Governor's Advisory Committee on Chip Mills

Final Report
August 1, 2000

GLOSSARY

Biodiversity - Diversity of organisms that exists at different scales (micro, meso, macro, etc.), as measured by the number of different species (richness) and their distribution over the landscape (evenness)

Biomass accumulation - A way of viewing the chronological progress of an ecosystem. Bormann and Likens (1979) proposed four phases of biomass accumulation following clearcutting of a northern hardwood ecosystem. Biomass accumulation looks at total productivity without regard to commercial value.

Board foot -- Unit of measure applied to roundwood. It relates to lumber that is 1 foot long, 1 foot wide, and 1 inch thick (or its equivalent).

Byproducts -- Primary wood products (e.g. pulp chips, animal bedding, fuelwood, etc.) recycled from mill residues.

Capital gains tax - Tax on income based on the increase in value of a capital investment.

Central hardwood region - The region south of the beech-maple forest, east of the Great Plains, and north and west of the southern pine forests of the Coastal Plain and Piedmont. The central hardwood forest covers an area of approximately 235,000 square miles and is centered along the axes of the Appalachian Mountains east of the Mississippi River and the Ouachita/Ozark Mountains west of the Mississippi.

Coarse mill residue -- Wood residue suitable for chipping such as slabs, edgings, and veneer cores.

Commercial species -- Tree species presently or prospectively suitable for industrial wood products. (Note: Excludes species of typically small size, poor form, or inferior quality such as hophornbeam, osage-orange, and redbud.)

Community - An assemblage of organisms living in an environment and interacting with each other and the environment. Each community possesses species that are adapted to the specific conditions that exist at the time.

Competition (for resources) - The interaction between plants that is a result of limited resources. For example, species such as oaks and hickories, with their better developed root systems, are more competitive on sites where moisture is limited.

Composite products -- Roundwood products manufactured into chips, wafers, strands, flakes, shavings or sawdust and then reconstituted into a variety of panel and engineered lumber products.

Cord -- Unit of measure applied to roundwood, usually bolts or split wood. It relates to stack of roundwood 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long, containing 128 cubic feet of wood, bark, and air space.

Cull -- Net volume of rough and rotten trees plus the nongrowing stock portions of growing stock trees (stumps, tops, limbs, cull section of central stem).

Diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) -- The outside bark diameter at 4.5 feet above the forest floor on the uphill side of the tree. For determining breast height, the forest floor includes the duff layer that may be present, but does not include unincorporated woody debris that may rise above the ground line.

Disturbance - Forest disturbance is a component of the process of secondary succession and has played a significant part in the development of the central hardwood forest. Disturbances can come from within (endogenous), such as tree fall, native insect, or disease outbreak, or may come from outside agents (exogenous), such as fire, windstorm, and ice.

Ecosystem - An association in which the prevailing vegetation creates habitat for animal forms that are adapted to it, and they, in turn, have a biofeedback relationship with the vegetation. An assemblage of organisms that function in a particular environment, having interactions with their environment and with each other.

Even-aged management - A silvicultural system designed to totally remove an existing stand a create a new single-cohort stand. Even-aged management methods include clearcutting, seed-tree, and shelterwood systems. It is best suited to regenerate shade intolerant species.

Fiber products -- Byproducts used in the manufacture of pulp, paper, paperboard, and composite products, like waferboard, chip board, etc.

Fine mill residue -- Wood residue not suitable for chipping, such as sawdust and veneer clippings.

Forest Industry -- An ownership class of private lands owned by companies or individuals operating primary wood-using plants.

Forest land -- Land at least 16.7 percent stocked by forest trees of any size, or formerly having had such tree cover, and not currently developed for nonforest use. (Note: Stocking is measured by comparing specified standards with basal area and /or number of trees, age or size, and spacing.) The minimum area for classification of forest land is 1 acre. Roadside, streamside, and shelterbelt strips of timber must have a crown width of at least 120 feet to qualify as forest land. Unimproved roads and trails, streams, or other bodies of water or clearings in forest areas shall be classed as forest if less than 120 feet wide.

