New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 5A - NATURAL AREAS AND THE NATURAL AREAS SYSTEM › Subchapter 1 - NATURAL AREAS AND THE NATURAL AREAS SYSTEM › Section 7:5A-1.3 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
				  shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise:
"Administering agency" means the Division of Parks and
				  Forestry or Fish and Wildlife, in the Department, or any other group or
				  organization managing land designated as part of the Natural Areas
				  System.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department or
				  his or her designated representative.
"Conservation easement" means an interest in land less than
				  fee simple absolute, stated in the form of a right, restriction, easement,
				  covenant, or condition, in any deed, will or other instrument, other than a
				  lease, executed by or on behalf of the person vested with a greater interest
				  therein, appropriate to retaining land or water areas predominantly in their
				  natural, scenic, open or wooded condition, or for conservation of suitable
				  habitat for plants or animals.
"Construction of new trails" means the physical creation or
				  alteration of a trail corridor or path to serve a function not formerly served
				  by the trail, path or underlying land. Creation of the trail corridor or path
				  can be undertaken by a variety of means including cutting, clearing or removing
				  vegetation, and alteration of the ground surface to encourage trail use.
"Department" means the New Jersey Department of Environmental
				  Protection.
"Designation study" means a written report or analysis of an
				  area or portion of an area listed on the Register that assesses the
				  appropriateness for designation of that area to the Natural Areas
				  System.
"Division" means the Division of Parks and Forestry within
				  the Department.
"Ecological community" means an interacting assemblage of
				  plants, animals and other organisms, their physical environment and the natural
				  processes that affect them.
"Interim classification" means a category reflecting the type
				  of habitat management permitted within the natural area prior to approval of a
				  management plan.
"Interim management practice" means any use, activity, or
				  management conducted within a natural area prior to approval of a management
				  plan.
"Interpretive structures" means those structures and/or
				  trails the sole purpose of which is to support the interpretation of natural
				  features or the education of visitors and users of a natural area. Such
				  structures may include, but are not limited to, buildings, blinds, kiosks,
				  wayside trail exhibits, and signs.
"Invasive species" means nonindigenous plant and animal
				  species that have been intentionally or accidentally introduced into habitats
				  and geographical areas outside of their natural geographical range and that
				  have the ability to reproduce and spread, thereby threatening native biological
				  diversity and/or the integrity of natural ecosystems.
"Maintenance of existing trails" means routine activities
				  conducted on an existing trail corridor or path to maintain the intended use of
				  that trail. Maintenance may include, but not be limited to, signing or blazing,
				  routine vegetation control such as trimming or brushing, and trail path
				  grooming, provided that the vegetation control and trail grooming does not
				  enlarge the existing width of the ground surface used as a trail.
"Management objective" means the stated purpose or goal of
				  designating an area to the Natural Areas System to which management of the area
				  is to be directed.
"Natural area" means an area of land or water, owned in fee
				  simple or held as a conservation easement by the Department, which has retained
				  its natural character, although not necessarily completely undisturbed, or
				  having rare or vanishing species of plant and animal life, or having similar
				  features of interest, which are worthy of preservation for present and future
				  residents of the State.
"Natural Areas Council", hereafter "Council", means that body
				  consisting of seven members including the Administrator of the Office of
				  Natural Lands Management and six members of the public appointed by the
				  Governor in accordance with
				  13:1B-15.7.
"Natural Areas System," hereafter "System," means those lands
				  designated as natural areas pursuant to this subchapter, identified at
				  7:5A-1.13, and consisting of lands
				  that serve as habitat for rare plant species or animal species, or both, or
				  ecological communities representative of the State of New Jersey or the
				  nation.
"Natural Heritage Database" means the manual and computerized
				  file maintained by the Division that includes continuously updated information
				  on the location and status of rare plant and animal species and ecological
				  communities in New Jersey. Information on the Natural Heritage Database is
				  available at http://
://www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforestry/natural/heritage/index.htme
.
"Prescribed burning" means the open burning of plant material
				  under such conditions that the fire is confined to a predetermined area and
				  accomplishes the environmentally beneficial objectives of habitat management
				  and prevention or control of wildfires.
"Preservation" means any measures, including no action at
				  all, which are required in order to avoid injury, destruction or decay of a
				  natural resource feature within a Natural Area or otherwise maintain or protect
				  those features indicated in the management objective.
"Rare species habitat" means habitat for any plant and/or
				  animal species listed, proposed or of candidate status by the Federal
				  government as endangered or threatened throughout the United States pursuant to
				  the Endangered Species Act of 1973,
				  16
				  U.S.C. §§
										1531 et seq., and its
				  implementing regulations,
				  50 CFR §§
										17.11 and
				  17.12;
				  any plant species listed as endangered or as a species of concern pursuant to
				  13:1B-15.1 51 et seq. and its
				  implementing rules, N.J.A.C. 7:5C; any animal species listed as endangered,
				  threatened or as a priority wildlife species pursuant to
				  23:2A-1 et seq. and its
				  implementing rules, N.J.A.C. 7:25-4; and any rare plant and/or animal species
				  and/or ecological community recorded in the Natural Heritage Database.
"Register" means the registry, required by
				  13:1B-15.1 2a6, of all lands,
				  public and private, which are suitable for inclusion within the System. See
				  also 7:5A-1.4.
"Register site summary" means a written report, on file with
				  the Division, summarizing site-specific information on the suitability for
				  inclusion of a site on the Register, and containing a map indicating the
				  boundary of the site.
"Right-of-way" means a less-than-fee interest in property
				  held by another over which the Department has no control, such as, but not
				  limited to, use of property for pipelines, transmission lines, and
				  roads.
"State" means the State of New Jersey, or any of the
				  departments or agencies in the executive branch of government with the lawful
				  authority to engage in contracting.
"Timber" means trees sold, removed or destroyed for
				  commercial, non-ecological purposes. Timber does not include trees harvested or
				  removed solely for the purpose of furthering the management objective of a
				  Natural Area.