Glossary
Excerpted from Forest Practices Illustrated
from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources
Abandoned Road: A forest road which is permanently closed, stabilized, and no longer passable by vehicles. Abandonment must be approved by the Department of Natural Resources.
Active Road: A forest road actively used for hauling forest products or road building materials.
Aerial Application: Applying chemicals from the air by helicopter or plane.
Anadromous Fish: Fish whose life cycle includes time spent in both fresh and salt water.
Armoring: Placing rocks on headwall or fill material around a culvert to prevent water from eroding and undercutting the culvert and flowing under the road.
Ballast: Coarse base rock placed on top of subgrade to stabilize road bed.
Bog: See Wetlands definition
Bucking: Cutting logs into specified lengths.
Catch Basin: A constructed basin at and immediately upstream of culvert openings to slow water velocity and trap sediment before water flows through the culvert.
Conifer: A cone-bearing tree with needles, such as pine, spruce, fir and larch.
Cross Drains: Installed structures, such as culverts and rolling dips, that move water from one side of the road to the other.
Crowned Roads: Road constructed with the highest point in the middle to drain water off half the road to the outside and half the road to an inside ditch.
Deciduous: A tree which loses its leaves or needles during the fall or winter.
DBH (diameter at breast height): Tree’s diameter measured 4.5 feet from the ground.
Ditch-out: Extending the ditch away from the roadway to divert water to the forest floor.
Downed Logs: Larger diameter woody debris left on site after harvest to provide wildlife habitat.
End Hauling: The removal and transportation of excavated material to a stable waste area.
Energy Dissipator: Material, such as rocks or wood, placed at outlet of culvert to slow and disperse flow of water.
Even-aged Harvest: Removing all merchantable trees at one time, or over a short period of time,to produce a stand of trees that are about the same age.
Ford: A constructed or natural stream crossing that can be driven through when the water level is low.
Forest Chemicals: Pesticides, fertilizers, animal repellents and other chemicals applied to forest lands and road surfaces.
Forest Practice: Activities conducted on forest lands related to growing, harvesting or processing timber are regulated by the Forest Practices Act. These include road construction and maintenance, thinning and salvage of trees, harvesting, reforestation, brush control, and using fertilizers or pesticides.
Forwarding: Using a fully-mechanized harvesting system to pick up logs and haul them from the woods to the landing.
Full Bench Construction: A road that is constructed using no fill or side-cast.
Green Recruitment Trees (GRTs): Standing green trees retained after harvest to eventually become wildlife reserve trees.
Ground Application: Applying chemicals using motor power equipment.
Hand Application: Using non-motorized equipment to apply chemicals to specific targets, such as vegetation, trees, stumps, and burrows, or as bait or in traps.
Headwall: Wall constructed of impervious and erosion-resistant material at culvert openings to direct water into the culvert and to protect the road fill material from eroding.
Hydraulics Project Approval (HPA): Permit from Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife required for projects in or affecting water.
Inactive Road: A forest road on which commercial hauling is discontinued for one or more harvest seasons, and is maintained for occasional forest management activities.
Insloped Roads: Roads constructed to slope toward the inside edge so water drains slowly over the edge, usually into a ditch.
Landing: Where logs are sorted and loaded onto trucks.
Leave Trees: Trees intentionally left standing after a harvest or thinning.
Natural Reseeding: Letting on-site or nearby trees reseed the harvest area.
Ordinary High Water Mark: Physical mark along most streams that indicates height normallyreached during average high flow.
Outsloped Roads: Roads constructed to slope toward the outside so water drains slowly over the outer edge.
Pesticides: Any insecticide, herbicide, fungicide, or rodenticide, not including nontoxic repellents or other forest chemicals.
Perched Landings: Logging debris piled on edge of landings over steep slopes that has the potential to fall and enter water.
Plantings: Hand-planting seedlings in the harvested area.
Public Resources: The Forest Practices Act defines public resources as: water, fish, wildlife, and capital improvements of the state or its political subdivisions (i.e., counties and cities).
Reforestation: Reestablishing a forest in an area where trees have been removed.
Relief Culvert: A type of cross drain used to divert water from the ditch to the forest floor on the other side of the road.
Riparian Area: The area of land adjacent to streams, rivers, lakes and ponds which provides important fish and wildlife habitat and water quality.
Riparian Management Zone (RMZ): Specific areas along rivers and streams where certain steps are taken to protect water quality, fish, and wildlife habitat. Riparian Management Zones are measured horizontally from the ordinary high water mark; specific widths are set by the forest practices rules.
Rock Weir: A small rock dam used in a ditch to slow water velocity and to filter sediment.
Rolling Dip: A constructed break in the road grade to allow water to run off; a drivable water bar.
Salvage: Harvesting damaged or defective trees for their economic value or for forest health. Includes salvage of residual cedar, blow-down stands, and fire-damaged stands.
Scarify: To disturb the forest floor and topsoil in preparation for natural regeneration, direct seeding or planting.
Side Cast: Excavated material pushed over the road edge.
Silviculture: The art, science and practice or planting, caring for, harvesting, and regrowing forest stands with desired qualities, based on knowledge of species and their requirements.
Skidding: Pulling logs with ground equipment or horses from the stump to the landing.
Subgrade: Road surface shaped and graded before application of rock.
Temporary (Seasonal) Roads: A forest road used for a portion of the year to take advantage of weather conditions (e.g., dry or frozen soil conditions).
Turn-outs: A widening of the road to allow oncoming traffic to pass safely.
Uneven-aged Harvest: Periodically removing merchantable trees of different ages and sizes, including thinning and salvage, to maintain a stand with a mix of age classes.
Waste Area: A stable location for placing end-haul materials.
Water Bars: Constructed drainage devices in the road surface that divert water to one side.
Water Crossing Structures: Bridges, culverts, arches, and temporary crossings installed in roads over flowing streams to maintain natural water flow.
Wetland Management Zone (WMZ): Area adjacent to Type A or B wetland where specific measures are taken to protect the water quality and quantity, and fish and wildlife habitat.
Wetlands: Areas that are saturated or covered with water long enough and often enough that their soils and plant differ from those in nearby uplands.
Type A Wetlands: At least 1/2 acre of open water for one week during the growing season, with surrounding crown closure less than 30% (see Board Manual in Forest Practices Rule book for specifics).
Type B Wetlands: All other non-forested wetlands greater than 1/4 acre.
Forested Wetlands: Wetlands with tree canopy closure of at least 30%.
Bog: Wetland consisting of saturated organic material, such as peat and muck, and plants that tolerate acidic soils, such as sedges and bog laurel.
Wildlife Reserve Trees (WRTs): Dead, dying, defective or damaged trees left standing after harvest to provide wildlife habitat.
Yarding: Moving logs by a cable system from the stump to a landing.