Glossary accessible—Pertaining to physical access to areas biological control—The use of organisms or viruses and activities for people of different abilities, to control invasive plants or other pests. especially those with physical impairments. biological diversity, also biodiversity—The variety active management—The direct manipulation of hab- of life and its processes, including the variety of itats or wildlife populations to achieve specific living organisms, the genetic differences among objectives. Actions could include planting food them, and the communities and ecosystems in plots, managing water levels, prescribed grazing which they occur (The Fish and Wildlife Service or fire, or wildlife relocations. Manual, 052 FW 1.12B). The National Wildlife adaptive resource management—The rigorous appli- Refuge System’s focus is on indigenous species, cation of management, research, and monitoring biotic communities, and ecological processes. to gain information and experience necessary to biological integrity—Biotic composition, structure, assess and modify management activities; a pro- and function at genetic, organism, and community cess that uses feedback from research, monitor- levels. ing, and evaluation of management actions to biotic—Pertaining to life or living organisms; caused, support or modify objectives and strategies at produced by, or comprising living organisms. all planning levels; a process in which policy deci- Bureau of Land Management (BLM)—A Federal agency sions are implemented within a framework of sci- that was established in 1946 through consolida- entifically driven experiments to test predictions tion of the General Land Office and U.S. Grazing and assumptions inherent in management plan. Service. The agency has a multiple-use mandate Analysis of results helps managers determine is responsible for a variety of programs for man- whether current management should continue aging and conserving surface and subsurface min- as is or whether it should be modified to achieve eral estates, mostly in the western United States. desired conditions. canopy—A layer of foliage, generally the uppermost Administration Act—National Wildlife Refuge Sys- layer, in a vegetative stand; midlevel or under- tem Administration Act of 1966. story vegetation in multilayered stands. Canopy alternative—A reasonable way to solve an identi- closure (also canopy cover) is an estimate of the fied problem or satisfy the stated need (40 CFR amount of overhead vegetative cover. 1500.2); one of several different means of accom- CCP—See comprehensive conservation plan. plishing refuge purposes and goals and contribut- CFR—See Code of Federal Regulations. ing to the Refuge System mission (The Fish and cervid—All members of the family Cervidae and Wildlife Service Manual, 602 FW 1.5). hybrids, including deer, elk, moose, caribous, rein- amphibian—A class of cold-blooded vertebrates in- deer, and related species. cluding frogs, toads, or salamanders. CFR—See Code of Federal Regulations. annual—A plant that flowers and dies within 1 year cfs—Cubic feet per second. of germination. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)—The codification of appropriate management response—The response to the general and permanent rules published in the a wildfire based on an evaluation of risks to fire- Federal Register by the executive departments fighter and public safety, the circumstances under and agencies of the Federal Government. Each which a fire occurs, including weather and fuel volume of the CFR is updated once each calendar conditions, natural and cultural resource manage- year. ment objectives, protection priorities, and values compatibility determination—See compatible use. to be protected. compatible use—A wildlife-dependent recreational appropriate use—A proposed or existing uses on use or any other use of a refuge that, in the sound national wildlife refuges that meet at least one of professional judgment of the director of the the following: is a wildlife-dependent recreational U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will not materi- use; contributes to fulfilling refuge purposes, the ally interfere with or detract from the fulfillment Refuge System mission, or goals and objectives of the mission of the Refuge System or the pur- outline in a CCP; and the refuge manager has poses of the refuge (The Fish and Wildlife Service evaluated the use and found it to be appropriate. Manual, 603 FW 3.6). A compatibility determi- ATV—All-terrain vehicle. nation supports the selection of compatible uses baseline—A set of critical observations, data, or and identified stipulations or limits necessary to information used for comparison or a control. ensure compatibility. 342 Draft CCP and EIS, Charles M. Russell and UL Bend National Wildlife Refuges, Montana comprehensive conservation plan (CCP)—A document erally correspond with watershed boundaries and that describes the desired future conditions of their sizes and ecological complexity vary. the refuge and provides long-range guidance and ecosystem resilience—See ecological resilience. management direction for the refuge manager to EIS—Environmental impact statement. accomplish the purposes of the refuge, contribute endangered species, Federal—A plant or animal spe- to the mission of the Refuge System, and to meet cies listed under the Endangered Species Act of other relevant mandates (The Fish and Wildlife 1973, as amended, that is in danger of extinction Service Manual, 602 FW 1.5). throughout all or a significant portion of its range. concern—See issue. endangered species, State—A plant or animal species conservation district—Organized in the 1930s as a in danger of becoming extinct or extirpated in a response to the severe erosion problems, a district particular State within the near future if factors is often a political subdivision of a State. Funding contributing to its decline continue. Populations of comes from assessments levied on real property these species are at critically low levels or their within the boundaries of the district. It assists cit- habitats have been degraded or depleted to a sig- izens in conserving renewable natural resources. nificant degree. conspecific—An individual belonging to the same endemic species—Plants or animals that occur natu- species as another. rally in a certain region and whose distribution is cool-season grasses—Grasses that begin growth ear- relatively limited to a particular locality. lier in the season and often become dormant in the environmental assessment—A concise public docu- summer. These grasses will germinate at lower ment, prepared in compliance with the National temperatures. Examples of cool-season grasses Environmental Policy Act, that briefly discusses at the refuge are western wheatgrass, needle and the purpose and need for an action and alternatives thread, and green needlegrass. to such action, and provides sufficient evidence and county road—In general, means any public highway analysis of impacts to determine whether to pre- opened, established, constructed, maintained, aban- pare an environmental impact statement or finding doned in accordance with State law. of no significant impact (40 CFR 1508.9). cover, also cover type, canopy cover—Present vegeta- environmental health—Composition, structure, and tion of an area. functioning of soil, water, air, and other abiotic cultural resources—The remains of sites, structures, features. or objects used by people in the past. EPA—Environmental Protection Agency. depredation—Destruction or consumption of eggs, extinction—The complete disappearance of a species broods, or individual wildlife due to a predatory from the earth; no longer existing. animal; damage inflicted on agricultural crops or extirpation—The extinction of a population; complete ornamental plants by wildlife. eradication of a species within a specified area. drawdown—The act of manipulating water levels in fauna—All the vertebrate and invertebrate animals an impoundment to allow for the natural drying- of an area. out cycle of a wetland. Federal trust resource—A trust is something man- EA—See environmental assessment. aged by one entity for another who holds the own- ecological resilience—The ability to absorb distur- ership. The Service holds in trust many natural bances, to be changed, and then to reorganize resources for the people of the United States as a and still have the same identity, that is, retain the result of Federal acts and treaties. Examples are same basic structure and ways of functioning. A species listed under the Endangered Species Act, resilient system is forgiving of external shocks; migratory birds protected by international trea- a disturbance is unlikely to affect the whole. A ties, and native plant or wildlife species found on a resilient habitat: (1) sustains many species of national wildlife refuge. plants and animals and a highly variable struc- Federal trust species—All species where the Federal tural composition; (2) is asymmetric; (3) exempli- Government has primary jurisdiction including fies biological integrity, biological diversity, and federally endangered or threatened species, migra- environmental health; and (4) adapts to climate tory birds, anadromous fish, and certain marine change. mammals. ecosystem—A dynamic and interrelating complex fire refugia—Those places within the landscape that of plant and animal communities and their associ- due to size, soils, or topography do not burn as ated nonliving environment; a biological commu- often, as intensely, or at all with frequent light nity, together