36 C.F.R. § 294.41

Current through October 31, 2024

Section 294.41 - Definitions

The following terms and definitions apply to this subpart.

At-Risk Community: As defined under section 101 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA).

Catchment: A watershed delineation beginning at the downstream point of occupation of native cutthroat trout and encompassing the upstream boundary of waters draining in the stream system.

Colorado Roadless Areas: Areas designated pursuant to this subpart and identified in a set of maps maintained at the national headquarters office of the Forest Service. Colorado Roadless Areas established by this subpart shall constitute the exclusive set of National Forest System lands within the State of Colorado to which the provisions 36 CFR 220.5(a)(2) shall apply.

Colorado Roadless Areas Upper Tier Acres: A subset of Colorado Roadless Areas identified in a set of maps maintained at the national headquarters office of the Forest Service which have limited exceptions to provide a high-level of protection for these areas.

Community Protection Zone: An area extending one-half mile from the boundary of an at-risk community; or an area within one and a half miles from the boundary of an at-risk community, where any land:

(1) Has a sustained steep slope that creates the potential for wildfire behavior endangering the at-risk community;

(2) Has a geographic feature that aids in creating an effective fire break, such as a road or a ridge top; or

(3) Is in condition class 3 as defined by HFRA.

Community Wildfire Protection Plan: As defined under section 101 of the HFRA, and used in this subpart, the term "community wildfire protection plan" means a plan for an at-risk community that:

(1) Is developed within the context of the collaborative agreements and the guidance established by the Wildland Fire Leadership Council and agreed to by the applicable local government, local fire department, and State agency responsible for forest management, in consultation with interested parties and the Federal land management agencies managing land in the vicinity of the at-risk community;

(2) Identifies and prioritizes areas for hazardous fuel reduction treatments and recommends the types and methods of treatment on Federal and non-Federal land that will protect one or more at-risk communities and essential infrastructure; and

(3) Recommends measures to reduce structural ignitability throughout the at-risk community.

Condition Class 3: As defined under section 101 of the HFRA the term "condition class 3" means an area of Federal land, under which:

(1) Fire regimes on land have been significantly altered from historical ranges;

(2) There exists a high risk of losing key ecosystem components from fire;

(3) Fire frequencies have departed from historical frequencies by multiple return intervals, resulting in dramatic changes to:

(i) The size, frequency, intensity, or severity of fires; or

(ii) Landscape patterns; and

(4) Vegetation attributes have been significantly altered from the historical range of the attributes.

Fire Hazard: A fuel complex defined by volume, type, condition, arrangement and location that determines the ease of ignition and the resistance to control; expresses the potential fire behavior for a fuel type, regardless of the fuel type's weather influenced fuel moisture condition.

Fire Occurrence: One fire event occurring in a specific place within a specific period of time; a general term describing past or current wildland fire events.

Fire Risk: The probability or chance that a fire might start, as affected by the presence and activities of causative agents.

Forest Road: As defined at 36 CFR 212.1 , the term means a road wholly or partly within or adjacent to and serving the National Forest System that the Forest Service determines is necessary for the protection, administration, and utilization of the National Forest System and the use and development of its resources.

Hazardous Fuels: Excessive live or dead wildland fuel accumulations that increase the potential for intense wildland fire and decrease the capability to protect life, property and natural resources.

Linear Construction Zone: A temporary linear area of surface disturbance over 50-inches wide that is used for construction equipment to install or maintain a linear facility. The sole purpose of the linear disturbance is to accommodate equipment needed to construct and transport supplies and personnel needed to install or maintain the linear facility. It is not a road, not used as a motor vehicle route, not open for public use, and is not engineered to road specifications.

Linear Facility: Linear facilities include pipelines, electrical power lines, telecommunications lines, ditches, canals, and dams.

Municipal Water Supply System: As defined under Section 101 of the HFRA, and used in this subpart, the term means the reservoirs, canals, ditches, flumes, laterals, pipes, pipelines, and other surface facilities and systems constructed or installed for the collection, impoundment, storage, transportation, or distribution of drinking water.

Native Cutthroat Trout: Collectively, all the native subspecies of cutthroat trout historically occurring in Colorado before European settlement which includes yellowfin, Rio Grande, Greenback, and Colorado River Trout.

Permanent Road: Roads that are either a forest road; private road (a road under private ownership authorized by an easement granted to a private party or a road that provides access pursuant to a reserved or outstanding right); or public road (a road under the jurisdiction of and maintained by a public road authority and open to public travel).

Pre-Existing Water Court Decree: An adjudicated conditional or absolute decree issued by a Colorado Court, the initial application for which was filed prior to July 3, 2012, adjudicating as the point of a diversion or the place of use a location within a Colorado Roadless Area. A pre-existing water court decree does not include decrees for water rights with a point of diversion and place of use outside of a Colorado Roadless Area, the holder of which proposes to change the point of diversion or place of use to within a Colorado Roadless Area, except for a change in location of a head gate and associated ditch pursuant to Colorado Revised Statute 2011 § 37-86-111.

Responsible Official: The Forest Service line officer with the authority and responsibility to make decisions about protection and management of Colorado Roadless Areas pursuant to this subpart.

Road: As defined at 36 CFR 212.1 , the term means a motor vehicle route over 50 inches wide, unless identified and managed as a trail.

Roadless Area Characteristics: Resources or features that are often present in and characterize Colorado Roadless Areas, including:

(1) High quality or undisturbed soil, water, and air;

(2) Sources of public drinking water;

(3) Diversity of plant and animal communities;

(4) Habitat for threatened, endangered, proposed, candidate, and sensitive species, and for those species dependent on large, undisturbed areas of land;

(5) Primitive, semi-primitive non-motorized and semi-primitive motorized classes of dispersed recreation;

(6) Reference landscapes;

(7) Natural-appearing landscapes with high scenic quality;

(8) Traditional cultural properties and sacred sites; and

(9) Other locally identified unique characteristics.

Temporary Road: As defined at 36 CFR 212.1 , the term means a road necessary for emergency operations or authorized by contract, permit, lease, or other written authorization that is not a forest road and that is not included in a forest transportation atlas.

Water Conveyance Structures: Facilities associated with the transmission, storage, impoundment, and diversion of water on and across National Forest System lands. Water conveyance structures include, but are not limited to: Reservoirs and dams, diversion structures, headgates, pipelines, ditches, canals, and tunnels.

Water Influence Zone: The land next to water bodies where vegetation plays a major role in sustaining long-term integrity of aquatic systems. It includes the geomorphic floodplain (valley bottom), riparian ecosystem, and inner gorge. Its minimum horizontal width (from top of each bank) is 100 feet or the mean height of mature dominant late-seral vegetation, whichever is greater.

Watershed Conservation Practice: The watershed conservation practices are stewardship actions based upon scientific principles and legal requirements to protect soil, aquatic and riparian resources. Each watershed conservation practice consists of a management measure, a set of design criteria used to achieve the management measure, and guidance for monitoring and restoration. For specific information, refer to Forest Service Manual 2509.25.

36 C.F.R. §294.41