§6703 Definitions

Summary

Defines key words used in the chapter about managing dry forests and woodlands. Adaptive ecosystem management — a way of managing natural resources that uses science and society’s needs, treats actions like experiments, accepts complexity and uncertainty, and changes future methods and policy based on what is learned. Clarification — does not set the meaning of "adaptive ecosystem management" for the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.). Affected entities — land managers, stakeholders, concerned citizens, and the interior West states and their political subdivisions. Dry forest and woodland ecosystem — an ecosystem dominated by ponderosa pines and related dry forest and woodland types. Institute — the Institute set up under section 6704(a) of this title. Interior West — the States of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Land manager — a person or group that practices or guides natural resource management, including Federal, State, local, or tribal land management agencies. Restoration — a process to move an ecosystem toward a sustainable structure or toward conditions that support its natural species, functions, or processes, such as low-intensity fire. Secretary — the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service. Secretaries — the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, and the Secretary of the Interior. Stakeholder — any person interested in or affected by forest or woodland management. Subdominant trees — trees that grow beneath the canopy or into it but are smaller and less vigorous than dominant trees. Overstocked stands — places where the number of trees per acre exceeds the site’s natural carrying capacity. Resilience — the ability of a system to absorb disturbance without being pushed into a different, possibly less desirable, stable state.