Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 302 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND RECREATION › Title 302 CMR 16.00 - Forest Cutting Practices › Section 16.03 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
Abutters of Record on File with the
				Assessor
means:
(a) the abutters shown on a current town property map who are
				within 200 feet of a cutting area; or
(b) if there is no map, the abutters noted on the current
				assessment card of the property being cut who are within 200 feet of a cutting
				area; and,
(c) abutters otherwise known to the landowner who are within
				200 feet of a cutting area.
Abutters of record on file with the assessor does not mean
				property owners with property separated from the cutting area by a publicly
				maintained way.
ACEC (Area of Critical Environmental
				Concern)
means an area containing concentrations of highly
				significant environmental resources that has been formally designated by the
				Secretary of Environmental Affairs pursuant to M.G.L. c. 21A, § 2(7) and
				301 CMR 12.00:
Areas
				of Critical Environmental Concern
.
Advance Regeneration
means young
				trees which have become established in a forest before any special measures are
				undertaken to establish new growth.
Agents of the Director or Director's
				Agents
means the trained foresters, fire wardens, regional
				supervisors, and other personnel, as appointed, by the Director to serve as his
				or her agents. The Director may cooperate with the University of Massachusetts,
				the United States Forest Service and any other appropriate public or private
				organization and may authorize their employees to serve as agents of the
				Director for the purpose of implementing and enforcing
				302 CMR
				16.00.
Agent of the Landowner or Landowner's
				Agent
means the person appointed by the landowner as his or her
				agent to prepare the necessary paper work, oversee operations covered by the
				forest cutting plans or to act as a liaison with the Director or the Director's
				Agent.
At Any One Time
means the time period
				a cutting is done so long as work is reasonably continuous and not interrupted
				for a period longer than 180 days, or during the period covered by an approved
				forest cutting plan, whichever is longer.
Basal Area
means the area in square
				feet of the cross section of a tree taken at breast height (4.5 feet above the
				ground).
Best Management Practices
means
				forestry and harvesting practices used to prevent or minimize erosion and
				adverse impacts to wetland resource areas as contained in the current edition
				of the
Massachusetts Forestry Best Management Practices Manual
which is available from DCR.
BMP Manual
means the current edition
				of the Massachusetts Forestry Best Management Practices Manual which is
				available from DCR. The
BMP Manual
is updated periodically as
				information becomes available.
Bordering Vegetated Wetlands
means
				freshwater wetlands (wet meadows, marshes, swamps, and bogs) which border on
				creeks, rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes, as defined by
				310 CMR
				10.00. They are generally saturated by groundwater or
				covered by surface water long enough to produce hydric soil conditions and
				support wetland plant communities.
Buffer Strip
means a forest area
				along roads where the intensity of cutting is restricted to maintain a forested
				appearance (
see
302 CMR 16.05:
Standards
).
Certificate
means the form completed
				and signed by the Director or the Director's Agent which is sent to the
				landowner or the operator along with approved forest cutting plan and which
				must be posted at the entrance to the harvesting site whenever work is
				done.
Classified Land
means forest land
				classified under M.G.L. c. 61, the Forest Tax Law. The landowner manages
				classified land for the production of forest products under the terms of a
				forest management plan certified by the State Forester.
DBH
means diameter at breast
				height.
DCR
means the Department of
				Conservation and Recreation.
Den Trees
means dead, rough or rotten
				trees that provide hollows or cavities for wildlife.
Director
means the Director of the
				Division of State Parks and Recreation in the Department of Conservation and
				Recreation, or his or her designee.
Employee
means a person whose hours
				of work and specific task assignments are under the control of the
				operator.
Estimated Habitats of State-listed Rare Wetlands
				Wildlife
means the approximated geographical extent of the wetland
				habitat used by state-listed rare wetlands vertebrate and invertebrate animal
				species for which a reported occurrence within the last 25 years has been
				accepted by the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program as shown on the
				current edition of the Massachusetts Natural Heritage Atlas.
Even-aged Stand
means a stand where
				the difference in age between the oldest and youngest trees in the main canopy
				does not exceed 20% of the length of the rotation.
50% Basal Area
means ½ the
				cumulative total of basal area of all live trees five inches or more in
				diameter breast height, before any trees were removed from a specified
				area.
