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Alaska Statutes.

Title 41. Public Resources

Chapter 17. Forest Resources and Practices

Section 950. Definitions.

previous: Section 910. Wildlife Habitat On Private Land.
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AS 41.17.950. Definitions.

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires,

(1) "anadromous water body" means the portion of a fresh water body or estuarine area that

(A) is cataloged under AS 41.14.870 as important for anadromous fish; or

(B) is not cataloged under AS 41.14.870 as important for anadromous fish but has been determined by the deputy commissioner to contain or exhibit evidence of anadromous fish in which event the anadromous portion of the stream or waterway extends up to the first point of physical blockage;

(2) "backwater slough" means a water body that

(A) has sluggish flow, is warm in summer, and is typically only connected to the main stem or a side channel at one end of the water body;

(B) carries river current only under high water conditions; and

(C) may have only a seasonal connection to the main stem or side channel;

(3) "board" means the Board of Forestry established in AS 41.17.041 ;

(4) "broadcast chemicals" includes pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers, poisons, and any other substances

(A) used for silvicultural management or related purposes;

(B) not native to the ecosystem in which they are being applied; and

(C) having a foreseeable adverse impact on the welfare of renewable resources, as determined by the commissioner of environmental conservation;

(5) "deputy commissioner" means the deputy commissioner of natural resources appointed under AS 44.37.055 ;

(6) "division" means the division of forestry;

(7) "forest land" means land stocked or having been stocked with forest trees of any size and not currently developed for nonforest use, regardless of whether presently available or accessible for commercial purposes, and includes any such land under state, municipal, or private ownership;

(8) "forest landowner" means a person who owns forest land, but does not include the owner of mineral or subsurface rights only;

(9) "glacial," with respect to a water body, as used in the phrases "glacial high value resident fish water body" and "glacial anadromous water body," means that, under normal conditions, a water body receives significant surface flow from a glacier; "glacial," with respect to a water body, includes a water body that receives a mix of glacial water and water from other sources;

(10) "high value resident fish" means resident fish populations that are used for recreational, personal use, commercial, or subsistence purposes;

(11) "multiple use" means

(A) the management of all the various resources of forest land so that they are used in the combination that will best meet the needs of the citizens of the state, making the most judicious use of the land for some or all of these resources or related values, benefits, and services over areas large enough to provide sufficient latitude for periodic adjustments in use to conform to changing needs and conditions;

(B) that some land will be used for less than all of the resources; and

(C) harmonious and coordinated management of the various resources, each with the other, without significant impairment of the productivity of the land and water, with consideration being given to the relative values of the various resources, and not necessarily the combination of uses that will give the greatest dollar return or the greatest unit output;

(12) "nonglacial," with respect to a water body, as used in the phrases "nonglacial high value resident fish water body" and "nonglacial anadromous water body," means that, under normal conditions, a water body does not receive significant surface flow from a glacier;

(13) "operations" means timber harvesting or activates associated with timber harvesting or forest development unless exempted under AS 41.17.900(a) - (c);

(14) "operator" means a person who is engaged in timber harvesting or activities associated with timber harvesting or forest development, or who contracts with others to conduct operations for that person, except a person who is engaged in an operation as an employee with wages or piecework as the sole compensation;

(15) "ordinary high water mark" means the mark along the bank or shore up to which the presence and action of the tidal or nontidal water are so common and usual, and so long continued in all ordinary years, as to leave a natural line impressed on the bank or shore and indicated by erosion, shelving, changes in soil characteristics, destruction of terrestrial vegetation, or other distinctive physical characteristics;

(16) "other public land" means state land managed by state agencies other than the department, land owned by a municipality, and land owned by the University of Alaska;

(17) "outer bend subject to erosion" means, in Region II, a stream bend that has a cutbank and is opposite a point bar on the inner bend;

(18) "person" has the meaning given in AS 01.10.060 and also includes a joint venture;

(19) "point bar" means, in Region II, a ridge or low mound of sediment, often sand or gravel, that has been deposited on the inside of a curve in a stream, where the water velocity is lower;

(20) "Region I" means all land in Southeast Alaska, plus all land that is south of the crest of the Chugach Mountains and Saint Elias Mountains and east of a line running from the crest of the Chugach Mountains to O'Malley Peak, then southerly to Gull Rock, then southwesterly to the eastern junction of Skilak Lake Road and the Sterling Highway, then southwesterly to the mouth of the Fox River, then southwesterly through Kachemak Bay to Mt. Douglas, plus all land on the Alaska Peninsula between Mt. Douglas and Cape Kumliun that is east of the crest of the Aleutian Range, plus all islands in the Gulf of Alaska north of 56 degrees 23 minutes North latitude;

