Upper Green River Area Rangeland Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement Glossary

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1 Actual use: The number of livestock and date of actual dates of use within the season of use or the degree of forage or browse utilization during the season of use, often reported at the end of the season. Adaptive management: A system of management practices based on clearly identified intended outcomes and monitoring to determine if management actions are meeting those outcomes; and, if not, to facilitate management changes that will best ensure that those outcomes are met or re-evaluated. Note: adaptive management was referred to as progressive design features in the specialist reports. Administrative action: Any management action that is associated with the general terms and conditions of a grazing permit, existing decisions (Forest Plans, project level grazing authorizations, Endangered Species Act consultation agreements, etc.), or other regulatory authority, that does not require additional NEPA disclosure to implement. Allotment management plan: a document, prepared in consultation with lessees or permittees, that applies to livestock operations on public lands, and (1) prescribes the manner in and extent to which livestock operations would be conducted in order to meet multiple use, sustained-yield, economic, objectives, and other needs, (2) describes range improvements to be installed and maintained, and (3) contains such other provisions relating to livestock grazing and other objectives to be consistent with provisions of the Federal Land Policy Management Act Allowable use: The degree of forage or browse utilization considered desirable and attainable on various specific parts of an allotment considering the present resource condition, management objectives and management level. Alternation: Stream bank disturbance caused by animals (e.g., elk, moose, cattle, sheep, and horses) walking along the stream banks or the margins of the stream. The animals weight can cause shearing that results in a breakdown of the stream bank and subsequent widening of the stream channel. Alteration also exposes bare soil, increasing the risk of erosion of the stream bank. Animal Unit: A unit of measure for rangeland livestock equivalent to one mature cow or five sheep or five goats, all over 6 months of age. An animal unit is based on average daily forage consumption of 26 pounds of dry matter per day. Animal unit month (AUM): An animal unit month is the amount of forage for one mature cow or equivalent for one month based upon an average daily forage consumption of 26 pounds of dry matter per day. One animal unit month is equivalent to 1.32animal unit months for a cow/calf pair and 0.7 animal unit month for a yearling. Annual Plant: A plant that completes its life cycle and dies in 1 year or less. Annual operating instructions (AOI): The AOI specifies annual instructions to the permittee identifying actions that are required to implement the management direction set forth in the term grazing permit, the Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan), project-level NEPA-based decisions, and the associated allotment management plan. Actions in the AOI must be within the scope of Forest and projectlevel decisions, and as such are not required to undergo any additional site-specific environmental analysis or disclosure. Thus, issuance of an AOI is not an appealable decision. Suggested AOI content is described in FSH sec The AOI also constitutes Forest officer permit compliance instructions as described in Part 1, clause 3 and Part 2 clause 8(a) of the term grazing permit. 605

2 Authorized use: The number and season of use that is in the Annual Operating Instructions and billed for on an annual basis. Areas of concern: Areas that are not resource objectives and, therefore, not meeting desired conditions. See Table 1 for areas of concern identified in the Upper Green River project area. Benthic Zone: The ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Capability: The evaluation of the potential of an area of land to produce resources, supply goods and services. Grazing capability is the ability of the landscape to support long term grazing by livestock. Carrying Capacity: The average number of livestock and/or wildlife that may be sustained on a management unit compatible with management objectives for the unit. Class of Livestock: Description of age or sex group for a particular kind of livestock, such as cow, bull, calf, yearling, ewe, ram or lamb. Climax Vegetation: The final vegetation community and highest ecological development of a plant community that emerges after a series of successive vegetational stages. The climax community in theory perpetuates itself indefinitely unless disturbed by outside forces. Critical Area: An area which must be treated with special consideration because of inherent site factors, size, location, condition, values, or significant potential conflicts among uses. Note: In the DSEIS these sites were referred to as critical area and in this 3rd DEIS, these sites were referred to as focus areas. Decreaser species: For a given plant community, those plant species that decrease in amount as a result of a specific abiotic/biotic influence or management practice. Deferred Rotation: The order in which pastures are grazed would be rotated annually so that plants are not grazed at the same time each year. Or deferred rotation could involve the delay of grazing in a pasture to promote seed maturity of key forage species. Designated monitoring area (DMA) - A site or location on a stream where monitoring is established and required (designated). Desired condition A description of specific ecological, social, and economic characteristics on a landscape scale toward which management of the land and resources should be directed. Desired conditions are described in terms that are specific enough to allow progress toward their achievement, but do not include completion dates. Desired conditions are described in part using resource objectives. Desired Future Condition (DFC): A future land or resource condition that achieves a set of compatible multi-resource Forest Plan goals and objectives (U.S. Forest Service 1990). Each DFC has a unique set of prescriptions, standards, and guidelines. Prescriptions set the policies and standard and guidelines se the limits specific to that DFC. Desired Plant Community: The plant community that has been determined through a land use or management plan to best meet the plan objectives for a site. A real, documented plant community that embodies the resource attributes needed for the present or potential use of an area, the desired plant community is consistent with the sites capability to produce the required resource attributes through natural succession, management intervention, or a combination of both. 606

