CHAPTER 8

GLOSSARY

GLOSSARY

CHAPTER 8

GLOSSARY

A

Absorption: The process by which a chemical or other 

substance is able to pass through body membranes and 

enter an organism.

Active ingredient (a.i.): The chemical or biological 

component that kills or controls the target pest.

Acute risk: Risk associated with illness or injury 

shortly after exposure to a potentially toxic substance.

Acute toxicity: The quality or potential of a substance 

to cause injury or illness shortly after exposure to a 

relatively large dose.

Adaptive management: A system of management 

practices based on clearly identified outcomes, 

monitoring to determine if management actions are 

meeting outcomes, and if not, facilitating management 

changes that will best ensure that outcomes are met or 

reevaluated.

Additive: A substance added to another in relatively 

small amounts to impart or improve desirable 

properties or suppress undesirable properties.

Additive effect: A situation in which combined effects 

of exposure to two chemicals simultaneously is equal 

to the sum of the effect of exposure to each chemical 

given alone. 

Adjuvant: A chemical that is added to a pesticide by 

the user to improve the pesticide’s efficacy. Adjuvants 

are often included in the pesticide formulation, 

becoming part of the inert, or other, ingredients 

associated with the formulation.

Adsorption: 1) The adhesion of substances to the 

surface of solids or liquids. 2) The attraction of ions of 

compounds to the surface of solids or liquids.

Adverse impact: An impact that causes harm or a 

negative result.

Aerobic: Utilizing oxygen or having oxygen present. 

Aggregate Risk Index (ARI): A numeric expression 

of risk that combines potential risks from various 

exposure pathways. Used in the Human Health Risk 

Assessment.

Air pollutant: Any substance in the air that could, if 

present in high enough concentration, harm humans, 

animals, vegetation, or material. Air pollutants may 

include almost any natural or artificial matter capable 

of being airborne in the form of solid particles, liquid 

droplets, gases, or a combination of these.

Air quality: The composition of air with respect to 

quantities of pollution therein; used most frequently in 

connection with “standards” of maximum acceptable 

pollutant concentrations.

Alien (species): Per Executive Order 13112, alien 

species means, with respect to a particular ecosystem, 

any species, including its seed, eggs, spores, or other 

biological material capable of propagating that species, 

that is not native to that ecosystem.

Allotment (grazing): Area designated for the use of a 

certain number and kind of livestock for a prescribed 

period of time.

Alternative: In an EIS, one of a number of possible 

options for responding to the purpose and need for 

action.

Ambient air: Any unconfined portion of the 

atmosphere; open air and surrounding air. Often used 

interchangeably with “outdoor air.” 

Anadromous: A term used to describe fish that 

mature in the sea and swim up freshwater rivers and 

streams to spawn. Salmon, steelhead, and sea-run 

cutthroat trout are examples.

Anaerobic: Lacking in oxygen. 

Animal Unit (AU): A standardized unit of 

measurement for range livestock that is equivalent to

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Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

one cow, one horse, five sheep, five goats, or four 

reindeer, all over 6 months of age.

Animal Unit Month (AUM): The amount of feed or 

forage required by one animal unit grazing on a 

pasture for 1 month. 

Annual (plant): A plant whose life cycle is completed 

in 1 year or season.

Aquatic: Growing, living in, frequenting, or taking 

place in water; used to indicate habitat, vegetation, or 

wildlife in freshwater.

Aquifer: Rock or rock formations (often sand, gravel, 

sandstone, or limestone) that contain or carry 

groundwater and act as water reservoirs.

Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC):

An area within public lands that requires special 

management attention to protect and prevent 

irreparable damage to important historic, cultural, or 

scenic values; fish and wildlife resources; other natural 

systems or processes; or to protect life or provide 

safety from natural hazards.

Arid: A term applied to regions or climates where lack 

of moisture severely limits growth and production of 

vegetation. The limits of precipitation vary 

considerably according to temperature conditions.

Attainment area: A geographic area that is in 

compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality 

Standards. An area considered to have air quality as 

good as or better than the National Ambient Air 

Quality Standards as defined in the Clean Air Act. 

B

Bioaccumulate: To take in or store a persistent 

substance, as by a plant or animal. Over time, a higher 

concentration of the substance is found in the organism 

than in the organism’s environment.

Biodegradation: The process by which a substance is 

broken down by microorganisms and/or natural 

environmental factors.

Biodiversity: The variety of life and its processes, 

including all life forms from one-celled organisms to 

complex organisms such as insects, plants, birds, 

reptiles, fish, other animals; and the processes, 

pathways, and cycles that link such organisms into 

natural communities.

Biological Assessment (BA): A document prepared 

by or under the direction of a federal agency. A BA 

addresses federally listed species and species proposed 

for listing and designated and proposed critical habitat 

that may be present in the action area, and evaluates 

the potential effects of the action on such species and 

habitat.

Biological crust: Thin crust of living organisms on or 

just below the soil surface; composed of lichens, 

mosses, algae, fungi, cyanobacteria, and bacteria.

Boom (herbicide spray): A tubular metal device that 

conducts an herbicide mixture from a tank to a series 

of spray nozzles. It may be mounted beneath a 

helicopter or a fixed-wing aircraft, or behind a tractor 

or all-terrain vehicle.

Broadcast spray: An application of an herbicide that 

uniformly covers an entire area.

Broad-scale: At the level of a large, regional area, 

such as a river basin; typically a multi-state area. 

Buffer/buffer zone: A strip of vegetation that is left or 

managed to reduce the impact that a treatment or 

action on one area might have on another area.

Bunchgrass: A grass having the characteristic growth 

habit of forming a bunch; lacking stolons or rhizomes.

C

California Puff (CALPUFF): CALPUFF is an 

advanced non-steady-state meteorological and air 

quality modeling system adopted by the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency as the preferred 

model for assessing long range transport of pollutants 

and their impacts involving complex meteorological 

conditions. 

Carbon-14 dating: The use of the naturally occurring 

isotope of carbon-14 in radiometric dating to 

determine the age of organic materials.

Carcinogen: A chemical capable of inducing cancer.

Carnivore: An animal that feeds on other animals, 

especially the flesh-eating mammals.

