Notwithstanding Section 4521, unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions govern construction of this article:
(a) “Long-term sustained yield” means the average annual growth sustainable by the inventory predicted at the end of a 100-year planning horizon, or a shorter planning horizon if the forest encompassed by the working forest management plan has reached a balance between growth and yield.
(b) “Major stand type” means a stand that occupies an area equal to or greater than 25 percent of a working forest management plan.
(c) “Management unit” means a geographically identifiable area delineated for silviculture or management purposes. A management unit is intended to reflect an area scheduled for harvest under the plan in any given year, but may also be designated to address specific resource sensitivities.
(d) “Stand” means a geographically identifiable group of trees sufficiently uniform in age-class distribution, composition, and structure and growing on a site of sufficiently uniform quality to be a distinguishable unit.
(e) “Strata” means a grouping of similar stands defined for silvicultural or management purposes, usually according to similarities in stand composition, structure, and age.
(f) “Sustained yield” means the yield of commercial wood that an area of commercial timberland can produce continuously at a given intensity of management consistent with required environmental protection and that is professionally planned to achieve over time a balance between growth and removal. Sustained yield management implies continuous production planned so as to achieve, at the earliest practical time, a balance between growth and harvest.
(g) “Uneven aged management” means forest management with the goal of establishing a well-stocked stand of various age classes, which permits the periodic harvest of individual or small groups of trees to achieve sustained yield objectives of the working forest management plan, and provide for regeneration of trees and maintenance of age class structure.
(h) “Working forest harvest notice” means notice of timber harvest operations, pursuant to an approved working forest management plan, which meets the requirements of Section 4597.11.
(i) “Working forest landowner” means an owner of timberland with less than 10,000 acres who has an approved working forest management plan and is not primarily engaged in the manufacture of forest products.
(j) “Working forest management plan” means a management plan for working forest timberlands, with objectives of maintaining, restoring, or creating uneven aged managed timber stand conditions, achieving sustained yield, and promoting forestland stewardship that protects watersheds, fisheries and wildlife habitats, and other important values. A working forest management plan may include multiple working forest landowners, but shall cover no more than 10,000 acres of timberland. The harvest area, as defined in Section 895.1 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, of a working forest management plan must be contained within a single hydrologic area as defined by State Water Resources Control Board’s CalWater 2.2.
(k) “Working forest timberlands” means timberland owned by a working forest landowner.
(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 626, Sec. 19. (SB 901) Effective January 1, 2019.)