Australia’s forests and forestry glossary

The value added by an industry to the inputs used by that industry, and therefore the contribution of that industry to Gross domestic product.

For national reporting on the forestry, wood and paper products industries, ‘Industry value added’ includes forest management, wood harvesting and wood processing, but excludes wholesaling, retailing and further value-adding (such as the manufacturing of some commodities).

See Forest management, Gross domestic product, Harvesting, Value-adding.

Reserve on public land protected through an administrative instrument by a public land management agency, such as special protection zones in state forests.

See CAR reserve system, Formal reserve, Management by prescription, Reserve.

Harvesting sawlogs, pulpwood and other forest products in a single forest operation.

See Harvesting, Pulpwood, Sawlog.

A pest control strategy that uses an array of complementary methods, such as natural predators and parasites, pest-resistant varieties, cultural practices, biological controls, various physical techniques and chemical pesticides.

A set of large geographical bioregions within the Australian landmass, used as the basis for the National Reserve System’s planning framework and some state-based reporting.

See National Reserve System.

A species of plant or animal occurring outside its natural range (past or present) and dispersal potential—that is, outside the range it occupies naturally or could occupy without direct or indirect introduction or care by humans.

See Exotic, Indigenous (of species).

A survey that assesses a resource, such as the amount of merchantable wood in a forest.

One of the states and territories of Australia, or the Commonwealth, in each of which its own system of laws has authority.

As defined in the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, a process that threatens, or may threaten, the survival, abundance or evolutionary development of a native species or ecological community.

A key threatening process could cause a native species or ecological community to become eligible for inclusion in a threatened list, cause an already listed threatened species or threatened ecological community to become more endangered, or adversely affect listed threatened species or threatened ecological communities.

See Threatening process.

High-strength engineered wood product made from veneers (thin rotary-peeled sheets of wood) bonded together with adhesives under heat and pressure, and used for structural applications.

See Cross-laminated timber (CLT), Rotary peeling, Veneer.

Removal of vegetation to convert land to another land use.

See Broadscale clearing, Deforestation, Forest clearing.

Formal title, ownership or occupancy of land.

The National Forest Inventory classifies land into six tenure classes (Leasehold forest, Multiple-use public forest, Nature conservation reserve, Other Crown land, Private forest, and Unresolved tenure).

See Leasehold forest, Multiple-use public forest, Nature conservation reserve, Other Crown land, Private forest, Unresolved tenure.

An area to which harvested logs are hauled for sorting, processing, loading or stockpiling.

See Harvesting.

A polar-orbiting satellite with an eight-band, multi-spectral scanning radiometer providing medium-resolution imaging information of the Earth’s entire surface. Landsat data provide information on vegetation cover and vegetation change (e.g. after fire).

Crown land held under leasehold title and generally privately managed.

One of six land tenure classes used to classify land in the National Forest Inventory.

See Crown land, Land tenure, Leasehold title, National Forest Inventory.

Land title held under a contract by which one party conveys the land to another party for a specified time and purpose, usually in return for a periodic payment.

An instrument, law, regulation, act or process that has associated legal rights, duties and/or requirements.

See Non-legally binding instrument.

See Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR).

A technology that uses laser (light) pulses from (most commonly) aircraft to collect information on terrain and vegetation features (such as tree height), based on the return time of pulses back to the sensor.

A woody structure at or below ground level on some shrubs and trees (e.g. mallee eucalypts), from which regrowth can occur after fire or drought.

See Coppice, Epicormic growth, Mallee.

The uppermost layer of the forest floor consisting chiefly of fallen leaves, bark, wooden debris and other decaying organic matter.

See Biomass.

See Forest lock-up.

See Landing.

See Harvesting.

See Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL).

Organism without a backbone, and of sufficient size to be seen without the aid of a microscope; examples are insects, shellfish and crustaceans.

See Mean annual increment (MAI).

1. A woody plant, usually a eucalypt, that is multi-stemmed from ground level.

2. A forest structural type dominated by mallee species.

See Eucalypt.

A pooled investment scheme that satisfies the definition of ‘managed investment scheme’ in Section 9 of the Commonwealth Corporations Act 2001 and fulfils associated regulatory requirements; describes a wide range of investments in financial products, real estate, agriculture and plantation forestry.

Losses of carbon directly from forests to the atmosphere that are associated with the management of forests, for example prescribed burns or post-harvest burns.

Component of the CAR reserve system on public production forests, in which protection of values is prescribed through management prescriptions in codes of practice or management plans. Examples include values that are not mappable in advance of their detection, and/or where inclusion in dedicated or informal reserves is impractical, such as riparian vegetation or rare, dispersed or fragmented values.

See CAR reserve system, Code of forest practice, Forest management plan, Formal reserve, Informal reserve.

A measure of how well an area, such as protected area or system of protected areas, is being managed in terms of protecting values and achieving goals and objectives, based on an audit process or evaluation.

1. A tree or shrub that normally grows above mean sea level in the intertidal zone of coastal environments and estuarine margins.

2. The intertidal habitat comprising a forested wetland of mangrove trees and shrubs.

As a national native forest type used by the National Forest Inventory, forest dominated by mangrove trees.

See Mangrove, Native forest type. 

The practice of placing small (less than 5 centimetres in diameter) woody material on extraction tracks before wood harvesting, to protect soil against heavy vehicle traffic and to minimise soil erosion.

See Cording.

1. A native forest growth stage in which trees are at maximum height with crowns at full lateral development.

2. A native forest growth stage, generally taken as 80 or more years since disturbance. One of four growth stages used at the national level to describe the age of trees and stands of trees.

See Disturbance, Growth stage, Regeneration, Regrowth, Senescent.

The average growth per year of a tree (or stand of trees) to a specified age. Commonly expressed as cubic metres per hectare per year, and can be restricted to sawlog volume only.

See Fibreboard.

A genus of shrubs and trees, most of which are endemic to Australia, and commonly referred to as tea-trees or paperbarks.

As a national native forest type used by the National Forest Inventory, forest dominated by trees of the genus Melaleuca.

See Melaleuca, Native forest type.

With respect to a tree or tree species, suitability for production of commercial wood products. An emphasis is placed on commercial production of sawlogs or high-value equivalents.

See Commerciality.

A tree species with known commercial uses for wood products, based on standards, technology or market conditions.

See Non-merchantable tree species.

A remote-sensing technology carried on two polar-orbiting satellites, capturing data covering the visual and infrared spectrum and imaging the entire surface of the Earth. MODIS data provide information on vegetation cover and vegetation change (e.g. after fire).

See Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).

The periodic and systematic measurement and assessment of a value, attribute or indicator.

A group of angiosperms that produce seeds with one embryonic leaf (cotyledon).

See Angiosperm, Dicotyledons (dicots).

The cultivation or growing of a single crop plant species on an area of agricultural or forest land. Most plantations are monocultures.

Ecosystems associated with mountain landscapes, alpine environments or higher elevations.

An initiative of the 12 countries, including Australia, that are members of the Montreal Process Working Group on Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests. Comprises development and implementation of a comprehensive set of criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests.

See Criterion, Indicator, Sustainable Forest Management (SFM).

Vegetation composed of patches of different types, arising from differences in soil or landform or disturbance history (such as through fire or wood harvesting).