Forest stand dynamics - Functional relationships in stands, such as how trees function where they compete with other trees in varying mixtures of species on different sites, at a variety of stocking densities and in varying age structures.

Fuelwood -- Roundwood products and mill residue byproducts used to produce some form of energy (heat, steam, etc.) in residential, industrial, or institutional settings.

Group selection -- An uneven-aged management method in which larger openings are created than in single-tree selection. It has the advantage of permitting regeneration of intermediate and shade intolerant species.

Growing-stock removals -- The growing-stock volume removed from poletimber and sawtimber trees in the timberland inventory. (Note: Includes volume removed for roundwood products, logging residues, and other removals).

Growing-stock tree -- A live timberland tree of commercial species that meets specified standards of size, quality, and merchantability. (Note: Excludes rough, rotten, and dead trees.)

Growing-stock volume -- Net volume of growing-stock trees 5.0 inches d.b.h. and over, from 1 foot above the ground to a minimum 4.0 inch top diameter outside bark of the central stem or to the point where the central stem breaks into limbs.

Hardwoods -- Dicotyledonous trees, usually broad-leaved and deciduous.

High-grading - The practice of cutting the best and most desirable trees and leaving scattered poor quality and unmerchantable residual trees. If repeated over and over, high-grading will essentially leave stands of trees with low growth potential and can ultimately lead to an impoverished condition where few good management alternatives remain.

Industrial roundwood products -- Roundwood products (e.g. saw logs, pulpwood, veneer logs, etc.) intended to be processed into primary wood products (e.g. lumber, wood pulp, sheathing, etc.) at primary wood-using mills..

Intermediate cuttings - A silvicultural treatment, or combination of treatments, performed simultaneously that are used when stands are not ready for a final harvest.

International 1/4-inch -- A log rule, or formula, for estimating the board-foot volume of logs.

Landscape level - Viewing the ecosystem at a scale of tens to hundreds of square miles. At this mesoscale level, macroclimate is relatively homogeneous, but elements such as soils, topography, and drainage basins may vary.

Logging residue -- The unused portions of trees cut, or killed by logging, and left in the woods.

Mean annual increment - Average annual volume growth over the length of the rotation.

Merchantable sections -- Refers to sections of the central stem of growing-stock trees that meet either pulpwood or saw-log specifications.

Mill residues -- Wood materials (coarse and fine) and bark generated at manufacturing plants (primary wood-using mills) when roundwood products are processed into primary wood products, includes slabs, edgings, trimmings, sawdust, veneer clippings and cores, and pulp screenings. (Note: Includes mill residues recycled as byproducts as well as those left unutilized and disposed of as waste.)

National Forest -- An ownership class of federal lands, designated by Executive Order or statute as National Forests or purchase units, and other lands under administration of the Forest Service, including experimental areas and Bankhead-Jones Title III lands.

Net volume -- Gross volume less deductions for rot, sweep, or other defects affecting use for roundwood products.

Noncommercial species -- Trees species of typically small size, poor form, or inferior quality that normally do not develop into trees suitable for industrial roundwood products.

Nonforest land -- Land that has never supported forests, and land formerly forested where use for timber management is precluded by development for other uses. (Note: Includes areas used for crops, improved pasture, residential areas, city parks, improved roads of any width and adjoining clearings, powerline clearings of any width, and 1- to 39.9-acre areas of water classified by the Bureau of the Census as land. If intermingled in forest areas, improved roads and nonforest strips must be more than 120 feet wide and more than 1 acre to qualify as nonforest land.)

Nongrowing-stock removals -- The net volume removed from the nongrowing -stock portions of poletimber and sawtimber trees (stumps, tops, limbs, cull sections of central stem) and from any portion of a rough, rotten, sapling, dead, or nonforest tree.

Nonindustrial private -- An ownership class of private lands where the owner does not operate wood-using plants.