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GLOSSARY

Carrier: A non-pesticidal substance added to a 

commercial pesticide formulation to make it easier to 

handle or apply.

Carrying capacity: The maximum population of a 

particular species that a particular region can support 

without hindering future generations’ ability to 

maintain the same population.

Chemical degradation: The breakdown of a chemical 

substance into simpler components through chemical 

reactions.

Chronic exposure: Exposures that extend over the 

average lifetime or for a significant fraction of the 

lifetime of the individual. Chronic exposure studies are 

used to evaluate the carcinogenic potential of 

chemicals and other long-term health effects.

Chronic risk: Risk associated with long-term health 

effects after exposure to a potentially toxic substance. 

Symptoms recur frequently or develop slowly over a 

long period of time.

Class I area: Under the 1977 Clean Air Act 

amendments, all international parks, parks larger than 

6,000 acres, and national wilderness areas larger than 

5,000 acres that existed on August 7, 1977. This class 

provides the most protection to pristine lands by 

severely limiting the amount of additional air pollution 

that can be added to these areas. 

Climate: The composite or generally prevailing 

weather conditions of a region throughout the year, 

averaged over a series of years.

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR): A codification 

of the general and permanent rules published in the 

Federal Register by the executive departments and 

agencies of the federal government.

Consultation: Exchange of information and 

interactive discussion. It often refers to consultation 

mandated by statute or regulation that has prescribed 

parties, procedures, and timelines (e.g. consultation 

under National Environmental Policy Act or Section 7 

of the Endangered Species Act).

Coos Bay Wagon Road Lands: Public lands in 

Western Oregon that were granted to the State of 

Oregon, and then to the Coos Bay Wagon Road 

Company, to aid in the construction of a military 

wagon road from Coos Bay to Roseburg, Oregon. 

These lands were later reconveyed to the federal 

government by Congress.

Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ): An 

advisory council to the President of the United States 

established by the National Environmental Policy Act 

of 1969. It reviews federal programs for their effect on 

the environment, conducts environmental studies, and 

advises the President on environmental matters.

Countervailing: A type of cumulative impact where 

negative effects are compensated for by beneficial 

effects.

Cover: 1) Trees, shrubs, rocks, or other landscape 

features that allow an animal to partly or fully conceal 

itself. 2) The area of ground covered by plants of one 

or more species, usually expressed as a percent of the 

ground surface.

Criteria: Data and information that are used to 

examine or establish the relative degrees of desirability 

of alternatives or the degree to which a course of 

action meets an intended objective.

Criteria pollutants: Air pollutants designated by the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as potentially 

harmful and for which ambient air quality standards 

have been set to protect the public health and welfare.

The criteria pollutants are carbon monoxide, sulfur 

dioxide, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, 

hydrocarbons, and lead.

Critical habitat: 1) Specific areas within the habitat a 

species occupies at the time it is listed under the 

Endangered Species Act that have physical or 

biological features that a) are essential to the 

conservation of the species, and b) may require special 

management considerations or protection; and 2) 

specific areas outside the habitat a species occupies at 

the time it is listed that the Secretary of the Interior 

determines are essential for species conservation.

Cultural resources: Archaeological, historic, or 

architectural sites, structures, or places with important 

public or scientific uses, which may include definite 

locations (sites or places) of traditional cultural or 

religious importance to specific social or cultural 

groups.

Cumulative effects: Impacts on the environment that 

result from the incremental impact of an action when 

added to other past, present, and reasonably 

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Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

foreseeable future actions. Cumulative effects can 

result from individually minor, but collectively 

significant, actions taking place over a period of time.

D

Degradate: The chemical compound resulting from a 

physical or biological breakdown of a more complex 

chemical compound.

Degradation: Physical or biological breakdown of a 

complex compound into simpler compounds.

Density: The number of individuals per a given unit 

area.

Direct effects: Impacts on the environment that are 

caused by the action and occur at the same time and 

place.

Dispersion: The act of distributing or separating into 

lower concentrations or less dense units. 

Disturbance: Refers to events that alter the structure, 

composition, or function of terrestrial or aquatic 

habitats. Natural disturbances include, among others, 

drought, floods, wind, fires, wildlife grazing, and 

insects and pathogens. Human-caused disturbances 

include actions such as timber harvest, livestock 

grazing, roads, and the introduction of exotic species.

Dominant: A group of plants that by their collective 

size, mass, or number exerts a primary influence onto 

other ecosystem components.

Dose: The amount of chemical administered or 

received by an organism, generally at a given point in 

time. 

Dose-response: Changes in toxicological responses of 

an individual (such as alterations in severity of 

symptoms) or populations (such as alterations in 

incidence) that are related to changes in the dose of 

any given substance.

Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS):

The draft statement of the environmental effects of a 

major federal action which is required under Section 

102 of the National Environmental Policy Act, and 

released to the public and other agencies for comment 

and review.

Drift: That part of a sprayed chemical that is moved 

by wind off a target site.

E

Ecoregion: Geographic areas that are delineated and 

defined by similar climatic conditions, 

geomorphology, and soils.

Ecosystem: Includes all the organisms of an area, their 

environment, and the linkages or interactions among 

all of them; all parts of an ecosystem are interrelated. 

The fundamental unit in ecology, containing both 

organisms and abiotic environments, each influencing 

the properties of the other and both necessary for the 

maintenance of life.

Ecosystem-based Management: Scientific 

knowledge of ecological relationships within a 

complex sociopolitical and values framework, that 

works toward a goal of protecting native ecosystem 

integrity over the long term.

Ecotone: A boundary or zone of transition between 

adjacent communities or environments, such as the 

boundary between a forest and a meadow. Species 

present in an ecotone are intermixed subsets of the 

adjacent communities.

Edge: The boundary zone or ecotone between two 

communities, both of which affect the composition and 

density of populations in these bordering areas. 

Effect: Environmental change resulting from a

proposed action. Direct effects are caused by the 

action and occur at the same time and place, while 

indirect effects are caused by the action but are later in 

time or further removed in distance, although still 

reasonably foreseeable. Indirect effects may include 

growth-inducing effects and other effects related to 

induced changes in the pattern of land use, population 

density, or growth rate, and related effects on air and 

water and other natural systems, including ecosystems. 

