Title 11 . Natural Resources

Chapter 95 . (No Regulations Filed)

Section 900. Definitions

11 AAC 95.900. Definitions

In this chapter, unless the context specifically states otherwise:

(1) "active road" means a forest road being actively used for hauling logs, pulpwood, chips, or other major forest products, or rock and other road building materials;

(2) "agency" means the Department of Fish and Game, Department of Environmental Conservation, the deputy commissioner, or the division of forestry within the Department of Natural Resources;

(3) "agencies" means the Department of Fish and Game, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the deputy commissioner, and the division of forestry within the Department of Natural Resources;

(4) "angle of repose" means the angle at which a cut or fill slope will stand naturally;

(5) "appropriate" means warranted in light of potential effects on public resources;

(6) "approved device" includes conventional and portable stoves, fireplaces, and incinerators with adequate safeguards to prevent escapement of fire;

(7) "bedrock" means solid rock or accumulation of material more than three feet in diameter that predominate within a streambed or streambank;

(8) "burning" includes setting fires and excludes smoking;

(9) "coastal district" means the coastal resource district defined in AS 46.40.210 ;

(10) "commercial operation" means

(A) in Region I or II, an operation or harvest with an annual production in excess of 10,000 board feet of wood products for sale; and

(B) in Region III, an operation or harvest with an annual production in excess of 30,000 board feet of wood products for sale;

(11) "commercial timber harvest" means

(A) in Region I or II, an operation or harvest with an annual production in excess of 10,000 board feet of wood products for sale; and

(B) in Region III, an operation or harvest with an annual production in excess of 30,000 board feet of wood products for sale;

(12) "commercial tree species" means any species that is capable of producing a merchantable stand of timber on a particular site or is being grown as part of a Christmas tree or ornamental tree-growing operation;

(13) "commissioner" means the commissioner of natural resources or the commissioner's authorized designee;

(14) "conversion" means a bona fide land use conversion to a use that is incompatible with timber growing;

(15) "cribbing" means brush, small poles, or small diameter logs used to increase the structural integrity of a snow ramp or ice bridge;

(16) "cross drain" means a cross ditch used to move water from one side of a road to the other to prevent accumulation of runoff without the need of a culvert or bridge;

(17) "crowned" means the running surface of a road is made higher in the center to direct runoff away from the centerline and into roadside ditches;

(18) "DBH" means the diameter of a tree at breast height (commonly four and one-half feet);

(19) "debris" means woody vegetative residue less than four inches in diameter and less than three feet in length resulting from a forest practice operation;

(20) "degradation of water quality" means a decrease in water quality such that the affected waters are unable to fully maintain existing or designated uses; "degradation of water quality" does not include changes that are temporary, localized, and reparable decreases in water quality; in this paragraph

(A) "reparable" means an effect on, or change to, a use or aquatic system due to a decrease in water quality that is reversible by natural processes such that the use or system will return to a state functionally identical to the original;

(B) "temporary" means 48 hours or less with respect to existing uses;

(21) "department" means the Department of Natural Resources;

(22) "designated uses" means those protected water uses specified in 18 AAC 70.020 for each water body or segment of a water body;

(23) "division" means the division of forestry in the department;

(24) "end hauling" means the removal and transportation of excavated material, pit or quarry overburden, or landing or road cut material from an excavation site to a deposit site not adjacent to the point of removal;

(25) "erodible soils" means soils exposed or displaced by a forest practice operation and soils that would be readily moved by the erodible force of moving water;

(26) "estuarine area" means that area at the mouth of a Type I-A stream where fresh and salt water mix; the landward extent of an estuary is the limit of salt-tolerant vegetation, and the seaward extent is a stream's delta at mean lower low water;

(27) "existing uses" means those uses actually attained in a water body on or after November 28, 1975;

(28) "fatally damaged tree" means a tree that is damaged to the extent that it is unlikely to survive; breakage of limbs or tips, bark scrapes, or notching of a tree for tail holds does not constitute fatal damage as long as the tree is likely to survive;

(29) "feasible" means capable of being accomplished in a successful manner within a reasonable period of time, taking into account economic, environmental, technical, and safety factors;

(30) "first entry" means the initial period of entry during a rotation or cutting cycle;

(31) "fish-bearing waters" means waters containing anadromous or high-value resident fish at any time during the year;

(32) "forested land" means the same as in AS 41.15.170 (3);

(33) "forest practices forester" means the field person assigned by the state forester to implement AS 41.17;

(34) "full suspension" means lifting the load completely clear of the ground, including obstacles;

(35) "gravel" means streambed and streambank material ranging in size from 0.16 inches to 2.5 inches in diameter;

(36) "half holiday" means an agency office is closed a portion of a day for circumstances beyond the control of the agency;