3 Dry Meadow: A meadow dominated by grasses which are characterized by soils which become moderately dry by mid-summer. Duration of grazing: How long livestock are in a specific unit, pasture or allotment. Focus area: An area in need of special management consideration due to its unique characteristics or sensitivity to disturbance. Focus areas typically do not currently meet desired conditions for one or more resource and the causative factors vary. Focus areas do not represent the entire pasture or allotment. Seven focus areas were identified and discussed in this document. Note: focus areas were referred to as critical areas in the DSEIS. Frequency of grazing: How often a pasture is grazed in one season or how often a plant is defoliated. Erosion: (verb) Detachment and movement of soil or rock fragments by water, wind, ice, or gravity. (noun) The land surface worn away by running water, wind, ice, or other geological agents, including such processes as gravitational creep. Forage: All browse (woody) and herbaceous growth available and acceptable to grazing animals. Forage includes grasses, forbs, and shrubs depending on the animal species. Forage Utilization is the proportion of the current year s production of herbaceous vegetation that is consumed by grazing animals. Forb: A herbaceous plant that is not a grass, sedge, or rush. Grazing capability: A biological identification of lands that are capable of supporting long-term livestock grazing use. Grazing capacity: The maximum amount of livestock grazing that can be sustained on a land unit for a specific period of time without causing damage to vegetation or related resources. Grazing permit: Official written permission to graze a specific number, kind, and class of livestock for a specified time period on a defined rangeland. Grazing season: On federal lands, an established period for which grazing permits are issued. Grazing suitability: A determination whether livestock grazing is an appropriate use within a particular area when combined with other considerations such as management activities, permitted uses, and wildlife requirements. Grazing system: A systematic sequence of grazing use and nonuse of an allotment to meet multiple use goals by improving the quality and amount of vegetation. Examples include season-long, deferred, deferred rotation and rest rotation grazing systems. Greenline is a linear grouping of live perennial plants, embedded rock or anchored wood above the waterline on or near the water s edge. It often forms a relatively continuous line of perennial vegetation adjacent to the stream. Ground cover: The percentage of material, other than bare ground, covering the land surface. It may include live and standing dead vegetation, litter, cobble, gravel, stones and bedrock. Ground cover plus bare ground would total 100 percent. 607

4 Guideline A constraint on project and activity decision-making that allows for departure from its terms, so long as the purpose of the guideline is met. Guidelines are established to help achieve or maintain a desired future condition or conditions, to avoid or mitigate undesirable effects, or to meet applicable legal requirements. Herbaceous plant species are grasses and wildflowers. Herbaceous retention is the percent of all herbaceous vegetation (key forage and otherwise) remaining, calculated as 100 percent minus total forage used. Incidental take statement: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally recognizes in a biological opinion the take of individual animal(s) from a threatened or endanger species population as incidental to, and not for the purpose of, carrying out an otherwise lawful activity conducted by an agency or applicant. Increaser species: For a given plant community, those plant species that increase in amount as a result of a specific abiotic/biotic influence or management practice. Indicator: An attribute used to measure the impacts of grazing on a particular resource. Intensity of grazing: How much of the plant is removed or remains as a result of grazing, often referred to as percent utilization or stubble height. Interdisciplinary team: A team of varied land use and resource specialists formed to provide a coordinated, integrated information base for overall land use planning and management. Key Area is a relatively small portion of rangeland which because of its location, grazing or browsing value, and/or use, serves as a representative monitoring site and evaluation site for the pasture and/or allotment. A key area guides the general management of the entire area of which it is a part, and will reflect the overall acceptability of grazing management over the range. Key forage species include Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis) in uplands, sedges (Carex species) in riparian areas and other species identified as appropriate for the site. Lek: A breeding display site. A sage-grouse lek typically occurs in open areas surrounded by sagebrush. Litter: The uppermost layer of organic debris on the soil surface; essentially the freshly fallen or slightly decomposed vegetal material. Littoral Zone: The part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. Management indicator species: Any species, group of species, or species habitat element selected to focus management attention for the purpose of resource production, population recovery, maintenance of population viability, or ecosystem diversity (FSM 2605). Meadow (includes wet meadow and mesic (dry) meadow): Permanently wet or intermittently water-covered areas with vegetation. Mesic meadow: A meadow that provides the interface between perennial riparian area/wet meadows and the more arid uplands. Multiple use: A combination of balanced and diverse resource uses that considers long-term needs for renewable and nonrenewable resources, including recreation, rangeland, timber, minerals, watershed, fisheries and wildlife, along with scenic, scientific, and cultural values. 608