Effect and impact are synonymous as used in this 

document.

Endangered species: Plant or animal species that are 

in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant 

part of their range.

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Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

Endemic (species): Occurring naturally in a certain 

region and having a distribution that is relatively 

limited to a particular locality. 

Environment: 1) The physical conditions that exist 

within an area (e.g., the area that will be affected by a 

proposed project), including land, air, water, minerals, 

flora, fauna, ambient noise, and objects of historical or 

aesthetic significance. 2) The sum of all external 

conditions that affect an organism or community to 

influence its development or existence.

Environmental Assessment (EA): A concise public 

document, for which a federal agency is responsible, 

that serves to: 1) briefly provide sufficient evidence 

and analysis for determining whether to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement or a finding of no 

significant impact; 2) aid an agency’s compliance with 

the National Environmental Policy Act when no 

Environmental Impact Statement is necessary; and 3) 

facilitate preparation of an Environmental Impact 

Statement when one is necessary. 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS): A required 

report for all federal actions that will lead to 

significant effects on the quality of the human 

environment. The report must be systematic and 

interdisciplinary, integrating the natural and social 

sciences as well as design in planning and decisionmaking. The report must identify 1) the environmental 

impacts of the proposed action, 2) any adverse 

environmental effects which cannot be avoided should 

the proposal be implemented, 3) alternatives to the 

proposed action, 4) the relationship between shortterm uses of the human environment and the 

maintenance and enhancement of long-term 

productivity, and 5) any irreversible and irretrievable 

commitments of resources which would be involved in 

the proposed action should it be implemented.

Environmental Justice: The fair treatment and 

meaningful involvement of all people regardless of 

race, color, national origin, or income with respect to 

the development, implementation, and enforcement of 

environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Eradicate: To remove all traces of a population or 

eliminate a population to the point where individuals 

are no longer detectable.

Erosion: The wearing away of the land surface by 

running water, wind, ice, gravity, or other geological 

activities; can be accelerated or intensified by human 

activities that reduce the stability of slopes or soils.

Essential Fish Habitat: As defined by Congress in the 

interim final rule (62 FR 66551): “those waters and 

substrate necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, 

feeding, or growth to maturity.” For the purpose of 

interpreting the definition of Essential Fish Habitat, 

“waters” include aquatic areas and their associated 

physical, chemical, and biological properties; 

“substrate” includes sediment underlying the waters; 

“necessary” refers to the habitat required to support a 

sustainable fishery and the managed species 

contribution to a healthy ecosystem; and “spawning, 

breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity” covers all 

habitat types utilized by a species throughout its life 

cycle.

Evapotranspiration: The sum of evaporation from 

the land surface plus water loss from plants during 

transpiration.

Exotic: Introduced into an area. Exotic species may 

adapt to the area into which they are introduced and 

compete with resident native (indigenous) species.

F

°F: Degrees Fahrenheit.

Fate: The course of a substance in an ecosystem or 

biological system, including metabolism, microbial 

degradation, leaching, and photodecomposition.

Fauna: The vertebrate and invertebrate animals of the 

area or region.

Feasible: Capable of being accomplished in a 

successful manner within a reasonable period of time, 

taking into account economic, environmental, legal, 

social, and technological factors.

Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final 

EIS): A revision of the Draft Environmental Impact 

Statement based on public and agency comments on 

the draft.

Fire dependent (ecosystem): Evolving under periodic 

perturbations by fire and consequently dependent on 

periodic fires for normal function.

Fire return interval: The number of years between 

two successive fires in a specified area.

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Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

Fire tolerant: Able to withstand fire at a certain 

frequency and intensity. 

First (1P

stP) order dermal absorption: Absorption of a 

material (herbicide) that occurs over 24 hours, taking 

into consideration the potential for some herbicide to 

not be absorbed.

Fisheries habitat: Streams, lakes, and reservoirs that 

support fish populations.

Fishery: The act, process, occupation, or season of 

taking an aquatic species. The combination of fish and 

people who fish in a region.

Forage: Vegetation eaten by animals, especially 

grazing and browsing animals.

Forbs: Broad-leaved plants; includes plants that 

commonly are called weeds or wildflowers.

Forestland: Land where the potential natural plant 

community contains 10 percent or more tree canopy 

cover.

Formulation: The commercial mixture of both active 

and inactive (inert) ingredients.

Fossilization: The process of fossilizing a plant or 

animal that existed in some earlier age; the process of 

being turned to stone.

Fragmentation (habitat): The breaking-up of a 

habitat or cover type into smaller, disconnected 

parcels.

Fuel (fire): Dry, dead parts of trees, shrubs, and other 

vegetation that can burn readily.

G

Greenhouse Gas: Any gas that absorbs infrared 

radiation within the atmosphere. These gases prevent 

heat from escaping the atmosphere and regulate the 

Earth’s temperature.

Groundwater: Subsurface water that is in the zone of 

saturation. The top surface of the groundwater is the 

“water table.” Source of water for wells, seeps, and 

springs.

H

Habitat: The natural environment of a plant or animal, 

including all biotic, climatic, and soil conditions, or 

other environmental influences affecting living 

conditions. The place where an organism lives.

Half-life: The amount of time required for half of a 

compound to degrade. 

Hazardous fuels: Includes living and dead and 

decaying vegetation that form a special threat of 

ignition and resistance to control.

Herbaceous: Non-woody plants that include grasses, 

grass-like plants, and forbs.

Herbicide: A chemical pesticide used to control, 

suppress, or kill vegetation, or severely interrupt 

normal growth processes.

Herbicide resistance: The acquired ability of a weed 

population to survive an herbicide application that 

previously was known to control the population. 

Herbivore: An animal that feeds on plants.

Herd Management Areas (HMAs): Areas 

established for wild and free-roaming horses and 

burros through the land use planning process. The 

Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 

requires that wild free-roaming horses and burros be 

considered for management where they were found at 

the time Congress passed the Act. 

Home range: The area around an animal’s established 

home that is visited during the animal’s normal 

activities.