Nonindustrial roundwood products -- Roundwood products (fuelwood, posts, etc.) that are not milled (processed at a primary wood-using mill), but used directly for domestic/residential/local purposes.

Northern hardwoods - The beech/maple/birch type consists of variuos mixtures of shade tolerant species, usually found at higher elevations in the central hardwood region.

Other public -- An ownership class that includes all public lands except National Forests.

Other removals - A USFS forest inventory category designating unutilized wood volume of trees cut or otherwise killed by cultural operations (e.g. precommercial thinnings) or landclearings to nonforest uses. Does not include volume removed from the inventory by reclassification of timberland to productive reserved forest land.

Poletimber -- A growing-stock tree at least 5.0 inches d.b.h. but smaller than sawtimber size (9.0 inches d.b.h. for softwoods, 11.0 inches d.b.h. for hardwoods).

Poletimber removals -- Net volume removed from the merchantable central stem (growing-stock portion) of poletimber.

Posts, poles, and pilings -- Roundwood products milled (cut, peeled, etc.) into standard sizes (lengths and circumferences) to be put in the ground to provide vertical and lateral support in buildings, foundations, utility lines and fences. May also include nonindustrial (unmilled).

Primary wood products -- The rough and finished products (lumber, wood pulp, veneer sheathing, handles, etc.) manufactured from roundwood products at primary wood-using mills.

Primary wood-using mills -- Mills that convert roundwood products (saw logs, veneer logs, pulpwood, etc.) into primary wood products, like lumber, sheathing, wood pulp, etc.

Productive reserved forestland -- Forest land that is withdrawn from timber utilization by statute or administrative regulation.

Pulpwood -- Roundwood logs, bolts, or chips reduced to individual wood fibers by chemical or mechanical means for the manufacture of a variety of paper and paperboard products.

Rotten tree -- A tree that does not meet regional merchantability standards because of excessive unsound cull.

Rough tree -- A tree that does not meet regional merchantability standards because of excessive sound cull. Includes noncommercial tree species.

Roundwood products -- Logs, bolts, or chips cut from trees for industrial and nonindustrial uses (sawlogs, veneer logs, pulpwood, fuelwood, etc.).

Sapling -- A live tree between 1.0 and 5.0 inches d.b.h.

Saw log -- A roundwood product, usually 8 feet in length or longer, processed into a variety of sawn products (lumber, cants, blocks, squares, etc.).

Saw-log portion -- That portion of the central stem of sawtimber trees between the stump and the saw-log top.

Saw-log top -- The point on the central stem of sawtimber trees above which a saw log can not be produced. The minimum saw-log top is 7.0 inches d.o.b. for softwoods and 9.0 inches d.o.b. for hardwoods.

Sawtimber removals -- The net volume removed from the merchantable central stem (growing-stock portion) of sawtimber trees (Note: includes the saw-log and upper-stem portions of sawtimber trees.) When referencing removals from the sawtimber inventory as in tables 4-6 of the timber removals tables, only the volume in the saw-log portion of sawtimber trees (sawtimber volume ) removed for roundwood products, logging residue, and other removals is included, and is expressed in thousands of board feet (International 1/4-inch rule).

Sawtimber tree -- A growing-stock tree containing at least a 12-foot saw log or two noncontiguous saw logs 8 feet or longer, and meeting regional specifications for freedom from defect. Softwoods must be at least 9.0 inches d.b.h. and hardwoods must be at least 11.0 inches d.b.h.

Sawtimber volume -- Net volume in the saw-log portion of sawtimber trees.

Severance tax - A tax on a fixed natural resource (e.g., on timber), following its removal from the natural site and therefore severance from the natural state. In most instances of its application, when timber is cut, the owner of the timber at that time must pay a severance tax.

Silvicultural system - A planned program of silvicultural treatment during the whole life of the stand; it not only includes reproduction cuttings, but also any tending operations or intermediate cuttings.

Silviculture - The theory and practice of controlling the establishment, composition, constitution, and growth of forests.

