Advanced regeneration: Trees that have become established naturally under a mature forest canopy and are capable of becoming the next crop after the mature crop is removed.

Age class: Any interval into which the age range of trees, forests, stands or forest types is divided for classification and use. Forest inventories commonly group trees into 20-year age class groups.

Allowable annual cut (AAC): The average volume of wood which may be harvested annually under sustained yield management. Roughly equal to the amount of new growth produced by the forest each year including a proportion of the mature volume less deductions for losses due to fire, insects and disease.

Artificial regeneration: Establishing a new forest by planting seedlings or by direct seeding (as compared to natural regeneration).

Basic silviculture: A term to refer to the silviculture treatments that are carried out to ensure the establishment of a free-growing tree crop. May include: surveying, site preparation, planting, direct seeding, or brushing. Compare with intensive silviculture.

Biological maturity: In stand management, the age at which trees or stands have peaked in growth rate and are determined to be merchantable.

Bucking:

Cutting a felled tree into specified log lengths.

Buffer strip: A strip of land (often including undisturbed vegetation) where disturbance is not allowed or is closely monitored to preserve or enhance aesthetic and other values along or adjacent to roads, trails, watercourses and recreation sites.

Business Plan: A plan identifying markets, customers, expenditures and finances required to carry out the identified "business," based on projected revenues and costs over a specific period of time.

Clear-cutting: The harvesting of all trees from an area of forest land in a single cut.

Climax forest: A forest community that represents the final stage of natural forest succession for its locality, i.e. for its environment. Often identified as those forests that can reproduce indefinitely (i.e., in their own shade).

Commercially valuable trees: Trees which are merchantable and therefore have some commercial value or benefit.

Commercial forest: Forest land capable of producing merchantable species of timber, as well as a variety of non-timber benefits

Commercial thinning: A silviculture treatment that "thins" out an overstocked stand by removing trees that are large enough to be sold as products such as poles or fence posts. It is carried out to improve the health and growth rate of the remaining crop trees.

Coniferous: Cone-bearing trees having needle or scale-like leaves, usually evergreen and producing wood known commercially as "softwoods."

Cruising: The measurement of standing trees on an area to determine the volume and form of wood on that area. Commonly includes the measurement of other resources on the area, such as soil, wildlife and fisheries.

Deciduous: Term applied to trees (commonly broadleaf) that usually shed their leaves annually. Also known commercially as "hardwoods."

Development objectives: The short-term (often five years) planning objectives for a specific management area.

Development plan: A specific plan outlining harvesting, road construction, protection and silviculture activities over the short-term (often five years) in accordance with the approved forest management plan.

Environmentally sensitive areas: Includes potentially fragile or unstable soils that may deteriorate unacceptably after forest harvesting, and areas of high value to non-timber resources such as fisheries, wildlife, water and recreation.

Even-aged: Of a forest, stand or forest type in which relatively small age differences exist between individual trees.

Firebreak: Areas or strips of less flammable fuels that are either natural (such as standing timber or landslides) or are made in advance (such as cat trails or roads), as precautionary measures, separating areas of greater fire hazard.

Fisheries sensitive zones: Aquatic environments important for the life history of fish, including areas which may not be defined as streams. May include: side and flood channels, swamps, seasonally flooded depressions, lake spawning areas or estuaries.

Forest: A plant community predominantly of trees and other woody vegetation, growing more or less closely together.

Forest inventory: A survey of a forest area to determine such data as area condition, timber volume and species, for specific purposes such as planning, purchases, evaluation, management or harvesting.

Forest land: Land primarily intended for growing, or currently supporting, forest. Includes land not now forested, i.e. clear-cut lands; northern lands that are forested but not intended for any use; and plantations.

Forest management cycle: The phases that occur in the management of a forest, including harvesting, site preparation, reforestation, and stand tending.

Forest management plan: A general plan for the management of a forest area, usually for a full rotation cycle, including the objectives, prescribed management activities and standards to be employed to achieve specified goals. Commonly supported with more detailed development plans.

Forest types:

Hardwood: A forest type in which 0-25 percent in terms of Crown closure, number of trees, basal area or volume, in relation to a pre-established norm, is coniferous.

Mixedwood: A forest type in which 26-75 percent, in terms of Crown closure, number of trees, basal area or volume, in relation to a pre-established norm, is coniferous.

Softwood: A forest type in which 76-100 percent, in terms of Crown closure, number of trees, basal area or volume, in relation to a pre-established norm, is coniferous.

Forestry: The science dealing with forests and its relationship with ecosystems.

Gypsy moths: (Lymantria dispar) A moth, native to Europe, that was introduced into North America and is now considered a major danger to leafy plants. The larvae of the gypsy moth feed on the leaves of trees, defoliating them. Several successive attacks are enough to weaken the trees, making them vulnerable to drought or disease, or to other insect attack.

Habitat management: Management of the forest to create environments which provide habitats (food, shelter) to meet the needs of particular species of wildlife, birds, etc.

Harvest cut: The felling of the mature crop of trees, either as a single clear-cutting or a series of regeneration cuttings.