Hydrologic cycle (water cycle): The ecological cycle 

that moves water from the air by precipitation to the 

earth and returns it to the atmosphere; includes 

evaporation, run-off, infiltration, percolation, storage, 

and transpiration.

Hydrologic region: The highest level hydrologic unit 

classification. Hydrologic regions are geographic areas 

that contain either the drainage of a major river or the 

combined drainage areas of a series of rivers.

Hydrolysis: Decomposition or alteration of a chemical 

substance by water.

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Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

I

Impermeable: Unable to be penetrated.

Indirect effects: Impacts that are caused by an action, 

but are later in time or farther removed in distance, 

although still reasonably foreseeable.

Inert (other) ingredient: Any substance or ingredient

that is added to the commercial product (formulation), 

aside from the active ingredient.

Infestation: 1) The occurrence of one or more pest 

species in an area or location where their numbers and 

impacts are currently or potentially at intolerable 

levels. 2) A sudden increase in destructiveness or 

population numbers of a pest species in a given area.

Infiltration: The movement of water through soil 

pores and spaces.

Insectivore: An organism that feeds mainly on insects.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM): A longstanding, science-based, decision-making process that 

identifies and reduces risks from pests and pest 

management related strategies. It coordinates the use 

of pest biology, environmental information, and 

available technology to prevent unacceptable levels of 

pest damage by the most economical means, while 

posing the least possible risk to people, property, 

resources, and the environment. Integrated Pest 

Management provides an effective strategy for 

managing pests in all arenas from developed 

agricultural, residential, and public areas to wild lands. 

Integrated Pest Management serves as an umbrella to 

provide an effective, all encompassing, low-risk 

approach to protect resources and people from pests. 

BLM Handbook H-1740-2 (Integrated Vegetation 

Management) defines Integrated Pest Management as 

“a sustainable approach to managing pests by 

combining biological, cultural, physical, and chemical 

tools in a way that minimizes economic, health, and 

environmental risks.”

Integrated vegetation management (IVM): A 

system of controlling undesirable vegetation in which 

1) undesirable vegetation within an ecosystem is 

identified and action thresholds are considered, and 2) 

all possible control options are evaluated and selected 

controls are implemented. Control options, which 

include biological, chemical, cultural, manual, and 

mechanical methods, are used to prevent or remedy 

unacceptable, unreliable, or unsafe conditions. Choice 

of control option(s) is based on effectiveness, 

environmental impact, site characteristics, 

worker/public health and safety, security, and 

economics. The goal of an integrated vegetation 

management system is to manage vegetation and the 

environment to balance benefits of control, costs, public 

health, environmental quality, and regulatory 

compliance.

Integrated weed management (IWM): A sustainable 

approach for managing noxious weeds and other 

undesirable plants that combines biological, cultural, 

physical, and chemical tools in a way that minimizes 

economic, health, and environmental risks. Integrated 

weed management involves the use of several control 

techniques in a well-planned, coordinated, and 

organized program. It includes two phases: 1) inventory, 

and 2) planning and implementation.

Invasive plants: Plants that 1) are not part of (if 

exotic), or are a minor component of (if native), the 

original plant community or communities; 2) have the 

potential to become a dominant or co-dominant 

species on the site if their future establishment and 

growth is not actively controlled by management 

interventions; or 3) are classified as exotic or noxious 

plants under state or federal law. Species that become 

dominant for only one to several years (e.g. short-term 

response to drought or wildfire) are not invasive 

plants.

Invasive species: Per Executive Order 13112, an 

invasive species means an alien species whose 

introduction does or is likely to cause economic or 

environmental harm or harm to human health. 

Invertebrate: Small animals that lack a backbone or 

spinal column. Spiders, insects, and worms are 

examples of invertebrates.

Irretrievable commitment: A term that applies to 

losses of production or commitment of renewable 

natural resources. For example, while an area is used 

as a ski area, some or all of the timber production there 

is “irretrievably” lost. If the ski area closes, timber 

production could resume; therefore, the loss of timber 

production during the time the area is devoted to 

skiing is irretrievable, but not irreversible, because it is 

possible for timber production to resume if the area is 

no longer used as a ski area.

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Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

Irreversible commitment: A term that applies to nonrenewable resources, such as minerals and 

archaeological sites. Losses of these resources cannot 

be reversed. Irreversible effects can also refer to the 

effects of actions on resources that can be renewed 

only after a very long period of time, such as the loss 

of soil productivity.

Issue: A matter of controversy, dispute, or general 

concern over resource management activities or land 

uses.

J

K

KR

ocR: Soil organic carbon-water partition coefficient. 

The ratio of the mass of a chemical that is adsorbed in 

the soil per unit of mass of organic carbon in the soil 

per the equilibrium chemical concentration in 

solution.

L

Land management: The intentional process of 

planning, organizing, programming, coordinating, 

directing, and controlling land use actions.

Landscape: All the natural features such as 

grasslands, hills, forest, and water, which distinguish 

one part of the earth’s surface from another part; 

usually that portion of land that the eye can 

comprehend in a single view, including all of its 

natural characteristics.

Large woody debris: Pieces of wood that are of a 

large enough size to affect stream channel 

morphology.

LCR

50R: The lethal concentration required to kill 50 

percent of the population.

LDR

50R (median lethal dose): The dose of a chemical 

calculated to cause death in 50 percent of a defined 

experimental animal population over a specified 

observation period. The observation period is typically 

14 days. 

Leaching: Usually refers to the movement of 

chemicals through the soil by water; may also refer to 

the movement of herbicides out of leaves, stems, or 

roots into the air or soil.

Level of concern (LOC): The concentration in media 

or some other estimate of exposure above which there 

may be effects.

Lichens: Organisms made up of specific algae and 

fungi, forming identifiable crusts on soil, rocks, tree, 

bark, and other surfaces. Lichens are primary 

producers in ecosystems. They contribute living 

material and nutrients, enrich the soil and increase soil 

moisture-holding capacity, and serve as food sources 

for certain animals. Lichens are slow growing and 

sensitive to chemical and physical disturbances.

Lifeways: The manner and means by which a group of 

people lives; their way of life. Components include 

language(s), subsistence strategies, religion, economic 

structure, physical mannerisms, and shared attitudes.

