Australia’s forests and forestry glossary

See Agroforestry.

The collective description for members of the animal kingdom. Fauna include mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects.

See Flora.

The capacity of an individual, population or species to reproduce or multiply. Can be measured as the rate of production of viable, fertile offspring that survive to reproductive age.

See Fertility.

The capacity of an individual, population or species to reproduce sexually.

See Fecundity.

A category of reconstituted wood panel products made from pulpwood and/or wood-processing residues such as woodchips, sawmill shavings and sawdust plus a resin or binder, pressed into panels. Types of fibreboard (in order of increasing density) include particleboard, medium-density fibreboard (MDF), high-density fibreboard and hardboard.

See Reconstituted wood products.

A strip of vegetation retained along a drainage line, stream or river to retard the flow of runoff.

See Buffer, Riparian zone, Runoff.

The frequency, intensity, seasonality and scale or patchiness of burning of an area or vegetation type over a period of time; the history or forecast of fire events in a particular area or vegetation type.

Wood used as fuel for residential heating.

See Fuelwood.

The collective description for members of the plant kingdom. Flora include trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, ferns and mosses.

See Fauna.

Study of the presence, abundance, distribution and relationships of plants over a geographic area.

An area, incorporating all living and non-living components, that is dominated by trees having usually a single stem and a mature or potentially mature stand height exceeding 2 metres and with existing or potential crown cover of overstorey strata about equal to or greater than 20%. This includes Australia’s diverse native forests and plantations, regardless of age. It is also sufficiently broad to encompass areas of trees that are sometimes described as woodlands.

This definition used in Australia is different from the definitions of forest that apply in some other countries, or the definition used by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

See Commercial plantation, Crown cover, Native forest, Other forest, Overstorey, Plantation.

Conversion of forested land to agricultural, urban or other non-forest land uses.

See Broadscale clearing, Deforestation, Land clearing.

1. A specified and defined area of forest.

2. An area of forest managed by an agency, private organisation or individual, including the trees, flora, fauna, soil, streams, water-bodies, roads and other infrastructure.

See Defined forest area, Indigenous estate (land or forest).

The effects of the sum of the ecosystem processes (energy, nutrient, hydrological and biological processes) that together maintain the vitality of a forest ecosystem.

The systematic collection of data to determine a broad range of biophysical, commercial and non-commercial values in a forest. Forest inventories can cover the area of forest, the volume and/or value of wood, and the extent and diversity of non-wood values.

Land on which forest is growing. Land on which forest is regrowing after disturbance, or has the potential to regrow after disturbance, is also classified as forest land.

See Disturbance, Forest, Non-forest land.

Dense regrowth stands where severe competition for resources prevents individual tree growth, and stand growth effectively ceases. Also known as ‘locked-up forest’.

A system of practices and activity for conservation, stewardship and productive use of forest land, aimed at fulfilling desired environmental, economic and social functions and objectives for the forest.

A documented, long-term plan for a forest area that defines management goals, objectives and outcomes that are monitored and periodically reviewed, and that expressly includes the management of forest. Forest management plans can also include natural resource, environment, vegetation and catchment management plans that cover and include a focus on forests, and strategic management planning systems required for forest certification.

A codified set of procedures and guidelines for forest management.

See Code of forest practice, Forest management.

A human community having an identified dependence on a forest area, typically through employment in the forestry and wood products industries.

A species that requires a forest habitat for at least part of its lifecycle, and that could not survive or reproduce in the absence of this habitat.

A species that may use a forest habitat for at least part of its lifecycle.

A professional who uses scientific principles to manage forests for a variety of human and environmental needs and benefits.

The science and craft of creating, managing, conserving, using and caring for forests to meet desired goals, needs, and values, for human and environmental benefits.

1. Work undertaken in the course of forest establishment and/or management for purposes including forest protection, public recreation, research, catchment protection, wood production, and the control of planned fires.

2. Operational forest management activities related to wood production.

3. The planting of trees, the managing of trees before they are harvested, or the harvesting of forest products for commercial purposes, including any related land clearing, land preparation and regeneration (including burning), and transport operations.

An area, such as a national park, legally dedicated for protection in a reserve.

See CAR reserve system, Informal reserve, Management by prescription, National Reserve System.

1. The degree to which forest exists in separate areas that are not spatially connected.

2. The process of loss of spatial connectivity between forest areas.

See Connectivity.

The total amount of combustible material in a defined area, including standing and downed wood, leaves and bark.

Fire started in accordance with a fire management plan or planned burning program for the purpose of reducing fuel loads in a defined area.

See Backburning, Planned fire.

Wood or wood products used as industrial fuel or for bioenergy production.

See Bioenergy, Firewood.