(21) "Region II" means all land in the state south of the Nutzotin Mountains and Mentasta Mountains, south of the Alaska Range, and east of the Aleutian Range, except for the area within Region I and peninsular and island land south of Cape Kumliun;

(22) "Region III" means all land in the state outside of Regions I and II;

(23) "riparian area" means

(A) the areas subject to riparian protection standards in AS 41.17.116(a) and (c) on private land in Regions I and III;

(B) the area 150 feet from the shore or bank of a Type II-A or II-B water body, and 100 feet from the shore or bank of a Type II-C or II-D water body in Region II;

(C) the area 100 feet from the shore or bank of an anadromous or high value resident fish water body on state land managed by the department and on other public land in Regions I and III;

(24) "significant impairment of the productivity of the land and water" means an activity that may foreseeably result in prolonged or substantial damage to renewable resources or prolonged or substantial reduction of the continuing capability of the land or water to produce renewable resources at their natural or historic levels;

(25) "silviculture" means the art of producing and tending a forest, the application of the knowledge of silvics in the treatment of a forest, and the theory and practice of controlling and managing forest establishment, composition, and growth;

(26) "state forest" means an area designated by the legislature and retained in state ownership in order to

(A) provide a base for sustained yield management of renewable resources; and

(B) permit a variety of beneficial uses;

(27) "sustained yield" means the achievement and maintenance in perpetuity of a high level annual or regular periodic output of the various renewable resources of forest land and water without significant impairment of the productivity of the land and water, but does not require that timber be harvested in a non-declining yield basis over a rotation period;

(28) "terrace" means, in Region II, a change in elevation greater than 10 feet for a Type II-A water body or greater than 20 feet for a Type II-B water body, and that has a slope greater than 30 percent;

(29) "terrace top break" means, in Region II, the point at which the terrace slope changes to the lower angle slope of the adjacent upland; for purposes of measurement, the terrace top break is where the degree of slope is reduced by 20 percent or more when measured away from the stream;

(30) "timber owner" means a person who owns timber on forest land or who has the rights to timber, but does not own the land itself;

(31) "Type I-A water body" means, in Region I, an anadromous water body that

(A) is a stream or river of any size having an average gradient of eight percent or less, with banks held in place by vegetation, channels that are not incised, and a substrate composed of rubble, gravel, sand, or silt;

(B) consists of wetlands and lakes, including their outlets; and

(C) is an estuarine area delimited by the presence of salt-tolerant vegetation;

(32) "Type I-B water body" means, in Region I, an anadromous water body that does not meet the definition of a Type I-A water body;

(33) "Type I-C water body" means, in Region I, a water body that is not anadromous, that is a tributary to a Type I-A or Type I-B water body, and that has a gradient of 12 percent or less;

(34) "Type I-D water body" means, in Region I, a water body that is not anadromous, that is tributary to a Type I-A or Type I-B water body, and that has a gradient greater than 12 percent.

(35) "Type II-A water body" means, in Region II,

(A) a nonglacial stream greater than 50 feet wide that has anadromous or high value resident fish and that has an unconfined and dynamic channel; and

(B) a water body that typically has point bars, islands, scour planes, active or recent side channels, and areas of obvious bank erosion;

(36) "Type II-B water body" means, in Region II, a glacial stream that has anadromous or high value resident fish and that is not a glacial Type II-C water body;

(37) "Type II-C water body" means, in Region II, a water body that has anadromous or high value resident fish that

(A) is a nonglacial water body greater than three feet wide and less than or equal to 50 feet wide at ordinary high water mark that has an unconfined and dynamic channel;

(B) is a nonglacial water body greater than three feet wide at ordinary high water mark that has a confined channel;

(C) is a reach of the Kenai River, Kasilof River, or Lake Fork Crescent River greater than three feet wide at ordinary high water mark; or

(D) is a lake or pond;

(38) "Type II-D water body" means, in Region II, a nonglacial stream or a reach of the Kenai River, Kasilof River, or Lake Fork Crescent River that is less than or equal to three feet wide at ordinary high water mark that has anadromous or high value resident fish;

(39) "Type III-A water body" means, in Region III, a

(A) nonglacial high value resident fish water body greater than three feet in width at the ordinary high water mark;

(B) nonglacial anadromous water body; or

(C) backwater slough;

(40) "Type III-B water body" means, in Region III, a glacial high value resident fish water body or a glacial anadromous water body; "Type III-B water body" does not include a glacial backwater slough;

(41) "Type III-C water body" means, in Region III, a nonglacial high value resident fish water body that is less than or equal to three feet in width at the ordinary high water mark and that does not contain anadromous fish.