Some terms you might hear or see when buying Vermont Land: AGS: Acceptable Growing Stock. Trees that are either quality sawlogs or have the potential to grow into quality sawlogs (grade 2 or better).
Advance Growth: Young trees that have become established naturally before regeneration cuttings are begun or a clear-cutting is made.
Basal Area: The area of the cross-section of a tree, inclusive of bark, at breast height (4.5' or 1.37' m above ground) most commonly expressed as square feet per acre (ft2/acre) or square meters per hectare (m2/hec). For a stand, basal area is computed from all living trees.
Biomass: The total quantity, at a given time, of living organisms of one or more species, usually expressed in weight per unit area.
Board Foot: A piece of lumber 1" thick, 12" wide, and 12" long or its equivalent. It is used as a volume measure of sawlogs and is commonly expressed by the thousand (MBF).
Cleaning: Elimination or suppression of competing vegetation from stands not past the sapling stage (2"-4" or 5-10 cm) in diameter as measured 4.5' or 1.37 m above ground. Specifically, removal of (a) weeds, climbers, or sod-forming grasses, as in plantations or (b) trees of similar age and of less desirable species or form than crop trees which they are, or may soon be, overtopping.
Clearcutting: The cutting method that describes the silvicultural system in which the old crop is cleared over a considerable area at one time. Regeneration then occurs from a) natural seeding from adjacent stands, b) seed contained in the slash or logging debris, c) advance growth or d) planting or direct seeding. An even-aged forest usually results.
Climax Forest: A plant community that represents, for its locality and its environment, the culminating stage of a natural succession. When the culminating stage is influenced by topography, it is termed a topographic climax and when maintained by regular fires, it is termed a fire climax.
Co-dominant: A tree with its crown in the upper forest canopy but less free than the dominant trees and freer and taller than the intermediates and suppressed trees. A crown class.
Coppice: A regeneration method in which standing trees are cut and subsequent crops originate mainly from adventitious or dormant buds on living stumps; but also as suckers from roots and rhizomes.
Cord: A pile of 4' pieces of wood, 4' high and 8' long, occupying 128 cubic feet (ft3) of space. Solid wood volume of a cord is approximately 85ft3, but can vary significantly. It is used as a volume measure of pulpwood, firewood, and boltwood. The cord is sometimes defined by its weight equivalent. This, however, is not standardized and varies by species and by mill. The green (fresh cut) weight of a cord of hardwood is commonly 5000 lbs.
Crop Tree: A tree that forms, or is selected to form, a component of the final crop, specifically, one selected to be carried through to maturity. Also known as a final crop or growing stock tree.
Crown Class: Any class into which trees of a stand may be divided based on their crown development and crown position relative to crowns of adjacent trees. Commonly used crown classes are dominant, co-dominant, intermediate and suppressed.
Crown Thinning: A thinning that favors the most promising (not necessarily the dominant) stems, with due regard to even distribution over the stand, by removing those trees that interfere with them; also called thinning from above.
DBH: Tree diameter at breast height (4.5' or 1.37 m above ground).
Dominant: A tree with its largely free-growing crown in the upper most layers of the forest canopy. A crown class.
Even-Aged: The condition of a forest or stand composed of trees having no, or relatively small, differences in age, although differences of as much as 30% are admissible in rotation greater than 100 years of age.
Even-Aged Management: The application of a combination of actions that results in the creation of stands in which trees of essentially the same age grow together. The difference in age between trees forming the main canopy level of a stand usually does not exceed 20% of the age of the stand at maturity. Regeneration in a particular stand is obtained during a short period at or near the time that a stand has reached the desired age or size for regeneration and is harvested. Cutting methods producing even-aged stands are clearcut, shelterwood, or seed-tree.
Group Selection: The cutting method which describes the silvicultural system in which trees are removed periodically in small groups resulting in openings that do not exceed an acre or two in size. This leads to the formation of an uneven-aged stand in the form of a mosaic of age-class groups in the same forest.
Improvement Cutting: The elimination or suppression of less valuable trees in favor of more valuable trees, typically in a mixed, uneven-aged forest.
Individual Tree Selection: The cutting method that describes the silvicultural system in which trees are removed individually, here and there, each cutting cycle over an entire forest or stand. The resultant stand usually regenerates naturally and becomes all-aged.
Intermediate: A tree of the middle canopy, dominated by others in the dominant and co-dominant crown classes. A crown class.
Intermediate Cutting: Any removal of trees from a stand between the time of its formation or establishment and the harvest cut. Generally taken to include cleaning, thinning, liberation and improvement cuttings, increment felling and sometimes even salvage and sanitation cuttings.
Intolerant: Trees unable to survive or grow satisfactorily under specific conditions, most commonly used with respect tot heir sensitivity to shade, but also to conditions such as wind, drought, salt and flooding.
