Tongasspedia: (n.) an interactive dictionary of terms that are relevant to the discussions of the Tongass Futures Roundtable.

Purpose: The purpose of the Tongasspedia is to provide a vehicle for participants in the Tongass Futures Roundtable to develop common definitions of terms that are used in Roundtable discussions.

Procedure for updating Tongasspedia: The initial list of terms and definitions was prepared, from a combination of TNC staff contributions, the TLMP glossary, and the Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, as a starting point for developing Tongasspedia. There is no end point. Between Roundtable meetings, any interested person can suggest that additional terms be included, existing terms be deleted, or amendments made to terms then contained on the list. During a Roundtable meeting, a breakout session can be organized to review the suggested changes and update the list. Suggestions for additions, deletions, or amendments can be made through the comment box provided at the end of this webpage or emailed to ncohen@tnc.org.

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Tongasspedia

Alexander Archipelago: The offshore islands of southeastern Alaska from Glacier Bay to the Canadian Border. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Alluvial soils: Sediments from river beds, flood plains, lakes and at the foot of mountain slopes and estuaries. Alluvial soils are generally well-drained and support the growth of large trees. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Anadromous fish: Fish, including salmon and steelhead, which mature and spend much of their adult life in the ocean, returning to freshwater streams to spawn. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Beach fringe: The area inland from salt water shorelines that is typically forested. (TLMP)

Biogeographic provinces: Twenty-two ecological subdivisions of southeastern Alaska that are identified by generally distinct ecological, physiographic, and biogeographic features. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Biological diversity: The variety of life, including diversity of gene pools, species, communities, landscapes, and ecological processes like predation, decomposition, parasitism, and nutrient cycling. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Biomass: 1. The total dry organic matter at a given time of living organisms of one or more species per unit area (species biomass) or of all the species in the community (community biomass)
2. The living or dead weight of organic matter in a tree, stand, or forest in units such as living of dead weight, wet or dry weight, ash-free weight, etc.
3. Harvesting the wood product obtained (usually) from in-woods chipping of all or some portion of trees, including limbs, tops, and unmerchantable stems, usually for energy production. (TLMP)

Board foot: A unit of timber measurement equaling the amount of wood contained in an unfinished board 1 inch thick, 12 inches long, and 12 inches wide. (TLMP)

Canopy: The overstory of a forest stand including tree tops and limbs which intercept sunlight and snow resulting in shade and snow free patches on the forest floor. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Canopy gap: Natural openings created in the overstory of old-growth conifer forests from the loss of a single or small group of trees from windthrow, insects, or disease. Also, gaps created in young-growth conifer stands to increase light penetration to the understory by cutting all of the trees in a small area to maintain or increase the number of understory plant species. (TLMP)

Carrying capacity: The concept that there is a maximum population size an ecosystem can sustain without causing long-term habitat damage and a reduction in the population size. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Clearcut: Forest harvesting method in which all trees are cleared in one cut. Clearcuts produce an even-aged stand of second-growth timber. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Coarse filter: An approach used for wildlife conservation and analysis which focuses on the characteristics of entire ecosytems and landscapes instead of individual species. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Commercial Forest. Land tentatively suitable for the production of continuous crops of timber and that has not been withdrawn. (TLMP)

Commercial forest land: Forest land that is producing or is capable of producing crops of industrial wood and has not been administratively or legislatively withdrawn from development. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Commercial thinning: A type of thinning in which at least a portion of the cut trees have commercial value. Examples of commercial value are saw logs, house logs, wood fuel, chips and Xmas trees. (TNC)

Commercial thinning for economic purposes: In this type of thinning the overall goal is to make money from the cut trees. A portion of the most valuable and/or the largest trees are cut. (TNC)

Commercial thinning for silvicultural: In this type of thinning the overall goal is to improve or maintain the growth and yield of trees left in a stand. Usually the dominant and preferred species are left for future timber harvest. (TNC)

