and their pups as a resting location within the foraging area of the colony.  Indiana bats generally have at least one primary roost which is most frequently used throughout the summer, and a number of alternate roosts which may house a portion of the colony throughout the summer, or may be used as conditions within the primary roost vary.  The primary roost is typically located in an area fully exposed to the sun.  Indiana bats use maternal roosts in order to provide thermal conditions that favor the development of their young.

MBF - One thousand board feet of timber.

MIS - See Management Indicator Species.

MMBF - One million board feet of timber.

Modification - A visual quality objective in which management activities may dominate the characteristic landscape but at the same time must borrow from naturally established form, line, color, or texture. 

Mulch - Leaves, straw, or other loose material spread on the ground around plants to prevent evapotranspiration of water from soil, freezing of roots, etc.

Multiple-Use - The management of all the various renewable resources of the National Forest System so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the needs of the American people.  The most judicious use will be made of the land for some or all of these resources or related services over areas large enough to provide sufficient latitude for periodic adjustments in the use to conform to changing needs and conditions.  Some lands will be used for less than all of the resources and harmonious and coordinated management of the various resources, each with the other, without impairment of the productivity of the land, with consideration being given to the relative values of the various resources.  This is not necessarily the combination of uses that will give the greatest dollar return or the greatest unit output.

National Forest System (NFS) - All National Forest lands reserved or withdrawn from the public domain of the United States, all National Forest lands acquired through purchase, exchange, donation, or other means; the National Grasslands and land utilization projects administered under Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act (50 Stat. 525, 7 U.S.C. 1010-1012), and other lands, waters, or interests therein which are administered by the Forest Service or are designated for administration through the Forest Service as a part of the system.

National Register of Historic Places - A listing (maintained by the National Park Service) of areas which have been designated as being of historical significance.  The Register includes places of local and state significance as well as those of value to the nation as a whole.

Native Species - Animals or plants which originated in the area in which they are found-i.e., were not introduced and naturally occur in that area.

Neotropical Migrant - A songbird that overwinters in Central or South America and breeds in North America.

NEPA - National Environmental Policy Act.

NFS -National Forest System.

NFMA - National Forest Management Act.

NNIS - Nonnative Invasive Species.

Nonforest Land - Lands never having or incapable of having 10 percent or more of the area occupied by forest trees, or lands previously having such cover and currently developed for nonforest use.

Nonnative invasive species (NNIS) - A plant or animal, including its seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material that is nonnative to the ecosystem under consideration and whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm. 

Objective - A concise, time-specific statement of measurable planned results that respond to pre-established goals.  An objective forms the basis for further planning to define the precise steps to be taken and the resources to be used in achieving identified goals.

Off-highway vehicle (OHV) - Generally accepted broad term for planning applications when referring to the major types of vehicles used for off-highway motorized recreation.

OHV - See Off-highway Vehicle.

Old-Growth Forest - The (usually) late successional stage of forest development; old growth forests are defined in many ways.

Overstory - That portion of the trees in a forest, with more than one roughly horizontal layer of foliage, which forms the upper or uppermost layer.

Paintball - 1. A game in which players on one team seek to eliminate those on an opposing team by marking them with a water-soluble dye shot in capsules from air guns.  2. The dye-filled gelatinous capsule shot from guns in this game.

Partial Retention - A visual quality objective which in general means man's activities may be evident but must remain subordinate to the characteristic landscape.

Perennial Stream - Streams that flow throughout the year and from source to mouth. 

Pest - 1.  An organism that is undesirable or detrimental to the interest of humans.  2. An organism or environmental stress which the land manager determines to be detrimental to achieving resource management objectives.

Pesticide - A general term applied to a variety of chemical pest control measures, including insecticides for insects, herbicides for plants, fungicides for fungi, and rodenticides for rodents.

Planning Area - The area of the National Forest System covered by a regional guide or forest plan.

Policy - A definite course or method of action selected by a governmental agency, institution, group, or individual from among alternatives and, in the light of given conditions, to guide and usually determine present and future decisions.

Precommercial Thinning -The removal of trees not for immediate financial return but to reduce stocking to concentrate growth on the more desirable trees.

Prescribed Burn - To deliberately burn wildland fuels in either their natural or their modified state and under specified environmental conditions, which allows the fire to be confined to a predetermined area and produces the fireline intensity and rate of spread required to attain planned resource management objectives.