Filter Strip
means an area of land,
				adjoining the bank of a water body, where the cutting of trees and the
				disturbance of the ground are restricted in order to maintain conditions that
				shall help to infiltrate overland flow from precipitation into the ground and
				trap any sediments before they enter the water body (
see
:
				302 CMR 16.05:
Standards)
.
Forest Cutting Plan
means a plan for
				the cutting of trees on forest land prepared and submitted in accordance with
				M.G.L. c. 132, §§ 40 through 46 and
				302 CMR
				16.00. A forest cutting plan shall meet the
				requirements for a notice of intent to cut under M.G.L. c. 132, §§ 40
				through 46.
Approved Forest Cutting Plan
means a
				forest cutting plan which has been approved by the Director or the Director's
				Agent pursuant to
				302 CMR 16.04 in the
				form it was submitted or together with amendments and requirements added by the
				Director or the Director's agent as conditions for approval. An approved forest
				cutting plan shall meet the requirement for a final work order required under
				M.G.L. c. 132, §§ 40 through 46.
Forest Land
means land with at least
				15% of the area occupied by the crowns of forest trees of any size that
				contains at least 7.5 square feet of basal area per acre; or that is a
				plantation containing at least 500 trees per acre; or land recently harvested
				that is in the process of regeneration.
Forest Cutting Practices
means the
				silvicultural system used on a stand, the design of cutting areas, the logging
				practices and road and trail development used to extract forest products from a
				property.
Forest Products
means wood products
				including, but not limited to, sawlogs, cordwood and biomass.
Forestry
means the science, art, and
				practice of managing and using for human benefit the natural resources that
				occur on and in association with forest lands.
High Grading
means the selection of
				trees for cutting based solely on the economic value of individual trees which
				results in a residual stand dominated by poor quality trees and species.
High Priority Sites of Rare Species
				Habitats
means the approximated geographical extent of the most
				important sites for rare plant and animal species in Massachusetts as
				determined by the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program and as shown
				in the current edition of the Massachusetts Natural Heritage Atlas.
Intermediate Cut
means a
				silvicultural practice implemented in an established stand during the period
				between seeding and maturity. It is done to improve the existing stand and
				regulate its growth without any effort directed at regeneration.
Land Devoted to Forest Growth
means
				forest land.
Light-seeded Species
means tree
				species which bear seed capable of being dispersed by the wind. This includes
				ash, aspen, basswood, birch, balsam fir, hemlock, larch, maple, pine, and
				spruce.
Marking of Trees
means placing a
				visible paint mark on both the bole of the tree at approximately breast height,
				and on the stump. The tree shall be marked so as to leave the stump mark
				visible following harvest.
Operator
means a timber harvester who
				is licensed pursuant to
				302 CMR
				16.08 working on a cutting subject to M.G.L.
				c. 132, §§ 40 through 46.
Outstanding Resource Waters
means
				waters designated as sources of public water supplies and designated for
				protection under
				314 CMR 4.00:
Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards
.
Parcel of Land
means a single
				contiguous area of land in one ownership, which may be crossed by streams or
				traversed by public ways without thereby dividing the area into separate
				parcels.
Patch Cut
means a clearcut of
				¼ to one-acre in size.
Physical Evidence
means acceptable
				evidence of a land use change to cultivation or pasture such as stump
				clearance, plowing, fertilizing, seeding to an agricultural crop, planting, or
				fencing.
Principal Skid Roads
means the main
				skid road and its primary branches which will be used repeatedly enough by
				harvesting equipment to potentially disturb the forest floor, make ruts,
				compact soil and otherwise create conditions that can cause erosion.
Rare Species
means those plant and
				animal species officially listed as endangered, threatened, or of special
				concern by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife by regulations
				issued pursuant to M.G.L. c. 131A, the Massachusetts Endangered Species
				Act.
Regenerate a Stand
means to replace a
				harvested stand with regeneration within five growing seasons of the completion
				of the harvest. One thousand seedlings, seedling sprouts or sapling sprouts per
				acre shall be adequate if of tree species suited to growing on the site and
				well distributed over the area. Advance growth must be left in a healthy
				condition for growth after the cutting of the old stand is complete. If advance
				regeneration is critical, the landowner shall note it on the forest cutting
				plan.