Connectivity: A measure of the extent that forest areas between or outside medium and large old growth reserves provide habitat for breeding, feeding, dispersal, and movement. (TLMP)

The state of being functionally connected by movement of organisms, materials, and energy. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Conservation: Planned management of wildlife resources to prevent exploitation, destruction of neglect. The management of human uses of fish, wildlife, or other natural resources to yield the greatest sustainable benefit to current generations while maintaining options for future generations. This definition of conservation encompasses preservation, maintenance, sustainable use, restoration, and enhancement. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Corridor: An area of habitat that allows movement of individuals from one region or place to another; keeping populations connected. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Cull logs: Logs that do not meet merchantability specifications. (TLMP)

Cumulative effects: The combined effects of all human activities on a defined area of land or water. In isolation, each individual action may not have a measurable effect on a given wildlife population. Over time, however, each incremental activity may have a combined (or even magnified) effect on the population. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Ecological integrity: The maintenance of an ecosystem’s biological diversity (e.g., genes, species, populations, communities, landscapes) and natural ecological processes (e.g., predator-prey relationships, herbivory, decomposition, nutrient cycling) within their natural range of variability over time. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Ecosystem: An interacting ecological community together with its physical environment, considered as a unit. Ecosystems can be defined at various scales from a small pond to a large region like southeastern Alaska. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

A spatially explicit, relatively homogenous area that includes all interacting organisms and the abiotic environment components. An ecosystem can be of various sizes (e.g., a log, a pond, a forest, or the earth’s biosphere). (TLMP)

Endemic: Living in or restricted to a particular locality. In this document the term endemic is used in two ways. First, it is used to describe plant and animal species, subspecies, or lineages that are native and restricted in their distribution to an island, a portion of Southeast Alaska, or Southeast Alaska. Second, it is used to describe a type of windthrow event that is a very localized windthrow event, where individual trees are blown over. (TLMP)

Restricted to a specific locality (for example an island subspecies). (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Estuary: An ecological system at the mouth of a stream where fresh water and salt water mix and where salt marshes and intertidal mudflats are present. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Falldown: Describes the percentage reduction in timber volume from the proposed action to the sale offer. (TNC)

The difference between the number of acres planned for timber harvest and those actually harvested, usually experienced as a reduction in acres. Falldown results from many factors, including unmapped unsuitable timber land, newly available information, and project-level consideration of site-specific issues and non-timber resource needs. (TLMP)

Fine filter: An approach used for wildlife conservation management and analysis which focuses on individual species and their habitats. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Fragmentation: The process by which a landscape is broken into small islands of forest within a mosaic of other forms of land use or ownership. Also, islands of a particular age class (e.g., old growth remaining within areas of young-growth forest). (TLMP)

Gap thinning: A type of thinning where the production of wildlife forage (e.g. Sitka Black tailed Deer) is the specific goal. In this thinning small gaps are created in the forest canopy by cutting groups of trees. The gaps allow more light to reach the forest floor and promote understory plants to grow. The cut trees can be left or removed from the gaps or left. This can be a pre-commercial or commercial thinning. (TNC)

Geographic Information System (GIS) data: Data about the location and types of lands, resources, and uses within a specific area that is used to make computer-generated maps. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Habitat: The physical and biological resources required by an organism for its survival and reproduction; these requirements are species specific. Food and cover are major components of habitat and must extend beyond the requirements of the individual to include a sufficient area capable of supporting a viable population. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Habitat fragmentation: Process by which habitats are increasingly subdivided into smaller units, resulting in their increased isolation as well as losses of total habitat area. Fragmentation can result in separating previously continuous populations causing the separate populations to be more vulnerable to extirpation or local extinction. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Karst: A type of typography that develops in areas underlain by soluble rocks, primarily limestone. Dissolution of the subsurface strata results in areas of well-developed, surface drainage that are sinkholes, collapsed channels, or caves. (TLMP)

