Glossary

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Annual harvest rates

Relates to harvesting of timber on an economic and biological model that ensures a balance of growing timber and harvesting in cycles that produce a continuous supply of renewable forest products. After analysis, this harvest level will be set.

Avalanche

A fall or slide of a large mass of material, usually snow or rock, down a mountainside.

Blowdown

A tree or stand of timber blown down by the wind.

Clearcutting

Method of harvest in which most of the trees are removed at the same time, although some trees are left for wildlife and to shade streams. Clear cut harvesting is effective for regenerating Douglas-fir trees, which are shade intolerant and cannot thrive under a forested canopy.

Commercial thinning

Entry into a forest stand before final harvest to selectively remove trees that will produce a profit, while providing a silvicultural advantage to the remaining crop of trees. This technique is unlike a clear cut harvest, which removes nearly all trees in a single harvest operation.

Conifer

A cone-bearing tree with needles, such as pines, spruces, firs and larches.

Cryptodome

An underground pool of magma caused by an expansion of the magma chamber and a displacement of an upper portion of the mountain.

Deciduous tree

A tree that loses its leaves or needles during the fall and winter.

Ecosystem

Abbreviation for ecological system, defined as a total collection of living organisms, together with their non-living environment, in a particular area.

Endangered species

A species that is designated by the government to be in danger of extinction throughout all or significant portion of its range.

Evergreen tree

A tree that retains some or most of its leaves or needles throughout the year.

Forest

A plant community dominated by trees and other woody plants.

Forester

A professional engaged in the science and profession of forestry.

Forestry

The profession embracing the science, art and practice of creating, managing, using and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner for human benefit.

Forest Management

The practical application of biological, physical, quantitive, managerial, economic, social and policy principles to regeneration, management, utilization and conservation of forests to meet specified goals and objectives while maintaining the productivity of the forest. Forest management includes management for aesthetics, fish, recreation, urban value, water, wildlife and wood products.

Forest succession

The gradual replacement of one community of plants by another

Habitat

The local environment of a plant or animal.

Landing

A cleared area within a setting where logs are yarded, processed and loaded onto trucks for delivery.

Leave trees

Trees left standing by design after a harvest or thinning.

Magma

Molten matter beneath the earth's crust.

Pyroclastic

1. Super-heated rock and gases that travel at a high rate of speed down the sides of a volcano.
2. Rock fragmentation caused by volcanic ejection.

Pulp

A suspension of cellulose fibers in water.

Reforest

Plant young trees to replace trees killed or removed.

Shade intolerant

Trees or plants that grow better in direct sunlight than in the shade of other trees. Douglas-fir grows best in direct sunlight.

Side

A logging site, including the personnel and equipment to operate it.

Slash

Accumulations of wood debris such as limbs and needles, containing much of the tree's nutrients.

Snag

A standing dead tree ten feet high or over.

Sustained yield

Harvest practices which ensure the rate of forest harvest does not exceed the rate of forest growth.

Thinning

Tree removal in a forest stand that reduces tree density and competition among trees, encouraging growth of fewer, higher quality trees. See commercial and precommercial thinning.

Threatened species

A species that is designated by the government as likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Tree farm

Privately owned timberland where the primary goal is growing wood fiber to produce the wood and paper products we all use every day.

Watershed

The land surrounding and draining into a river or stream.

Wicking

The absorbent ability to pull moisture away through capillary action.

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