Preservation  - A visual quality objective that allows for ecological change only.

Primitive - 1. The term "primitive" is often used synonymously with dispersed or undeveloped recreation or camping use.  Running water, toilets, showers, and other developed facilities are available at only a limited number of areas on the Hoosier National Forest.  Most of the forest can, therefore, provide "primitive" recreation and camping opportunities.  2. A classification in the recreation opportunity spectrum.  No areas on the Hoosier can provide Primitive ROS recreation opportunities at present.

Project - A site-specific resources management activity or combination of activities designed to accomplish a distinct on-the-ground purpose or result.

Pruning - The removal, close to the branch collar or flush with the stem, of side branches (live or dead) and multiple leaders from a standing tree.

Public Issue - A subject or question of widespread public interest relating to management of the National Forest System.

Public Road - Any road under the jurisdiction of and maintained by a public road authority that is open to public travel.  In the context of this definition, the Forest Service is not a public authority.

Record of Decision - A document signed by a Responsible Official recording a decision that was preceded by preparation of an environmental impact statement.

Recreation Area - A relatively small, distinctly defined portion of a national forest where concentrated public use for the more traditional recreation purposes predominates, e.g., campgrounds, picnic areas, swimming areas, etc.

Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) - A system of classifying the range of recreational experiences, opportunities, and settings available on a given area of land.  Classifications include:

• Primitive (P)

• Semi-primitive, Motorized (SPM)

• Semi-primitive, Nonmotorized (SPNM)

• Roaded Natural (RN)

• Rural (R)

• Urban (U)

Recreational River  (Wild and Scenic Rivers Act Usage) - Those rivers or sections of rivers that are readily accessible by road or railroad, that may have some development along their shorelines, and that may have undergone some impoundment or diversion in the past.

Reforestation - The establishment of forest cover either naturally (by natural seeding, coppice, or root suckers) or artificially (by direct seeding or planting).

Regeneration - The act of renewing tree cover by establishing young trees naturally or artificially.

Removal Cut - In the shelterwood method of stand regeneration, a removal cut releases established regeneration from competition with the overwood.  (See also "Shelterwood Cut.")

Research Natural Areas - A designation (by the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service) that allows unique ecosystems to follow natural processes for scientific purposes.

Retention - A visual quality objective in which management activities are not evident to the casual forest visitor.

Riparian - Related to, living in, or located in conjunction with a wetland, on the bank of a river or stream but also at the edge of a lake or tidewater.

Riparian Areas - Geographically delineable areas with distinctive resource values and characteristics that are comprised of the aquatic and riparian ecosystems.

Riparian Ecosystems - A transition area between the aquatic ecosystem and the adjacent terrestrial ecosystems identified by soil characteristics or distinctive vegetation communities that require free or unbound water.

RNA - See Research Natural Area.

RNA-equivalent -An area other than an RNA that can serve as a control or reference area for one or more community types in an ecological unit.  To qualify, an area must be...maintained in its natural state with active management which allows for mimicking of natural processes or allows natural disturbance events to proceed without interference. 

Road - A general term denoting a way for purposes of travel by vehicles (either motorized or nonmotorized) greater than 40 inches in width.

Local Road - These connect terminal facilities, such as log landings and recreation sites, with forest collector or arterial roads.  They are often less than 1.5 miles long and serve a single resource.  The vast majority of county and Forest Service roads on the Hoosier National Forest would be classified as local roads, but few would serve just one resource.

Rotation - In even-aged management, the period between regeneration establishment and final cutting.

ROD - Record of Decision.

ROS - Recreation Opportunity Spectrum.

RPA - Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974.

Runoff - Rain falling on an irregular surface; the amount of runoff corresponds to the amount of rainfall minus the amount of water entering the ground through infiltration.

Sale Schedule - The quantity of timber planned for sale by time period, from the area of suitable land covered by a forest plan.  The first period, usually a decade, of the selected sale schedule provides the allowable sale quantity.  Future periods are shown to establish that long-term sustained yield will be achieved and maintained. 