Land use designation (LUD): Land management direction applied to the Tongass Forest at the level of watershed or Value Comparison Unit (VCU).
● LUD 1. Recommended Wilderness area.
● LUD 2. Lands managed in a roadless state to retain their wild character.
● LUD 3. Lands managed for a variety of uses including both amenity and commodity uses.
● LUD 4. Lands managed primarily for intensive resource development. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Old-growth forest: Ecosystems distinguished by the later stages of forest development. Old growth is characterized by a patchy, multi-layered canopy; trees of uneven age; large trees, snags, and woody debris on the forest floor; dominant trees over 300 years old; and a diverse and productive understory of herbs, shrubs, and ferns on the forest floor. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

The (usually) late successional stage of forest development. Old-growth forests are defined in many ways; generally, structural characteristics used to describe old growth forests include a) live trees: number and minimum size of both seral and climax dominants; b) canopy conditions: commonly including multilayering; c) snags: minimum number and specific size; and d) logs and large (coarse) woody debris. (TLMP)

Old-growth reserve: A contiguous unit of old-growth forest habitat managed to maintain the integrity of the old-growth forest. Beach-fringe forest, riparian buffers, and habitat conservation areas all contain old growth reserves. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Population: Any group of animals belonging to the same species at the same time and place. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Pre-commercial thinning: A type of thinning in which the cut or killed trees have no commercial value. Most pre-commercial thins are in very young stands. The trees cut in these stands are too small to have commercial value. This is usually a thinning from below. (TNC)

Productive old growth: Old-growth forest capable of producing at least 20 cubic ft of wood fiber per acre per year, or having greater than 8,000 board ft per acre. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Restoration: Ecology: The process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. The concept of ecological restoration is forward looking. Restoration focuses on reestablishing composition, structure, and ecological processes to maintain or increase resilience of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in a dynamic, continually evolving world. (TLMP)

Riparian Area: The streamside area including a stream channel, lake or estuary bed, and the plants that grow in the water and the land next to the water. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Riparian thinning: A type of thinning where the over all goal of the thinning is to improve the riparian functions of the stand. This can be a commercial or pre-commercial thinning. Examples are thinning to accelerate the development of replacement large woody debris or thinning to achieve the pre harvest species mix. (TNC)

Road decommissioning: Activities that result in the restoration of unneeded roads to a more natural state. (TLMP)

Roadless area: An area of undeveloped public land within which there are no improved roads maintained for travel by means of motorized vehicles. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Second-growth forest: Young forest growth that has regenerated naturally, or has been planted, after some drastic removal of the original forest (for example, clearcut harvest, serious fire, or insect attack). (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Service contract: Contracts for services where the Forest Service solicits a contractor to undertake a project and will pay full value for the services rendered. (TNC)

Silviculture: The art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests and woodlands to meet the diverse needs and values of landowners and society on a sustainable basis. (TLMP)

Slash: Woody residue left after logging or thinning activities. This is usually in the form of non commercial trees, non merchantable (cull) portions of trees, limbs, and tops. (TNC)

Southeastern Alaska: The narrow mainland coast and nearshore islands from the Canadian Border south of Ketchikan to Yakutat Bay, also termed Southeast. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Stewardship: Management of natural resources that conserves them for future generations. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Stream class: A Forest Service category of stream channels based on their fish production value.
● Class I streams and lakes which have anadromous fish habitat and resident fish.
● Class II streams and lakes with resident fish populations where no anadromous fish occur.
● Class III perennial and intermittent streams with no fish populations but have influence on downstream fish habitat.
● Class IV streams with no influence on downstream fish habitat. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Stewardship Contracts: Contracts to be used primarily where there is some value in a forest product (usually timber) that can be used to cover or offset the cost of the service being acquired. (TNC)

Strip thinning: In this type of thinning all trees are removed in a strip running through a stand. This is a type of linear Gap thinning. Economics is usually a primary goal of this thinning method. Usually, but not always, this is a commercial thin. (TNC)