Regeneration
means seedlings,
				seedling sprouts or sapling sprouts of tree species which may come from advance
				regeneration, natural seeding, sprouts from coppice, or from planting or direct
				seeding.
Regeneration Cut
means a cut made
				with the dual purposes of removing the mature stand and creating conditions
				favorable for the establishment of regeneration. The particular silvicultural
				system and regeneration method employed dictate the timing and severity of the
				cut.
Road and Trail Standards
means the
				governing standards for road and trail construction, maintenance, and
				stabilization listed in the
BMP Manual
.
Rotation
means the planned number of
				years between the formation or regeneration of a stand and its final cutting at
				a specified stage of maturity.
Salvage
means an operation made to
				cut and utilize trees which have been killed, badly injured, or clearly
				threatened usually by natural causes. It usually has no silvicultural objective
				other than the harvesting of the injured or threatened trees.
Sapling
means a tree greater than
				one-inch DBH and less than 4.9 inches DBH.
Sapling Sprout
means a single
				dominant tree of sprout origin resulting from the cutting of a sapling.
Seedling
means a young tree of seed
				origin, less than one-inch DBH.
Seedling Sprout
means a single tree
				of sprout origin resulting from the cutting of a seedling.
Shade Tolerance
means a relative
				measure of a species ability to grow and persist in various levels of light.
				Species which require full sunlight to grow, such as cherry or gray birch, are
				called intolerant. Species which persist in shaded conditions, such as hemlock
				or sugar maple, are called tolerant.
Silviculture
means the branch of
				forestry concerned with the theory and practice of controlling forest
				establishment, composition and growth.
Stand
means a contiguous group of
				trees sufficiently uniform in species composition, arrangement of age classes,
				and condition to be a homogeneous and distinguishable unit.
Standard
, when used as a
				silvicultural term, means a healthy, well-formed tree suitable for producing
				sawlogs, permitted to remain after a coppice cutting.
Stocking
means an indication of the
				number and density of overstory trees in a stand as compared to the desirable
				number and density for best growth and management. Stocking charts, which have
				been developed for the common forest types, serve as a guide to the choice of
				stand treatments by relating basal area per acre to trees per acre. The B-Level
				on these charts indicates the point where each tree has all the space it can
				use (the site is fully utilized). The A-Level represents 100% stocking. Stands
				below the C-Level are considered understocked.
Steep Slope
means land with a
				gradient of 30% or more for a slope distance of 200 feet or more.
Stop Order
means an order issued by
				the Director or the Director's Agent to immediately shut down a cutting
				operation that fails to comply with the law,
				302 CMR
				16.00 or an approved forest cutting plan.
Stream
means a body of running water,
				including brooks and creeks, which moves in a defined channel due to a
				hydraulic gradient, and which flows within, into, or out of an area subject to
				protection under
				310 CMR
				10.00:
Wetlands Protection
. A portion
				of a stream may flow through a water control structure such as a culvert or
				bridge. Such a body of running water, which does not flow throughout the year
				(intermittent) is a stream except for the portion up-gradient from all bogs,
				swamps, wet meadows and marshes.
Take
means as defined in M.G.L. c.
				131A, the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, or
				321 CMR 10.00:
Massachusetts Endangered Species Act Regulations
.
Uneven-aged Stands
means stands
				containing at least three age classes intermingled on the same area.
Vernal Pool
means a confined basin
				depression which, at least in most years, holds water for a minimum of two
				continuous months during the spring and/or summer, and which is free of adult
				fish populations. These areas provide essential breeding habitat for a variety
				of amphibian species such as the wood frog (Rana sylvatica) and spotted
				salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) and are important habitat for other wildlife
				species. A
Certified Vernal Pool
is an area that has
				been certified as a Vernal Pool by the Division of Fisheries and
				Wildlife.
Water Body
means the ocean, its
				estuaries, ponds, lakes, rivers, creeks and streams.
Wetland Resource Areas
means those
				areas subject to protection under M.G.L. c. 131, § 40, as defined in
				310 CMR
				10.00, which include, but are not limited to: banks,
				freshwater wetlands and marshes which border on streams or ponds (bordering
				vegetated wetlands), land under waterbodies and land subject to
				flooding.