Salvage Cutting -  A timber sale for which an important reason for entry includes the removal of disease- or insect-infested trees, dead, damaged, or down trees, or trees affected by fire or imminently susceptible to fire or insect attack. Such term also includes the removal of associated trees or trees lacking the characteristics of a healthy and viable ecosystem for the purpose of ecosystem improvement or rehabilitation, except that any such sale must include an identifiable salvage component of trees described in the first sentence.

Sanitation Cutting - The removal of trees to improve stand health by stopping or reducing the actual or anticipated spread of insects and disease. 

Sapling - A usually young tree larger than a seedling but smaller than a pole.

Sawtimber - Trees or logs cut from trees with minimum diameter and length and with stem quality suitable for conversion to lumber.

Scenic River (Wild and Scenic Rivers Act Usage) - Those rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads. 

Sediment - Solid material, both mineral and organic, that is in suspension and being transported from its site of origin by the forces of air, water, gravity, or ice.

Sediment basin - A basin designed to collect sediment particles that settle out from stream flow or runoff.

Seedbed - In natural regeneration, the soil or forest floor in which seed falls.

Seedling - A tree smaller than a sapling; as typically used in forest surveys, a size class definition meaning trees less than 1 inch at dbh.

Sense of Place - 1.  Those things that add up to a feeling that a community is a special place, distinct from anywhere else.  2.  A sense of place results gradually and unconsciously from inhabiting a landscape over time, becoming familiar with its physical properties, accruing history within its confines.

Sensitive Species - Plant and animal species designated in the forest plan by the Regional Forester which require special consideration to assure viable populations.

Shade Intolerant - Having the capacity to compete for survival under direct sunlight conditions.

Shade-tolerant  - Having the capacity to compete for survival under shaded conditions.

Shelterwood Cutting - The cutting of most trees, leaving those needed to produce sufficient shade to produce a new age class in a moderated environment.

Silvicultural System - A planned series of treatments for tending, harvesting, and re-establishing a stand; the system name is based on the number of age classes.

Sink, Sinkhole - A depression or hole in a low-lying, poorly drained area formed by the dissolution of underlying rock, where waters collect or disappear before sinking down into the ground or by evaporation. 

Skid Road/Trail - An access cut through the woods for skidding.

Slash - The residue, e.g., treetops and branches, left on the ground after logging or accumulating as a result of storm, fire, girdling, or delimbing.

Snag - 1.  A standing, generally unmerchantable dead tree from which the leaves and most of the branches have fallen.  2.  A standing section of the stem of a tree, broken off usually below the crown.

Special Area - Designated areas which include unique or unusual ecological, botanical, zoological, geological, scenic, historic, prehistoric, and other areas which merit special recognition and management.

Special Use Permits - An authorization which provides permission, without conveying an interest in land, to occupy and use National Forest System land or facilities for specified purpose, and which is revocable, terminable and non-compensable.

Standards and Guidelines - Requirements which preclude or impose limitations on resource management activities, generally for the purposes of environmental protection or public safety.

Stand (Stand of Trees) - A contiguous group of trees sufficiently uniform in age-class classification, composition, and structure, and growing on a site of sufficiently uniform quality, to be a distinguishable unit.

Stand Structure - The horizontal and vertical distribution of components of a forest stand including the height, diameter, crown layers and stems of trees, shrubs, herbaceous understory, snags, and down woody debris.

Streambed - Refers to the bottom of the stream channel.

Subsurface Rights (Mineral Rights) - Ownership rights in a parcel of real estate to the water, minerals, gas, oil, and so forth that lie beneath the surface of the property.

Succession - The gradual replacement of one community of plants by another; the sequence of communities is called a seral stage.

Suitability - The appropriateness of applying certain resource management practices to a particular area of land, as determined by an analysis of the economic and environmental consequences and the alternative uses foregone.

Suitable Timber Lands - See Suitability.

Sustained Yield (or Production) - The achievement and maintenance in perpetuity of a high-level annual or regular periodic output of the various renewable resource without impairment of the productivity of the land.

Thinning - A cultural treatment made to reduce stand density of trees primarily to improve growth, enhance forest health, or recover potential mortality.

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

Timber Production - The purposeful growing, tending, harvesting, and regeneration of regulated crops of trees to be cut into logs, bolts, or other round sections for industrial or consumer use.  For planning purposes, the term "timber production" does not include production of fuelwood.

Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) - An intermediate treatment made to improve the composition, structure, condition, health, and growth of even-aged or uneven-aged stands.

Tolerance - See shade tolerant.

Traffic Service Level - The measure of the standard of a road or the level of service provided to the user of the road.  Detailed description of the four traffic service levels can be found in Forest Service Handbook 7709.56.

Trail - A trail primarily on NFS land that is designated and maintained by the Forest Service as an official trail.

Single Use Trail:  A trail that is designated for use by one user group, generally hikers.

Multiple Use Trail:  A trail that is designated for use by two or more user groups. On the Hoosier National Forest this is limited to horse riders, mountain bikers, and hikers.

Special Use Permit Trail:  A trail primarily on NFS land that is designated and maintained under a special use permit. The purpose of a special use permit trail is to provide a legal means for adjacent landowners to access Hoosier National Forest system trails.

Trail Density and Cumulative Trail Density - Trail density represents the miles of trail contained in a square mile of land.  The cumulative trail density represents a cumulative figure for the total Forest acreage for that management area.  The density may be exceeded on any given piece of ground as long as it is not exceeded for that management area overall.  These density limits are not intended to be a target for miles of a trail in a management area.

Trail Plan - A strategic forest-wide trail plan that identifies existing and proposed trails, special use trail criteria, supplemental trail standards, and scheduling of proposed projects.   

TSI - See Timber Stand Improvement.

Understory - The plants of a forest undergrowth; broadly, an underlying layer of low vegetation; all forest vegetation growing under an overstory.

Uneven-aged Management - The application of a combination of actions needed to simultaneously maintain continuous high-forest cover, recurring regeneration of desirable species, and the orderly growth and development of trees through a range of diameter or age classes to provide a sustained yield of forest products.  Cutting is usually regulated by specifying the number or proportion of trees of particular sizes to retain within each area, thereby maintaining a planned distribution of size classes.  Cutting methods that develop and maintain uneven-aged stands are single-tree selection and group selection. 

Utility Corridor - See Corridor.

Vegetative Management - The forced change of one vegetative condition to another.  It can be done with hand tools, mechanical equipment, chemicals, or fire.  Usually this is done to improve habitat for plant and animal species, improve forest stand quality, or provide timber products.

Vegetative Manipulation - Similar to vegetation management although in the context of this plan, the term is used for maintenance activities such as hand pulling of exotics, mowing, limited bushhogging, or trail maintenance activities. 

Viable Population - A population of plants or animals whose estimated number and distribution of reproductive individuals provides a high likelihood of continued existence, generally throughout its current range.

Visual Quality Objective (VQO) - A desired level of excellence based on physical and sociological characteristics of an area.  Refers to degree of acceptable alteration of the characteristic landscape.

Visual Resource Management - The art and science of planning and administering the use of forest lands in such ways that the visual effects maintain or upgrade man's psychological welfare.  It is the planning and design of the visual aspects of the multiple-use land management. 

Watershed - 1.  A land area that has all the surface drainage within its boundary converging at a single point.  2.  Subdivisions within a subbasin.  The 5th level (10-digit) in the HU hierarchy.

Water Table - The upper limit of the portion of the ground wholly saturated with water.

Wetland - As defined by Executive Order (E.O.) 11990, those areas that are inundated by surface or ground water with a frequency sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances do support, an abundance of vegetative or aquatic life that requires saturated or seasonally saturated soil conditions (hydric soils) for growth and reproduction.  Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas such as sloughs, potholes, wet meadows, river overflows, mud flats, and natural ponds.  Wetlands generally are encompassed by the riparian ecosystem.

Wheelchair - A device designed solely for use by a person with mobility impairment for locomotion, that is suitable for use in an indoor pedestrian area.

Wilderness - The National Wilderness Preservation Act of 1964 defines a wilderness as an area of undeveloped, Federally owned land designated by Congress that has the following characteristics:  (1) It is affected primarily by the forces of nature, where man is a visitor who does not remain.  It may contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, education, scenic, or historical value.  (2) It possesses outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation.  (3) It is an area large enough so that continued use will not change its unspoiled natural condition.

Wildlife Habitat - The place where an animal or plant naturally or normally lives and develops.

Wild River - (Wild and Scenic Rivers Act usage) Those rivers or section of rivers that are free of impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and water unpolluted.