Okla. Stat. tit. 2 § 16-2

Current through Laws 2024, c. 453.

Section 16-2 - Definitions

As used in the Oklahoma Forestry Code:

1. "Control line" means a constructed or natural barrier and treated fire edge used to control a fire;

2. "Director" means the Director of Forestry of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry;

3. "Division" means the Forestry Division of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry;

4. "Established property line" means any boundary line which has been:

a. recognized by adjoining land owners as a boundary and uncontested for at least fifteen (15) years including, but not limited to, fence lines, roads, and natural features,

b. established by a registered land surveyor, or

c. uncontested for at least fifteen (15) years;

5. "Fire line" means the actively burning or burned perimeter of an uncontrolled wildfire of any size that necessitates the use of direct or indirect tactical suppression actions to control the wildfire;

6. "Forest rangers" means all employees of the Forestry Division who have responsibilities in forest and natural resource protection, including laborers, mechanics, and other employees who assist in forest and natural resource protection;

7. "Forest" means a tract of land that is at least ten percent (10%) stocked by trees of any size, whether of commercial or noncommercial species, or formerly having tree cover and not currently developed for non-forest use, including woodlands, woodlots, windbreaks, and shelterbelts;

8. "Hazardous duty" means actions performed on or near the fire line required to fight and control wildfires in order to protect lives, property, forests, and natural resources as well as functions associated with wildland hazardous fuels reduction work to mitigate and reduce wildfire threat to lives, property, forests, and natural resources;

9. "Logging or timber harvesting operations" means the cutting or harvesting of and removal of timber from a site, leaving the root mass intact;

10. "Owner" means the possessor of a fee interest, a tenant, lessee, occupant, or other person in lawful control of land;

11. "Prescribed burning" means the controlled application of fire by the owner or designated agent of croplands, rangelands, or forestlands to naturally occurring vegetative fuel under specified environmental conditions and following appropriate precautionary measures intended to keep the fire confined to a predetermined area and accomplish land management objectives;

12. "Timber" means live and dead trees and the profit in any live and dead trees including, but not limited to, bark, foliage, wood, vines, firewood, crossties, and shrubbery;

13. "Timber owner" means any person who owns the right to cut or harvest timber at the time the timber is to be cut or harvested, or who legally owns the severed timber;

14. "Wildfires" means any fire which is not controlled on forests, grasslands, fields, or croplands;

15. "Wildland" means any undeveloped land regardless of vegetative plant cover including forest, prairie, marsh, and swamp; and

16. "Wildland firefighter" means any forest ranger employed by the Forestry Division whose duty to fight wildfires includes incident management, fire suppression, and hazardous wildland fuel mitigation.

Okla. Stat. tit. 2, § 16-2

Amended by Laws 2024 , c. 198, s. 1, eff. 11/1/2024.

Added by Laws 1971, SB 143, c. 349, § 102, emerg. eff. 6/24/1971; Amended by Laws 1995, HB 1979, c. 238, § 2, eff. 11/1/1995; Amended by Laws 2001 , SB 522, c. 113, § 4, emerg. eff. 4/18/2001 (repealed by Laws 2001 , SB 660, c. 440, § 6, emerg. eff. 7/1/2001); Renumbered from 2 O.S. § 1301-102 by Laws 2001 , SB 522, c. 113, § 56, emerg. eff. 4/18/2001; Amended by Laws 2001 , HB 1633, c. 208, § 2, emerg. eff. 5/14/2001; Amended by Laws 2001 , SB 660, c. 440, § 2, emerg. eff. 7/1/2001; Amended by Laws 2007 , SB 517, c. 195, § 1, emerg. eff. 5/31/2007.