5 Permitted use: The number and season on the face of the term grazing permit. Permittee: One who holds a permit to graze livestock on state, federal, or certain privately-owned lands. Perennial plant: A plant that has a life cycle of 3 or more years. Progressive design features are also referred to as adaptive management. See definition for adaptive management. Proper use: Degree of forage utilization of current year s growth, which, if not exceeded, will help to achieve management objectives to maintain or improve the long-term productivity of rangelands. Range condition: The current productivity of a rangeland relative to what it could naturally produce. Rangeland: A kind of land on which the native vegetation, climax or natural potential consists predominately of grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, or shrubs. Rangeland includes lands revegetated naturally or artificially to provide a plant cover that is managed like native vegetation. Rangelands may consist of natural grasslands, savannas, shrub lands, most deserts, tundra, alpine communities, coastal marshes, and wet meadows. Redd: spawning area of trout Resource objectives are concise and measurable statements of desired conditions for resources such as rangelands, riparian areas, soils, wildlife, and recreation. Rest rotation: One pasture in the pasture rotation would not be grazed by livestock for a full year, allowing vegetation in the rested pasture a full season to develop. The remaining pastures would be grazed in a deferred rotation. In the second year, another pasture would be rested, and the remaining pastures grazed in a deferred rotation. This pattern would continue until all pastures have been rested. Riparian areas: The banks and adjacent areas of water bodies, water courses, seeps and springs whose waters provide soil moisture sufficiently in excess of that otherwise available locally so as to provide a moister habitat than that of contiguous flood plains and uplands. Rotational grazing: Rotational grazing involves the movement of livestock from one pasture to another on a scheduled basis. The time period in which pastures are grazed would be rotated periodically so that plants are not grazed at the same time every year. There are two types of rotational grazing systems proposed deferred rotation and rest rotation Scenic River Areas: Classification of river segments as described in the Snake River Headwaters Legacy Act. Those rivers or sections of a river that is free of impoundments, with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive or shorelines largely undeveloped but accessible in places by roads. Season-long grazing: Season-long grazing involves livestock use of a pasture or allotment for an entire season of use. Season of use: The time during which livestock grazing is permitted on a given range area, as specified in the grazing permit. Sensitive species: Those plant and animal species identified by a regional forester for which population viability is a concern, as evidenced by a (1) significant current, or predicted, downward trend in population numbers or density; or (2) significant current or predicted, downward trend in habitat capability that would reduce a species existing distribution (FSM ). 609

6 Seral: Pertaining to the successional stages of biotic communities. Soil erodibility factor (K-factor) is a quantitative description of the inherent erodibility of a particular soil; it is a measure of the susceptibility of soil particles to detachment and transport by rainfall and runoff. Standard - A mandatory constraint on project and activity decision-making, established to help achieve or maintain the desired future condition or conditions, to avoid or mitigate undesirable effects, or to meet applicable legal requirements. Stocking rate: The number of specific kinds and classes of animals grazing or using a unit of land for specified time. Not the same as carrying capacity. Stream bank stability: Stream bank stability is the percent of the bank that can be susceptible to erosion but which has sufficient vegetation and structure to maintain stability. Suitability: is the appropriateness of applying certain resource management practices to a particular area of land, as determined by an analysis of the economic and environmental consequences and the alternative uses foregone. Grazing suitability determines whether livestock grazing is an appropriate use within a particular area when combined with other considerations such as management activities, permitted uses, and wildlife requirements. Term permit: A document authorizing grazing for a stated number of years (usually 10) as contrasted to an annual or temporary permit. Threshold of concern: A resource condition that indicates things are not going well or as expected, and maybe it s time to look at doing something differently before too much resource damage has occurred. Timing of grazing: When, within the permitted season of use, livestock are in a specific pasture or allotment. By changing the timing from year to year, the effects on the resources can change. Total Herbaceous Retention is the current year s production of all herbaceous vegetation on a given site that is not consumed or trampled by grazing animals. The herbaceous vegetation that remains intact or relatively intact. Utilization: The proportion of current year's forage production that is consumed or destroyed by grazing animals. May refer either to a single species or to the vegetation as a whole. Syn. degree of use. Viable population: A population which has the estimated numbers and distribution of reproductive individuals to ensure its continued existence is well distributed in the planning area [36 CFR , 1982 regulations]. Wetlands: Permanently wet or intermittently water-covered areas, such as swamps, meadows, marshes, bogs, potholes, swales, and glades. Wet Meadow: A meadow where the surface remains wet or moist throughout the growing season, usually characterized by sedges and rushes. Wild River areas: Classification of river segments as described in the Snake River Headwaters Legacy Act. Those rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted. These represent vestiges of primitive America. Xeric: Having very little moisture; tolerating or adapted to dry conditions. 610