Subsistence: Section 803 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act defines subsistence use as, “the customary and traditional uses by rural Alaska residents of wild renewable resources for direct, personal or family consumption as food, shelter, fuel, clothing, tools, or transportation; for the making and selling of handicraft articles out of non-edible byproducts of fish and wildlife resources taken for personal or family consumption; for barter, or sharing for personal or family consumption; and for customary trade.” (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Sustained use: Management that ensures that human uses of resources can be maintained indefinitely without harm to the resource. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Thinning: Remove or kill specific trees and/or shrubs to reduce the competition for light, nutrients and/or moisture. The remaining trees and/or plants benefit from more abundant resources. There are many types of thinning. The type of thinning is dependent on the goal(s) for the thinning. (TNC)

A cultural treatment made to reduce stand density of trees primarily to improve growth, enhance forest health, or recover potential mortality. Thinning may also be done to manipulate stand characteristics to improve wildlife or riparian habitat, or to enhance scenery. Types of thinning include: Precommercial (PCT). The removal of trees not for immediate financial return but to reduce stocking to concentrate growth on the more desirable trees. Commercial (CT). Any type of thinning producing merchantable material at least equal to the value of the direct costs of harvesting. (TLMP)

Thinning from above: Cut trees are usually the larger (above) trees in the stand. These trees are removed to release the remaining smaller trees and/or to create openings in the stand. This can be a pre-commercial or commercial thin. (TNC)

Thinning from below: This is the classic thinning method. Cut trees are usually the smaller (below) trees in the stand. Trees are designated to leave based on spacing guidelines (distance between trees), species preference, vigor and size. This can be a pre-commercial or a commercial thinning. (TNC)

Timber classification: Forested land is classified under each of the land management alternatives according to how it relates to the management of the timber resource. The following are definitions of timber classifications used for this purpose: (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Non-Forest. Land that has never supported forests, and land formerly forested where use for timber production is precluded by development or other uses. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1)

Forest. Land at least 10 percent stocked (based on crown cover) by forest trees of any size or formerly having had such tree cover and not currently developed for non forest use. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1 )

Suitable. Land to be managed for timber production on a regulated basis. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1 )

Unsuitable. Land withdrawn from timber utilization by statute or administrative regulation (e.g., Wilderness), or identified as inappropriate for timber production in the Forest planning process. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1 )

Tongass Land Management Plan: The Forest Service land and resource management plan developed in 1997 and amended in 2008 to guide the management of the Tongass National Forest. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1 )

Value Comparison Unit (VCU): Distinct geographic areas that generally encompass a drainage basin, or watershed, containing one or more large stream systems. Boundaries usually follow easily recognizable watershed boundaries. The 1997 Tongass Land Management Plan established 926 VCUs on the Tongass Forest. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1 )

Viable population: A population that contains an adequate number of individuals appropriately distributed to ensure a high probability of long-term survival without significant human intervention (For example: A 95% probability of persistence for 100 years). (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1 )

Watershed: Watersheds generally form a distinct area bounded by ridges where all surface waters drains to a common point. Watersheds can range from less than 100 acres (40 ha) to more than 100,000 acres (40,470 ha). In the Tongass Land Management Plan, VCUs are often analogous to watersheds or make up segments of watersheds. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1 )

Wildlife thinning: A type of thinning where the over all goal of the thinning is to benefit wildlife. This thinning can be pre-commercial and/or commercial. Examples are gap thinning a stand to benefit the understory vegetation or thinning a stand to accelerate the development of old growth characteristics. (TNC)

Windthrow: The act of trees being uprooted by the wind. Windthrow is a common natural forest disturbance in Southeast. (Audubon-TNC Conservation Assessment, Chapter 1 )

Young growth: Forest growth that has regenerated naturally or has been planted after some disturbance (e.g., clear-cut harvest, serious fire, catastrophic windthrow, or insect attack) to the previous forest growth. (TLMP)