Harvesting: The cutting and removal of trees from a forested area.

Immature: In even-aged management, those trees or stands that have grown past the regeneration stage, but are not sufficiently developed to be harvestable (except for thinning operations).

Integrated forest companies: Forest companies that both produce logs and manufacture them into lumber, pulp and other wood products.

Integrated resource management: The management of two or more resources in the same general area; commonly includes water, soil, timber, range, fish, wildlife and recreation.

Intensive silviculture: Term that refers to the treatments carried out to maintain or increase the yield and value of forest stands. Includes treatments such as site rehabilitation, conifer release, spacing, pruning and fertilization. Also known as incremental silviculture. Compare with basic silviculture.

Land reclamation: Bringing the land, damaged from natural or human causes, back into use for growing trees or agricultural crops.

Managed forest land: Forest land that is being managed under a forest management plan.

Mature: Stands or forest types at or near rotation age. Growth has culminated.

Natural regeneration: The renewal of a tree crop by natural (as compared to human) means, i.e., seed on-site, from adjacent stands or brought in by wind, birds, animals.

Overmature: Stands or forest types past rotation age. Openings in canopy as a result of mortality becoming apparent.

Provincial forest inventory: A description of the quantity and quality of forest trees, non-wood values and many of the characteristics of the land base, compiled from statistical data for the forest lands of the province.

Pruning: The manual removal of the lower branches of crop trees to a predetermined height to produce clear, knot-free wood.

Reforestation: The natural or artificial restocking (i.e., planting, seeding) of an area with forest trees. Also called forest regeneration.

Regeneration: The renewal of a forest crop by natural or artificial means. Also the new crop so obtained. The new crop is generally less than one metre in height.

Regeneration delay: The maximum time allowed for initial restocking of a denuded area (from harvesting, fire, etc.) with the minimum number of acceptable trees. The delay is measured in growing seasons from time of denudation.

Scaling: The measuring of lengths and diameters of logs and calculating of deductions for defecs to determine volume.

Silviculture: The art and science of growing and tending a forest.

Silviculture survey: A sampling procedure to determine silvicultural conditions such as planting survival, free-growing status, stocking, etc., leading to management decisions.

Soil stabilization: Techniques used to protect soil areas at risk from erosion, flooding or wind, i.e., planting grass or other vegetation on bare hillsides or sandy deserts. Such plants are also known as "soil binders."

Spruce budworm: An insect that damages spruces and firs. Eggs of the spruce budworm are laid on tree branches by the adult moth. Young budworms primarily feed on the new growth of the tree branch, but also eat older needles. Defoliation results, killing the tree.

Stand: A community of trees sufficiently uniform in species, age, arrangement or condition to be distinguishable as a group from the forest or other growth on the area.

Stand tending: Maintenance operations on groupings of forest trees. Includes weeding, thinning, improvement cuttings of trees and the removal of undesired competing vegetation.

Stumpage: The price that must be paid to the provincial government for timber harvested from Crown land.

Stumpage appraisal: The process by which the stumpage to be charged from harvesting on any given area is estimated.

Stumpage fee: The fee paid by companies or individuals for the right to harvest timber on Crown land.

Temperate forest: One of three main forest types in the world, mainly composed of deciduous trees. The other two types are the equatorial evergreen forest and the northern coniferous forest.

Thinning: The process of removing excess and poorer quality trees from a stand for the purpose of improving the growth and value of the remaining crop trees.

Uneven-aged: Of a forest, stand or forest type in which intermingling trees differ markedly in age. The minimum difference in age permitted in an uneven-aged stand is usually 10-20 years.

Advisory and Assistance Programs

Government Offices

Help is available from a number of federal departments. Federal services available at the time of writing are summarized below.

The Lands and Trust Services Sector of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development can provide information and assistance regarding timber permits and licences. Office addresses and telephone numbers are listed in Appendix B. In addition, communities can use the Department's Post-Secondary Education Program to train community members for forestry occupations. The Department also assists communities with financing for negotiations to gain access to off-reserve resources such as forestry service contracts and logging permits through the Resource Access Negotiations Program.

The Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada can assist with technical advice and other assistance related to forest management. A complete list of regional forestry offices of the Canadian Forest Service is provided in Appendix C.

Industry Canada is available to assist with the development and operation of forestry-related businesses. Human Resources Development Canada can provide financial assistance for training. In addition to federal programs, most provincial and territorial governments can provide assistance through natural resource departments. Ask both federal and provincial/territorial ministries for publications describing their programs for training, development and business assistance. In addition, there are universities, community colleges and other training institutions. As well, many provinces have organizations which deal specifically with Aboriginal affairs.

Non-government Institutions

National Aboriginal Forestry Association (NAFA)
875 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON K1S 3W4
(613) 233-5563

Aboriginal Training Institutes

Arctic College, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
National Indian Forest Institute, Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan
Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, Merritt, British Columbia
Sault College of Applied Arts and Technology, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario
Western College of Applied Arts, Technology and Continuing Education, Stephenville, Newfoundland
Yukon College, Whitehorse, Yukon

Offices of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development

Provincial and Territorial Forestry Departments

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