(37) "inactive road" means a forest road on which commercial hauling is discontinued for one or more logging seasons, and the forest landowner desires continuation of access for fire control, forest management activities, occasional or incidental use for forest products harvesting, or similar activities;

(38) "incised channel" means a channel having banks that, when viewing a vertical cross section through the water body, are sharply angular or perpendicular to water flow, are capable of containing the flow of the stream at annual high water, and in which the top of the embankment is at least six feet above the water surface during normal flow;

(39) "infestation" means attack and invasion by macroscopic organisms in considerable concentration;

(40) "lake or pond" means, in Regions I, II, and III, a confirmed fresh water body with perennial water; defined shorelines, and an identifiable inlet and outlet, except that in Region III, "lake or pond" also means a confined fresh water body with perennial standing water and defined shorelines, and without an identifiable inlet or outlet, if the water body contains a population of anadromous or high value resident fish;

(41) "landing" means the location where logs are deposited by yarding or skidding equipment, including helicopters;

(42) "load-bearing portion" means that part of a road, landing, or other surface that consists of supportive soil, earth, rock, or other material directly below the working surface and the associated earth structure necessary for support of a part of a road;

(43) "marsh" means a frequently or continually inundated area of saturated soils characterized by emergent reeds, grasses, and sedges;

(44) "mass wasting" means the slow to rapid downslope movement of significant masses of earth material of varying water content, primarily under the force of gravity;

(45) "material" means the same as in 11 AAC 71.910;

(46) "material extraction site" means an excavation site outside the limits of construction where material necessary for that construction, such as fill material, are extracted;

(47) "mean higher high water mark" means, for estuaries, an elevation below which the presence of marine water is so common and of sufficient duration as to prevent establishment of forest floor mosses and other salt-intolerant vegetation;

(48) "mineral soil" means a soil containing insufficient organic material to sustain fire;

(49) "minimize" means to limit to the extent feasible, and does not include the requirement of improving naturally existing conditions;

(50) "non-forested muskeg" means an expanse of saturated, poorly drained soil, including a swamp or bog, that is characterized by accumulation of peat or partially decayed plant matter; has no significant inflows or outflows, supports acidophilic mosses, and is not stocked with trees;

(51) "normal channel flow conditions" means that a stream's discharge is approximating mean flow as determined by a non-quantitative field assessment; this condition would usually occur no earlier than 2 days after a significant rain event; this condition would not occur during active snow melt, a distinct drought period, freeze up, or any other extraordinary conditions;

(52) "operation" means the same as in AS 41.17.950 ; except that in 11 AAC 95.340 - 11 AAC 95.390, "operation" also includes land clearing activities on forest land;

(53) "ordinary high water mark" or "OHWM" 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;

(54) "organic mat" means the dead and living layer of plant material that has accumulated over time on the surface of the mineral soil;

(55) "outsloping" means to shape the running surface of a road in a manner that carries runoff to the downslope side of the road; "outsloping" is used for roads without roadside ditches;

(56) "partial cut" means tree removal other than a clear cutting, such as removing only part of a stand;

(57) "permanent road or crossing structure" means

(A) in Region I or II, a road or structure that will be left in place for at least 20 years from the date of its original construction; and

(B) in Region III, a road or structure that will be left in place for more than five years from the date of its original construction;

(58) "physical blockage" means a natural feature or an authorized artificial structure that prevents upstream migration of fish, including a presumed physical blockage under 11 AAC 95.265(g) (4);

(59) "presence or evidence of anadromous fish" means the documented occurrence of live anadromous fish, eggs, or their remains;

(60) "project" means

(A) for private land, a detailed plan of operation as described under 11 AAC 95.220;

(B) for public land, an activity or use as defined under 6 AAC 50.190(14) ; and

(C) an activity subject to federal consistency review under 33 U.S.C. 1329 (Clean Water Act, sec. 319), as amended February 4, 1987;

(61) "puncheon" means a slab of timber used for flooring or footing, or woody material used as a mat in overlay road construction;

(62) "reforest" means the successful reestablishment of commercial tree species following harvest;

(63) "rehabilitate" means to control and stabilize erodible material to the extent feasible, through construction of a control structure, revegetation, or another method;

(64) "relief culvert" means a structure to relieve surface runoff from roadside ditches to prevent excessive buildup in water volume and velocity;

(65) "residual trees" means commercial tree species left standing in a harvest unit or other specified area after completion of harvest or; for purposes of 11 AAC 95.375, immediately before beginning reforestation activities in that unit or area;

(66) "rubble" means streamed or streambank material ranging in size from 2.5 inches to 3 feet in diameter;

(67) "road reconstruction" means the process of making an inactive or closed road usable, including reinstalling drainage structures, removing vegetation, and resurfacing;