Low Thinning: A thinning that favors the dominants or selected dominants more or less evenly distributed over the stand by removing a varying proportion of the other trees. Also called a thinning from below.
Overstory: The trees in a forest of more than one story that form upper or uppermost canopy layer.
Preparatory Cutting: The removal of trees near the end of a rotation, which permanently opens the canopy and enables the crowns of seed bearers to enlarge, to improve conditions of seed production and natural regeneration. Typically done in the shelterwood system.
Regeneration: The reproduction of tree crop, whether by natural or artificial means. Also the young crop itself, which commonly is referred to as reproduction.
Regeneration Cutting: Any removal of trees intended to assist regeneration already present or to make regeneration possible.
Release: Freeing a tree or group of trees from competition by cutting or otherwise eliminating growth that is overtopping or closely surrounding them.
Relative Density: A measure of stand density that takes into account variations in growing space requirements of different species and tree sizes within a stand. Usually expressed as a percentage of average maximum density.
Salvage Cutting: The exploitation of trees that are dead, dying, or deteriorating, because they are over mature or have been damaged by fire, wind, insect, fungi, or other injurious agents, before their timber becomes worthless.
Sanitation Cutting: The removal of dead, damaged, or susceptible trees, done primarily to prevent the spread of pests or pathogens and so promote forest hygiene.
Scarification: Loosening of the topsoil of open areas, or breaking up the forest floor, in preparation for regenerating by direct seeding or natural seed fall.
Seed Cutting: Removal of trees in a mature stand to effect permanent openings in the canopy (if not done in preparatory cutting) and thereby provide conditions for securing regeneration from the seed of trees retained for this purpose. Also the first of the shelterwood cuttings.
Seed-Tree: The cutting method that describes the silvicultural system in which the dominant feature is the removal of all trees in one cut except for a small number of seedbearers left singly or in small groups, usually 8-10 per acre (20-25 per hectare). The seed trees generally are harvested when regeneration is established. An even-aged stand results.
Shelterwood: The cutting method that describes the silvicultural system in which, in order to provide a source of seed an/or protection for regeneration, the old crop (the shelterwood) is removed in two or more successive shelterwood cuttings. The first cutting is ordinarily the seed cutting and the last is the final cutting. Any intervening cutting is termed removal cutting. An even-aged stand results.
Site: An area, considered in terms of its environment, determined by the type and quality of the vegetation it can carry.
Site Index: A measure of site class based upon the height of the dominant trees in a stand at an arbitrarily chosen age, most commonly at 50 years in the East and 100 years in the West.
Stand: A community of naturally or artificially established trees of any age, sufficiently uniform in composition, constitution, age, spatial arrangement or condition to be distinguishable from adjacent communities, thereby forming a silvicultural or management entity.
Stand Density: A quantitative measure of the degree of crowding of stems within a stand. Usually expressed in number of stems, basal area, or crown closure.
Stocking: A relative term to describe the adequacy of a given stand density in meeting management objectives. Three levels of stocking are generally recognized:
"A" level stocking - the maximum stocking a stand can carry without overcrowding and the resultant loss of growth. Stands with stocking above this level are overstocked.
"B" level stocking - the minimum stocking a stand can carry and fully utilize the site. Stands with stocking below the "B" level are understocked.
"C" level stocking - stands that will require 10 years or less of growth to reach "B" level stocking. These stands are considered potentially adequately stocked.
Structure: Of a forest, crop, or stand, the distribution and representation of age and/or size (particularly diameter) classes and of crown and other tree classes.
Succession: The gradual supplanting of one community of plants by another.
Suppressed: One of the four main crown classes. Very slowly growing trees with crowns in the lower layer of the canopy and leading shoots not free. Suppressed trees are subordinate to dominant, co-dominant, and intermediates in the crown canopy.
Thinning: A treatment made in an immature stand, primarily to maintain or accelerate diameter increment and also to improve the average form of the remaining trees without permanently breaking the canopy. An intermediate cutting.
Type: An aggregate of similar stands grouped together to improve statistical analysis and simplify management.
UGS: Unacceptable Growing Stock. Sound trees that either do not have the potential to make quality sawlogs, or that have some damage, disease, or other condition that make them a poor risk to survive for future management.
Understory: Trees and woody species growing under an overstory.
Uneven-Aged: The condition of a forest, crop, or stand composed of intermingling trees that differ markedly in age. In practice, a minimum age difference of 25% of the length of the rotation usually is used.
Uneven-Aged Management: The application of a combination of actions needed to simultaneously maintain continuous high-forest cover, recurring regeneration of desirable species, and the orderly growth and development of trees through a range of diameter or age classes. Cutting methods that develop and maintain uneven-aged stands are single tree selection and group selection.
Yield: The amount of forest product that may be harvested periodically from a specified area over a stated period in accordance with the objectives of management.
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