Litter: The uppermost layer of organic debris on the 

soil surface, which is essentially the freshly fallen or 

slightly decomposed vegetation material such as 

stems, leaves, twigs, and fruits.

Long term/long-term: Generally refers to a period 

longer than 10 years. 

Lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL): The 

lowest dose of a chemical in a study, or group of 

studies, that produces statistically or biologically 

significant increases in frequency or severity of 

adverse effects between the exposed and control 

populations. 

M

Macrogroup: In the National Vegetation 

Classification Standard, a middle-level vegetation 

classification based on plant physiognomy, 

biogeography, and floristics.

Material safety data sheet (MSDS): A compilation 

of information required under the Occupational Safety 

and Health Administration Communication Standard 

on the identity of hazardous chemicals, health and 

physical hazards, exposure limits, and precautions. In

2012, the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) became the new 

hazardous chemical reporting system, replacing the 

material safety data sheet.

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Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

Microbial degradation: The breakdown of a chemical 

substance into simpler components by bacteria or other 

microorganisms.

Microbiotic crust: See biological crust.

Minimize: Apply best available technology, 

management practices, and scientific knowledge to 

reduce the magnitude, extent, and/or duration of 

impacts.

Minimum tool (rule): Apply only the minimumimpact policy, device, force, regulation, instrument, or 

practice to bring about a desired result.

Mitigation: Steps taken to: 1) avoid an impact 

altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an 

action; 2) minimize an impact by limiting the degree 

or magnitude of the action and its implementation; 3) 

rectify an impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or 

restoring the affected environment; 4) reduce or 

eliminate an impact over time by preserving and 

maintaining operations during the life of the action; 

and, 5) compensate for an impact by replacing or 

providing substitute resources or environments (40 

CFR Part 1508.20).

Mitigation measures: Actions taken to avoid, 

compensate for, rectify, or reduce the potential adverse 

impact of an action.

Monitoring: The orderly collection, analysis, and 

interpretation of resource data to evaluate progress 

toward meeting management objectives.

Multiple uses: A combination of balanced and diverse 

resource uses that takes into account the long-term 

needs of future generations for renewable and 

nonrenewable resources. These may include 

recreation, range, timber, minerals, watershed, 

wildlife, and fish, along with natural scenic, scientific, 

and historical values.

N

National Ambient Air Quality Standards 

(NAAQS): Standards set by the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency for the maximum levels of 

pollutants that can exist in the outdoor air without 

unacceptable effects on human health or the public 

welfare.

National Back Country Byways: A program 

developed by the BLM to complement the National 

Scenic Byway program. The BLM’s Byways show 

enthusiasts the best the West has to offer—from 

waterfalls to geology sculpted by volcanoes, glaciers, 

and rivers. Back Country Byways vary from narrow, 

graded roads, passable only during a few months of the 

year, to two-lane paved highways providing yearround access.

National Conservation Areas: Areas designated by 

Congress so that present and future generations of 

Americans can benefit from the conservation, 

protection, enhancement, use, and management of 

these areas by enjoying their natural, recreational, 

cultural, wildlife, aquatic, archeological, 

paleontological, historical, educational, and/or 

scientific resources and values. 

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): An act 

of Congress passed in 1969, declaring a national 

policy to encourage productive and enjoyable harmony 

between people and the environment, to promote 

efforts that will prevent or eliminate damage to the 

environment and the biosphere and stimulate the 

health and welfare of people, and to enrich the 

understanding of the ecological systems and natural 

resources important to the nation, among other 

purposes.

National Historic Trails: Trails established to 

identify and protect historic routes; they follow as 

closely as possible the original trails or routes of travel 

of national historic significance. 

National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS): 

A single system that encompasses some of the BLM’s 

premier land designations. By putting these lands into 

an organized system, the BLM hopes to increase 

public awareness of these areas’ scientific, cultural, 

educational, ecological, and other values. 

National Monument: An area designated to protect 

objects of scientific and historic interest by public 

proclamation of the President under the Antiquities 

Act of 1906, or by the Congress for historic 

landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, or other

objects of historic or scientific interest situated upon 

the public lands; designation also provides for the 

management of these features and values. 

BLM Vegetation Treatments Three New Herbicides 8-9 January 2016

Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System 

(NPDES): Refers to a USEPA permit program that 

controls water pollution by regulating point sources 

that discharge pollutants into waters of the United 

States. In most cases, the NPDES permit program is 

administered by authorized states.

National Recreation Area: An area designated by 

Congress to assure the conservation and protection of 

natural, scenic, historic, pastoral, and fish and wildlife 

values and to provide for the enhancement of 

recreational values.

National Recreation Trails: Trails established 

administratively by the Secretary of the Interior to

provide for a variety of outdoor recreation uses in or 

reasonably close to urban areas. They often serve as 

connecting links between the National Historic Trails 

and National Scenic Trails. 

National Scenic Areas: Refers to the one national 

scenic area managed by the BLM: The Santa Rosa 

Mountains National Scenic Area in California, which 

encompasses approximately 101,000 acres. This area 

was designated by the Secretary of the Interior in 1990 

to provide for the conservation, protection, and 

enhancement of scenic, recreation, and pastoral values. 

National Scenic Trails: Trails established by an Act 

of Congress that are intended to provide for maximum 

outdoor recreation potential and for the conservation 

and enjoyment of nationally significant scenic, 

historical, natural, and cultural qualities of the areas 

through which these trails pass. National Scenic Trails 

may be located to represent desert, marsh, grassland, 

mountain, canyon, river, forest, and other areas, as 

well as land forms that exhibit significant 

characteristics of the physiographic regions of the 

nation.

National Wild and Scenic Rivers: Rivers designated 

in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System that are 

classified in one of three categories, depending on the 

extent of development and accessibility along each 

section. In addition to being free flowing, these rivers 

and their immediate environments must possess at 

least one outstandingly remarkable value: scenic, 

recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historical, 

cultural, or other similar values. 

Native species: Species that historically occurred or 

currently occur in a particular ecosystem and were not 

introduced.

Natural community: An assemblage of organisms 

indigenous to an area that is characterized by distinct 

combinations of species occupying a common 

ecological zone and interacting with one another.