Single-tree selection -- An uneven-aged management method based on the removal of single mature trees. This technique simulates the natural gap dynamics that occurs in mature unmanaged natural stands. This technique theoretically results in a balanced uneven-aged stand. This method leaves relatively small canopy gaps that can close fairly rapidly due to crown expansion of residual trees. Thus it promotes the regeneration of shade tolerant species.

Site -- The sum total of all environmental factors affecting the functioning of a forest community in a given locale (soil, climatic, and biotic factors).

Site index - Use of tree height growth as a measure of site quality. Height of dominant or codominant trees of a certain species (usually oaks) at 50 years of age is generally used in central hardwoods

Skid trails - Any surface, more or less prepared, over which logs are dragged.

Softwoods -- Coniferous trees, usually evergreen, having needles or scale-like leaves.

Source -- Identifies timber removals as coming from certain portions or types of trees. (Note: see poletimber removals, sawtimber removals, growing-stock removals, nongrowing-stock removals)

Stand -- A spatially continuous group of trees and associated vegetation having similar structures and growing under similar soil and climatic conditions. It is analogous to the ecological concept of 'community,' but focuses more on the trees and vegetation. A stand is a group of trees with similar age structure, species composition, site quality, and condition so as to be recognizable from adjacent stands. It is the basic unit of the forest to which a silvicultural treatment is applied.

Stand dynamics -- A term analogous to succession but focusing on the changes in forest stand structure with time, including stand behavior during and after disturbances.

Stocking - Refers to the occupancy of a site (number of trees or basal area per unit area) relative to the optimum the site can carry.

Succession -- An orderly change in community species composition over time, with each community possessing species that are adapted to the specific conditions that exist at that time. According to successional theory, ecosystems not subjected to strong exogenous disturbances change in a progressive and directional way.

Sustained yield - The yield that a forest can produce continuously at a given intensity of management. As forestry in America evolved as a profession, the term 'yield' has been broadened to include more than one commodity or use, although retaining a commodity focus.

Thinning - An intermediate cutting aimed at controlling stand density. The primary purpose of thinning is to redirect the resources of the site to the residual trees in order to improve their vigor and growth.

Timber Product Output.-- The total volume of roundwood products harvested from all sources plus the volume of byproducts recovered from mill residues.

Timber removals -- The total volume of trees removed by harvesting roundwood product, conducting cultural activities, and clearing forestlands. (Note: Includes roundwood products, logging residues, and other removals).

Timberland -- Forest land that is producing, or is capable of producing, in excess of 20 cubic feet per acre per year of industrial roundwood products under natural conditions, is not withdrawn from timber utilization by statute or administrative regulation, and is not associated with urban or rural development.

Tops -- The wood of a tree above that of the central stem.

Tree -- A woody plant usually having one or more perennial stems, a more or less definitely formed crown of foliage, and a height of al least 12 feet at maturity.

Uneven-aged management -- Silvicultural systems that produce uneven-aged (multi-cohort) stands of shade tolerant species. In actuality, uneven-aged stands are aggregations of many small even-aged stands. Uneven-aged stands managed by single-tree methods ultimately tend to become dominated by shade tolerant species, since the size of stand openings is often too small to permit the successful regeneration of intolerant species.

Upper stem portion -- That portion of the central stem of sawtimber trees between the saw-log top and the minimum top diameter of 4.0 inches outside bark, or to the point where the central stem breaks into limbs.

Value added -- The difference between the sale price of the goods sold and the costs of the materials and supplies used in production.

Veneer log -- A roundwood product peeled, sliced, stamped or sawn into a variety of veneer products (sheathing, plywood, panels, containers, sticks, etc.).

Weight -- A unit of measure for mill residues, expressed as oven-dry tons (2000 oven-dry pounds).

Principal Sources for Definitions of Terms in Glossary :

U.S. Forest Service. Southern Research Station. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program. Starkville, MS. Headquarters, Asheville, NC.

Hicks, R.R. 1998. Ecology and Management of Central Hardwood Forests. New York : John Wiley andSons.

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