- Early forest succession
- The biotic (or life) community that develops immediately following a clear cut
or fire. For instance, grasses may be the first plants to grow in an area that was
burned.
- Ecology
- The interrelationships of living things to one another and to their environment,
or the study of these interrelationships.
- Ecosystem
- An arrangement of living and non-living things and the forces that move among
them. Living things include plants and animals. Non-living parts of ecosystems may
be rocks and minerals. Weather and wildfire are two of the forces that act within
ecosystems.
- Ecosystem management
- The buzz word to make deforestation sound palatable to the general public. USFS
definition: "An ecological approach to natural resource management to assure
productive, healthy ecosystems by blending social, economic, physical, and biological
needs and values."
- Edge effect
- The effect on the surrounding forests from the edges of a clear cut. Common edge
effects include trees blown down, spreading root rots and other diseases, and invasive
weeds. Edge effects often travel very far into the surrounding interior forests.
- Endangered species
- A plant or animal that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant
portion of its range. Endangered species are rarely identified by the Secretary of
the Interior in accordance with the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
- Endemic plant/organism
- A plant or animal that occurs naturally in a certain region and whose distribution
is relatively limited geographically.
- Environmental assessment
- A brief version of an Environmental Impact Statement. (EA) A NEPA required document.
An analysis of alternative actions and their predictable long and short- term environmental
effects. The public has 30 days to submit comments on the EA's for timber sales.
- Environmental Impact Statement - (EIS)
- A NEPA required document. A statement of environmental effects of a proposed
action and alternatives to it. A timber sale has an EIS instead of an EA if it occurs
in a roadless area or other criteria.
- Ephemeral streams
- Streams that flow only as the direct result of rainfall or snowmelt. They have
no permanent flow.
- Even aged management
- Timber management actions that result in the creation of stands of trees in which
the trees are essentially the same age. This is accomplished by clear cutting.