Natural resources: Water, soil, plants and animals, 

nutrients, and other resources produced by the earth’s 

natural processes.

Neurotoxic: Affecting nerve cells and possibly 

producing muscular, emotional, or behavioral 

abnormalities, impaired or abnormal motion, and other 

physiologic changes.

No action alternative: The most likely condition to 

exist in the future if current management direction 

were to continue unchanged.

No observed adverse effect level (NOAEL): The 

exposure level at which there are no statistically or 

biological significant differences in the frequency or 

severity of any adverse effect in the exposed or control 

populations.

Non-selective herbicide: An herbicide that is 

generally toxic to plants without regard to species.

Non-target: Any plant, animal, or organism that a 

method of application is not aimed at, but may 

accidentally be injured by the application.

Noxious weed: Any plant designated by a federal, 

state, or county government, or other governing body, 

as injurious to public health, agriculture, recreation, 

wildlife, or property.

Nutrient cycling: The circulation of nutrients and 

elements such as carbon, phosphorous, nitrogen, and 

others, among animals, plants, soils, and air. 

O

Objective: A concise, time-specific statement of 

measurable planned results that respond to preestablished goals. An objective forms the basis for 

further planning to define the precise steps to be taken 

and the resources to be used to achieve identified 

goals.

Omnivore: An animal that eats a combination of meat 

and vegetation.

BLM Vegetation Treatments Three New Herbicides 8-10 January 2016

Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

Oregon and California grant lands: Public lands in 

Western Oregon that were granted to the Oregon 

Central Railroad companies (later the Oregon and 

California Railroad Company) to aid in the

construction of railroads, but that were later forfeited 

and returned to the federal government by revestment 

of title.

Overgrazing: Continued heavy grazing which 

exceeds the recovery capacity of the plant community 

and creates a deteriorated rangeland.

Overstory: The upper canopy layer.

P

Paleontological resources: A work of nature 

consisting of or containing evidence of extinct 

multicellular beings. Includes those works or classes of 

works of nature designated by the regulations as 

paleontological resources.

Paleontology: A science dealing with the life of past 

geological periods as known from fossil remains. 

Particulate matter (PM): A complex mixture 

consisting of varying combinations of dry solid 

fragments, solid cores with liquid coatings, and small 

droplets of liquid. These tiny particles vary greatly in 

shape, size and chemical composition, and can be 

made up of many different materials such as metals, 

soot, soil, and dust.

Particulates: Solid particles or liquid droplets 

suspended or carried in the air.

Pathogen: An agent such as a fungus, virus, or 

bacterium that causes disease.

Payments in lieu of taxes: Payments made to counties 

by the BLM to mitigate for losses to counties because 

public lands cannot be taxed.

Per capita income: Total income divided by the total 

population. 

Perennial: A plant that lives for 2 or more years.

Permit: A revocable authorization to use public land 

for a specified purpose. 

Persistence: Refers to the length of time a compound, 

once introduced into the environment, stays there.

Petroglyph: An image recorded on stone, usually by 

prehistoric peoples, by means of carving, pecking, or 

otherwise incised on natural rock surfaces.

Pictograph: A symbol that represents an object or a 

concept by illustration.

pH: A measure of how acidic or alkaline (basic) a 

solution is on a scale of 0 to 14 with 0 being very 

acidic, 14 being very alkaline, and 7 being neutral. The 

abbreviation stands for the potential of hydrogen.

Photodegradation: The photochemical transformation 

of a molecule into lower molecular weight fragments, 

usually in an oxidation process. This term is widely 

used in the destruction (oxidation) of pollutants by 

ultraviolet-based processes.

Photolysis: Chemical decomposition induced by light 

or other radiant energy.

Phytotoxicity: The ability of a material such as a 

pesticide or fertilizer to cause injury to plants.

Plant community: A vegetation complex, unique in 

its combination of plants, which occurs in particular 

locations under particular influences. A plant 

community is a reflection of integrated environmental 

influences on the site, such as soils, temperature, 

elevation, solar radiation, slope aspect, and 

precipitation.

PMR

2.5R: Fine particulates that measure 2.5 microns in 

diameter or less.

PMR

10R: Particulate matter that measures 10 microns in 

diameter or less.

Porosity: The ratio of the volume of void space in a 

material (e.g., sedimentary rock or sediments) to the 

volume of its mass.

Predator: An organism that captures and feeds on 

parts or all of a living organism of another species.

Preferred alternative: The alternative identified in an 

EIS that has been selected by the agency as the most 

acceptable resolution to the problems identified in the 

purpose and need.

Prescribed fire: A management ignited wildland fire 

that burns under specified conditions and in a 

predetermined area, and that produces the fire behavior 

BLM Vegetation Treatments Three New Herbicides 8-11 January 2016

Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

and fire characteristics required to attain fire treatment 

and resource management objectives.

Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD): A 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program in 

which state and/or federal permits are required in order 

to restrict emissions from new or modified sources in 

places where air quality already meets or exceeds 

primary and secondary ambient air quality standards.

Productivity: The innate capacity of an environment 

to support plant and animal life over time. Plant 

productivity is the rate of plant production within a 

given period of time. Soil productivity is the capacity 

of a soil to produce plant growth, due to the soil’s 

chemical, physical, and biological properties.

Programmatic EIS: An area-wide EIS that provides 

an overview when a large-scale plan is being prepared 

for the management of federally administered lands on 

a regional or multi-regional basis.

Proper functioning condition: Riparian and wetland 

areas achieve proper functioning condition when 

adequate vegetation, landform, or large woody debris 

is present to dissipate stream energy associated with 

high water flows. This reduces erosion and improves 

water quality; filters sediment, captures bedload, and 

aids in floodplain development; improves floodwater 

retention and groundwater recharge; develops root

masses that stabilize streambanks against cutting; 

develops diverse ponding and channel characteristics 

to provide habitat and water depth, duration, and 

temperature necessary for fish production, avian 

breeding habitat, and other uses; and supports greater 

biodiversity.

Proposed action: A proposal by a federal agency to 

authorize, recommend, or implement an action.