(68) "sand" means streambed or streambank material with diameter of 0.1 mm to 0.4 mm;

(69) "sapling" means a live tree 1.0 inch to 5.0 inches in DBH;

(70) "saturated soil" means soil that has all of its voids completely filled with water; to the point where the addition of any further water will result in a rising surface water table;

(71) "seedling" means a live tree less than 1.0 inches in DBH, or under 10 feet tall;

(72) "sidecasting" means the act of moving excavated material to the side and depositing that material within the limits of construction or dumping it over the side and outside the limits of construction;

(73) "silt" means streambed or streambank material with a diameter of less than 0.1 mm;

(74) "skid trail" means a route used by tracked or wheeled skidders to move logs to a landing or road;

(75) "slash" means pieces of woody vegetative residue greater than five inches in diameter or longer than three feet in length resulting from a forest practice operation;

(76) "spoil" means excess material removed as overburden or generated during road or landing construction that is not used within the limits of construction;

(77) "spring" means a place where subterranean water naturally flows from a rock or soil upon the land or into a body of surface water;

(78) "standing water" means a water body, one half acre or larger; that has defined banks but no surface outlet;

(79) "state forester" means the same as in AS 41.17.020 and, for the purposes of administering this chapter, includes division employees to whom the state forester has delegated responsibility for carrying out AS 41.17 and this chapter;

(80) "stream" means a perennial flow of water along a defined channel, or an intermittent flow of water along a defined channel that is significant for protection of downstream water quality;

(81) "substantial factor" means a proximate or direct cause among two or more causes operating to bring about or give rise to an injury and that is a cause which reasonable persons would regard as a basis for responsibility for that injury;

(82) "surface waters" means fresh water springs, lakes, or ponds, or a freshwater stream the designated uses of which are protected under 18 AAC 70, regardless if those waters are classified under AS 41.17.950 (27) - (33);

(83) "temporary road or crossing structure" means

(A) in Region I or II, a road or structure that will be left in place for a period of less than three years from the date of initial placement; and

(B) in Region III, a road or structure that will be left in place for five years or less from the date of its original construction;

(84) "timber" means merchantable trees, standing or down, of a commercial tree species;

(85) "vegetative reproduction" means coppice, suckering, or sprouting from the roots or stump sprouts or from buds around the root collar;

(86) "vigorous" means live, free of disease or gross defects, exhibiting terminal or annual growth, capable of continued growth, and appears able to survive until the end of rotation; a conifer must contain a minimum of one third live crown;

(87) "water bar" means a diversion ditch or hump created in a trail or road for the purpose of carrying surface water runoff into the vegetation duff, ditch, or other dispersion area so that it does not gain the volume and velocity that cause soil movement and erosion;

(88) "well distributed" means that average stocking levels meet or exceed the minimum standards with no more than 10 percent of the harvest unit excluding roads, landings, and material sites, below minimum standards;

(89) "windthrown" means a natural process by which trees are uprooted or sustain severe damage by the wind;

(90) "winter road" means a road that can normally support regular logging vehicle traffic only during winter months that has a load bearing capacity derived from a combination of frost, snow, or ice;

(91) "fall" means a free fall or precipitous descent of water, or a fast white water cascade;

(92) "low value" has the meaning given in AS 41.17.116 (c)(1);

(93) "prudent" has the meaning given in AS 41.17.116 (c)(2);

(94) "deputy commissioner" means the deputy commissioner of natural resources appointed under AS 44.37.055 for purposes of AS 44.37.060;

(95) "Region I," "Region II," and "Region III" have the meanings given in AS 41.17.950 .

History: Eff. 2/15/81, Register 77; am 11/21/82, Register 84; am 6/10/93, Register 126; am 11/20/99, Register 152; am 6/24/2004, Register 170

Authority: AS 41.15.050

AS 41.15.055

AS 41.15.060

AS 41.15.090

AS 41.17.010

AS 41.17.055

AS 41.17.060

AS 41.17.080

AS 41.17.090

AS 41.17.900

Editor's note: Activities subject to federal consistency review under 33 U.S.C. 1329, as mentioned in 11 AAC 95.900(60) , are described in a publication entitled, Alaska Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Strategy , available from the Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Section, 410 Willoughby Avenue, Juneau, Alaska 99801-1795.

As of Register 166 (July 2003), and acting under AS 44.62.125 (b)(6), the regulations attorney made technical changes to the definitions of "agency," "agencies," and "forest practices forester" in 11 AAC 95.900, and added a new paragraph defining "deputy commissioner", to reflect executive Order 107 (2003). Executive Order 107 transferred functions related to protection of fish habitat in rivers, lakes, and streams from the Department of Fish and Game to the Department of Natural Resources.