Forestry Definitions

Silviculture
The art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet the diverse needs and values of landowners and society on a sustainable basis
Forest Management
The practical application of biological, physical, quantitative, managerial, economic, social, and policy principles to the regeneration, management, utilization, and conservation of forests to meet specified goals and objectives while maintaining the productivity of the forest
Cruise
A forest survey to locate and estimate the quantity of timber on a given area according to species, size, quality, possible products, or other characteristics.
Forest Inventory
A set of objective sampling methods designed to quantify the spatial distribution, composition, and rates of change of forest parameters within specified levels of precision for the purposes of management
Stand Improvement
An intermediate treatment made to improve the composition, structure, condition, health, and growth of a timber stand.
Stand
a contiguous group of trees sufficiently uniform in age-class distribution, composition, structure, and growing on a site of sufficiently uniform quality, to be a distinguishable unit.
Harvest Schedule
The process for allocating cutting and other silvicultural treatments over a forest with emphasis on which treatments to apply and where and when to apply them
Forest Management Plan
A predetermined course of action and direction to achieve a set of results, usually specified as goals, objectives, and policies
Sustainable Forest Management
The practice of meeting the forest resource needs and values of the present without compromising the similar capability of future generations
Best Management Practices
A combination of practices that are determined by a state or a designated planning agency to be the most effective and practicable means of controlling point and non-point source pollutants at levels compatible with environment quality goals.
High Grading
The removal of the most commercially valuable trees, often leaving a residual stand composed of trees of poor condition or species composition

Source: The Dictionary of Forestry: Bethesda, MD: Society of American Foresters, 1998