Public lands: Any land and interest in land owned by 

the United States that are administered by the 

Secretary of the Interior through the BLM, without 

regard to how the United States acquired ownership, 

except for 1) lands located on the Outer Continental 

Shelf, and 2) lands held for the benefit of Indians, 

Aleuts, and Eskimos. Includes public domain and 

acquired lands. 

Public scoping: A process whereby the public is given 

the opportunity to provide oral or written comments 

about the influence of a project on an individual, the 

community, and/or the environment.

Q

Qualitative: Traits or characteristics that relate to 

quality and cannot be readily measured with numbers.

Quantitative: Traits or characteristics that can be 

measured with numbers.

R

Rangeland: Land on which the native vegetation is 

predominantly grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, or 

shrubs; not forests.

Raptor: Bird of prey; includes eagles, hawks, falcons, 

and owls. 

Receptor: An ecological entity exposed to a stressor.

Record of Decision (ROD): A document separate 

from, but associated with, an EIS, which states the 

decision, identifies alternatives (specifying which were 

environmentally preferable), and states whether all 

practicable means to avoid environmental harm from 

the alternative have been adopted, and if not, why not.

Registered herbicide: All herbicides sold or 

distributed in the United States must be registered by 

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, based on 

scientific studies, showing that they can be used 

without posing unreasonable risks to people or the 

environment.

Research Natural Areas: Special management areas 

designated either by Congress or by a public or private 

agency to preserve and protect typical or unusual 

ecological communities, associations, phenomena, 

characteristics, or natural features or processes for 

scientific and educational purposes. They are 

established and managed to protect ecological 

processes, conserve biological diversity, and provide 

opportunities for observation for research and 

education.

Residue: The quantity of an herbicide or its 

metabolites remaining in or on soil, water, plants, 

animals, or surfaces.

Resource Management Plan: Comprehensive land 

management planning document prepared by and for 

the BLM’s administered properties under requirements 

of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. 

BLM Vegetation Treatments Three New Herbicides 8-12 January 2016

Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

Bureau of Land Management lands in Alaska were 

exempted from this requirement.

Restoration: Actions taken to modify an ecosystem to 

achieve desired, healthy, and functioning conditions 

and processes.

Return interval (fire): The average time between 

fires in a given area.

Revegetation: Establishing or re-establishing 

desirable plants on areas where desirable plants are 

absent or of inadequate density, by management alone 

(natural revegetation) or by seeding or transplanting 

(artificial revegetation).

Right-of-way (ROW): A permit or an easement that 

authorizes the use of lands for certain specified 

purposes, such as the construction of an access road or 

pipeline.

Riparian: Occurring adjacent to streams and rivers 

and directly influenced by water. A riparian 

community is characterized by certain types of 

vegetation, soils, hydrology, and fauna, and requires 

free or unbound water or conditions more moist than 

what is normally found in the area.

Riparian Habitat Conservation Area: A designation 

made under the Pacific Anadromous Fish 

Strategy/Inland Fish Strategy. A portion of a 

watershed where riparian-dependent resources receive 

primary emphasis and management activities are 

subject to specific standards and guidelines. Includes 

traditional riparian corridors, wetlands, intermittent 

streams, and other areas that help maintain the 

integrity of aquatic ecosystems. 

Risk: The likelihood that a given exposure to an item 

or substance that presents a certain hazard will produce 

illness or injury.

Risk assessment: The process of gathering data and 

making assumptions to estimate short- and long-term 

harmful effects on human health or the environment 

from particular products or activities.

Risk quotient (RQ): A value used in risk assessments 

to compare toxicity to environmental exposure. The 

risk quotient is calculated by dividing a point estimate 

of exposure by a point estimate of effects. The risk 

quotient is compared to the applicable Level of 

Concern to analyze potential risk to non-target 

organisms.

Runoff: That part of precipitation, as well as any other 

flow contributions, that appears in surface streams, 

either perennial or intermittent.

S

Safety Data Sheet (SDS): A compilation of 

information required under the Occupational Safety 

and Health Administration Communication Standard 

on the identity of hazardous chemicals, health and 

physical hazards, exposure limits, and precautions.

The SDS replaces the Material Safety Data Sheet 

(MSDS).

Salmonids: Fishes of the family Salmonidae, 

including salmon, trout, chars, whitefish, ciscoes, and 

grayling.

Scoping: The process by which significant issues 

relating to a proposal are identified for environmental 

analysis. Scoping includes eliciting public comment on 

the proposal, evaluating concerns, and developing 

alternatives for consideration.

Section 3: Lands administered under Section 3 of the 

Taylor Grazing Act. This section of the law provided 

for the lease of grazing district lands to landowners 

and homesteaders in or adjacent to the reserves first 

and issuance of 1 to 10 year leases.

Section 15: Lands administered under Section 15 of 

the Taylor Grazing Act. Under Section 15, public 

lands outside of grazing districts could be leased to 

ranchers with contiguous property.

Sediments: Unweathered geologic materials generally 

laid down by or within water bodies; the rocks, sand, 

mud, silt, and clay at the bottom and along the edge of 

lakes, streams, and oceans.

Sedimentation: The process of forming or depositing 

sediment; letting solids settle out of wastewater by 

gravity during treatment.

Selective herbicide: A chemical designed to affect 

only certain types of plants, leaving other plants 

unharmed.

BLM Vegetation Treatments Three New Herbicides 8-13 January 2016

Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

Semi-arid: Moderately dry; region or climate where 

moisture is normally greater than under arid 

conditions, but still limits the production of vegetation.

Sensitive species: 1) Plant or animal species 

susceptible or vulnerable to activity impacts or habitat 

alterations. 2) Species that have appeared in the 

Federal Register as proposed for classification or are 

under consideration for official listing as endangered 

or threatened species.

Short-term impacts: Impacts occurring during project 

construction and operation, and normally ceasing upon 

project closure and reclamation. For each resource the 

definition of short-term may vary.

Significant: The description of an impact that exceeds 

a certain threshold level. Requires consideration of 

both context and intensity. The significance of an 

action must be analyzed in several contexts, such as 

society as a whole, and the affected region, interests, 

and locality. Intensity refers to the severity of impacts, 

which should be weighted along with the likelihood of 

their occurrence.

Snag: A standing dead tree, usually larger than 5 feet 

tall and 6 inches in diameter at breast height.

