Woodlot Glossary - Conservation and Logging on Private Land in Alberta

Board-foot: a volume measure of lumber being 1 ft. wide, 1ft.long and 1 in. thinck (12 in. x12 in. x1 in.=144 cubic inches.) Dressed lumber is actually smaller, but considered to be the smae size.

Brush rake: a toothed blade designed to pile slash and brush with minimal soil disturbance.

Buffer strip: a protected strip of vegetated land beside roads, watercourses, mineral licks or other important features.

Clearcut: a logging method where all merchantable trees in a defined area are harvested; an area where this logging method has been used.

Compaction, soil: the process of decreasing soil volume such that soil density increases.

Cord: A volume measure of stacked wood. A standard cord is 4 x 4 x 8 or 128 cubic feet of space.

Cutblock: an area from which timber is harvested.

Decked: piled in an orderly fashion for loading.

Dry Rot:a decay caused by a specialized fungi capable of conducting moisture from a source to wood previously thought too dry to decay.

Duff: the layer of partially and fully decomposed organic materials lying below the forest litter and immediately above the mineral soil.

Edge: the boundary between two ecological communities such as open land and forested land.

Ephemeral stream: a channel (usually vegetated) where water flows only during and immediately after rainfall or snowmelt.

Even aged: applied to a stand of trees in which there is relatively little age difference between individual trees.

Feathered edge: a transitional area between an undisturbed forest and a clearcut where trees are selectively logged to reduce the impact of windthrow on the forest edge.

Hardwood: a term used to describe broad leaf, usually deciduous trees such as oak, ash and elm. It doesn't refer to the hardness of the wood.

Kerf: the width of a cut made by a saw.

Impermeable: a condition describing a surface or subsurface soil layer which will not readily allow water to pass through it.

Infiltration: the downward movement of water into the soil.

Intermittent stream: a stream (usually unvegetated) with distinct channel development where water flows during storms or the wet season but dries up during the dry season or drought.

Line-of-sight: the distance at which an object can be identified.

Long butting: a bucking practice in which merchantable pieces from the lower portion of the tree are wasted because long sections of the log are cut off in search of a portion with less rot.

Mature stand: trees at an age where growth of new wood is slowing down and losses to decay and windthrow are increasing.

Merchantable timber: the portion of a tree or trees that has attained sufficient size, quality and/or volume to make it suitable for harvesting.

Permanent stream: a well-defined channel where water usually flows all year.

Pre-harvest plan:a site based strategy developed before loggng to prevent environmental problems and to complement reforestation and other goals.

Residual trees: trees remaining uncut following any cutting operation (harvesting or stand tending).

Rotation age"the age at which a stand is considered ready for harvesting under an adopted management plan.

Rill erosion: a process in which many small channels a few centimetres deep are eroded.

Riparian area: the area adjacent to a water body, identified by vegetation, wildlife and other qualities unique to these locations.

Rooting habit: the characteristic rooting pattern of a species (for example, lodgepole pine has a deep tap root).

Runoff: the portion of total precipitation that flows away in streams.

Runoff sensitive area: a well drained area that rapidly conveys water to a stream or basin. It is characterized by moderate to steep slopes, low infiltration rates and limited surface storage.

Seed tree method: an even-aged silvicultural system in which individual trees or groups of trees are left uncut to provide seed to regenerate the cutover area. Seed trees are typically removed once regeneration succeeds.

Seepage area: a surface area that frequently emits groundwater. It is usually found at the upper contact between a lower impermeable layer and an upper permeable layer.

Selection method: an uneven-aged silvicultural system in which selected trees are harvested individually or in small groups at periodic intervals throughout a rotation.

Selective harvesting: a timber harvesting method that removes only some of the mature trees. In contrast to partial cut systems like the selection method, selective harvesting is not necessarily designed to encourage regeneration.

Shade intolerant: the inability of a plant to be competitive in the shade of other plants.

Shade tolerant: the ability of a plant to be competitive in the shade of other plants.

Sheet flow: water flowing over a surface as a sheet, rather than in a channel.

Shelterwood method: an even-aged silvicultural system in which mature trees are removed in two or more cuttings to allow for the establishment and early growth of new seedlings under partial shade and shelter of older trees.

Snag: a dead standing tree that may provide roosting or cavity nesting/denning opportunities for wildlife.

Sustained yield timber management: management of a forest property for continuous production of timber with the aim of achieving an approximate balance between net growth and harvest.

Thinning: the removal of trees in an overstocked stand to give the remaining trees adequate room for growth.

Travel corridor: an area with vegetated cover that reduces wildlife exposure to predators and weather, and is used by wildlife to travel from one habitat area to another.

Utilization standard: the size, species or quality characteristics that determine whether a tree or portion of a tree is merchantable.

Visual buffer: a vegetated buffer that is used primarily to alter aesthetic impact.

Volume: a measure of the amount of wood. In metric this is in cubic metres (m³), in imperial it can be board feet (fbm), cords or cunits (100 cubic feet).

Water bar: an obstruction to divert water from the surface of a road or trail onto an adjacent (vegetated) area.

Water source area: that portion of a watershed where soils are saturated and/or surface flow occurs and contributes directly to stream flow.

Watershed: an area of land that collects and discharges water into a single creek or river through a series of smaller tributaries.

Windfirm: the ability to withstand moderate to heavy winds without toppling.

Windthrow: a tree or trees uprooted or broken off by wind.

Woodlot: tract of land of any size and shape that contain naturally occurring or planted trees

Source: Agdex 581-2. 1994.

Woodlot Glossary - Conservation and Logging on Private Land in Alberta

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