Socioeconomic: Pertaining to, or signifying the 

combination or interaction of social and economic 

factors.

Soil compaction: The compression of the soil profile 

from surface pressure, resulting in reduced air space, 

lower water holding capacity, and decreased plant root 

penetrability.

Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act: 

Act that provides for the disposal of public land within 

a specific area in the Las Vegas Valley and creates a 

special account into which 85 percent of the revenue 

generated by land sales or exchanges in the Las Vegas 

Valley is deposited. The remaining 15 percent goes to 

state and local governments. 

Special status species: Refers to federally listed 

threatened, endangered, proposed, or candidate 

species, and species managed as sensitive species by 

the BLM.

Spot treatment: An application of an herbicide to a 

small, selected area, as opposed to broadcast 

application.

Stand: A group of trees in a specific area that is 

sufficiently alike in composition, age, arrangement, 

and condition so as to be distinguishable from the 

forest in adjoining areas.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): Procedures 

followed by the BLM to minimize risks to human 

health and the environment from treatment actions.

Step-down: Refers to the process of applying broadscale science findings and land use decisions to sitespecific areas using a hierarchical approach of 

understanding current resource conditions, risks, and 

opportunities.

Stressor: Any event or situation that precipitates a 

change.

Subchronic: The effects observed from doses that are 

of intermediate duration, usually 90 days.

Subsistence: Customary and traditional uses of wild 

renewable resources (plants and animals) for food, 

shelter, fuel, clothing, tools, etc.

Surfactant: A material that improves the emulsifying, 

dispersing, spreading, wetting, or other surfacemodifying properties of liquids.

Surrogate: A substitute or stand-in.

Synergistic: A type of cumulative impact where total 

effect is greater than the sum of the effects taken 

independently. 

T

Tank mixture: The mixture of two or more 

compatible herbicides in a spray tank in order to apply 

them simultaneously.

Target species: Plant species of competing vegetation 

that is controlled in favor of desired species.

Terrestrial: Of or relating to the earth, soil, or land; 

inhabiting the earth or land.

Threatened species: A plant or animal species likely 

to become an endangered species throughout all or a 

significant portion of its range within the foreseeable 

future.

BLM Vegetation Treatments Three New Herbicides 8-14 January 2016

Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

Threshold: A level below which there is no apparent 

or measurable adverse effect. 

Tier: In an EIS, refers to incorporating by reference 

the analyses in an EIS or similar document of a 

broader scope. For example, BLM field offices could 

prepare environmental assessments for local projects 

that tier to this PEIS.

Total suspended particulates (TSP): A method of 

monitoring airborne particulate matter by total weight.

Toxicity: A characteristic of a substance that makes it 

poisonous.

Toxicity Reference Value (TRV): A species-specific 

and chemical-specific estimate of an exposure level 

that is not likely to cause unacceptable adverse effects 

on growth, reproduction, or survival. The three types 

of toxicity reference values are dose-based, 

concentration based, and tissue-based.

Tribe: Term used to designate any Indian tribe, band, 

nation, or other organized group or community 

(including any Alaska Native village or regional or 

village corporation as defined in or established 

pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act) 

which is recognized as eligible for the special 

programs and services provided by the U.S. to Indians 

because of their status as Indians.

U

Understory: Plants that grow beneath the canopy of 

other plants. Usually refers to grasses, forbs, and low 

shrubs under a tree or shrub canopy.

Undesirable plants: Species classified as undesirable, 

noxious, harmful, exotic, injurious, or poisonous under 

state or federal law, but not including species listed as 

endangered by the Endangered Species Act, or species 

indigenous to the planning area.

Upland: The portion of the landscape above the valley 

floor or stream.

V

Vascular plants: Plants that have specialized tissues 

which conduct nutrients, water, and sugars along with 

other specialized parts such as roots, stems, and 

reproductive structures. Vascular plants include 

flowering plants, ferns, shrubs, grasses, and trees.

Visual resources: The visible physical features of a 

landscape.

Volatilization: The conversion of a solid or liquid into 

a gas or vapor.

W

Water quality: The interaction between various 

parameters that determines the usability or nonusability of water for on-site and downstream uses. 

Major parameters that affect water quality include 

temperature, turbidity, suspended sediment, 

conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, specific ions, 

discharge, and fecal coliform.

Watershed: The region draining into a river, river 

system, or body of water. 

Weed: A plant considered undesirable and that 

interferes with management objectives for a given area 

at a given point in time.

Weed-free (feed/straw/mulch/other materials): 

Materials that have been inspected in the field of 

origin to determine that they are free of viable noxious 

weed seeds at the time of harvest. A weed-free 

certification is available at the state level.

Wetlands: Those areas that are inundated or saturated 

by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and 

duration sufficient to support, and that under normal 

circumstance do support, a prevalence of vegetation 

typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. 

Wetlands include habitats such as swamps, marshes, 

fens, and wet meadows.

Wilderness: Land designated by Congress as a 

component of the National Wilderness Preservation 

System. For an area to be considered for Wilderness 

designation it must be roadless and possess the 

characteristics required by Section 2(c) of the 

Wilderness Act of 1964. These characteristics are: 1) 

naturalness – lands that are natural and primarily 

affected by the forces of nature; 2) roadless and having 

at least 5,000 acres of contiguous public lands; and 3) 

outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and 

unconfined types of recreation. In addition, areas may 

contain “supplemental values,” consisting of 

BLM Vegetation Treatments Three New Herbicides 8-15 January 2016

Final Programmatic EIS
GLOSSARY

ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, 

educational, scenic, or historical importance.

Wildfire: Unplanned human or naturally caused fires 

in wildlands.

Wildland fires: Fires that occur on wildlands, 

regardless of ignition source, damages, or benefits, and 

include wildfire and prescribed fire.

Wildland Urban Interface (WUI): An area where 

structures and other human development intermingle 

with undeveloped wildlands or vegetative fuels.

Woodland: A forest in which the trees are often small, 

characteristically short-boled relative to their crown 

depth, and forming an open canopy, with the 

intervening area being occupied by lower vegetation, 

commonly grass.

XYZ

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Final Programmatic EIS