Glossary accessible—Pertaining to physical access to areas and biological diversity, also biodiversity—Variety of life activities for people of different abilities, especially and its processes, including the variety of living those with physical impairments. organisms, the genetic differences among them, and the communities and ecosystems in which they occur adaptive resource management—Rigorous application (The Fish and Wildlife Service Manual, 052 FW 1.12B). of management, research, and monitoring to gain The National Wildlife Refuge System’s focus is on information and experience necessary to assess and indigenous species, biotic communities, and ecological modify management activities; a process that uses processes. feedback from research, monitoring, and evaluation of management actions to support or modify objectives biotic—Pertaining to life or living organisms; caused, and strategies at all planning levels; a process in produced by, or comprising living organisms. which policy decisions are carried out within a framework of scientifically driven experiments to CAFO—Concentrated animal-feeding operation. test predictions and assumptions inherent in a canopy—Layer of foliage, generally the uppermost management plan. Analysis of results helps managers layer, in a vegetative stand; midlevel or understory determine whether current management should vegetation in multilayered stands; canopy closure continue as is or whether it should be modifi ed to (also canopy cover) is an estimate of the amount of achieve desired conditions. overhead vegetative cover. Administration Act—National Wildlife Refuge System catabolized (catabolism)—Breakdown of more complex Administration Act of 1966. substances into simpler ones, with the release of alternative—Reasonable way to solve an identifi ed energy. problem or satisfy the stated need (40 CFR 1500.2); CCP—See comprehensive conservation plan. one of several different means of accomplishing refuge and district purposes and goals and contributing to CFR—See Code of Federal Regulations. the Refuge System mission (The Fish and Wildlife Service Manual, 602 FW 1.5). Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)—Codification of the general and permanent rules published in the “Federal amphibian—Class of cold-blooded vertebrates including Register” by the executive departments and agencies frogs, toads, or salamanders. of the federal government. Each volume of the CFR is updated once each calendar year. annual—Plant that flowers and dies within 1 year of germination. COMLG—Conservation Order for Mid-continent Light Geese. ATV—All-terrain vehicle. compatibility determination—See compatible use. acre-foot—Amount of water it takes to cover a level acre of land (43,560 square feet) to a depth of 1 foot; compatible use—Wildlife-dependent recreational use about 43,560 cubic feet of water or 325,851 gallons. or any other use of a refuge or district that, in the sound professional judgment of the director of the avian—Relating to or characteristic of birds. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will not materially baseline—Set of critical observations, data, or interfere with or detract from the fulfillment of the information used for comparison or a control. mission of the Refuge System or the purposes of the refuge or district (The Fish and Wildlife Service basin—Referring to the landform that acts as a water Manual, 603 FW 3.6). A compatibility determination catchment; here used generically to refer to the hydric supports the selection of compatible uses and identifi ed footprint that pools water. stipulations or limits necessary to ensure compatibility. the basin—See Rainwater Basin. comprehensive conservation plan (CCP)—Document that describes the desired future conditions of the bioenergetics—Study of energy transformation in refuge or district and provides long-range guidance living systems. and management direction for the refuge or wetland biological control—Use of organisms or viruses to district manager to accomplish the purposes of the control invasive plants or other pests. refuge or district, contribute to the mission of the 104 Draft CCP and EA, Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District, NE Refuge System, and to meet other relevant mandates endangered species, federal—Plant or animal species (The Fish and Wildlife Service Manual, 602 FW 1.5). listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, that is in danger of extinction throughout concern—See issue. all or a significant portion of its range. cool-season grasses—Grasses that begin growth endangered species, state—Plant or animal species earlier in the season and often become dormant in the in danger of becoming extinct or extirpated in a summer. These grasses will germinate at lower particular state within the near future if factors temperatures. contributing to its decline continue. Populations of coteau—Hilly upland including the divide between these species are at critically low levels or their habitats two valleys; a divide; the side of a valley. have been degraded or depleted to a signifi cant degree. cover, also cover type, canopy cover—Present vegetation of an area. endogenous—Stored reserves of lipids, proteins, and other nutrients; energy generated from mobilizing critical habitat—Area essential to the survival of a these reserves. species; includes all air, land, and water that a species requires to carry out its normal living patterns, as well environmental assessment (EA)—Concise public as other living things used by the species for food, document, prepared in compliance with the National shelter, or other necessary activities. Environmental Policy Act, that briefly discusses the purpose and need for an action and alternatives to cultural resources—Remains of sites, structures, or such action, and provides sufficient evidence and objects used by people in the past. analysis of impacts to determine whether to prepare an environmental impact statement or finding of no CWCS—Comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy. significant impact (40 CFR 1508.9). cyanobacteria—Blue-green algae; widely distributed epizootic—Pertaining to a disease that affects large group of predominantly photosynthetic prokaryotic numbers of animals throughout a large area and organisms of the subkingdom Cyanophyta, resembling spreads with great speed. phototrophic bacteria, occurring singly or in colonies in diverse habitats: some species can fi x atmospheric erosion—Wearing away of the land surface by various nitrogen. natural processes such as wind and moving water in the form of rivers, streams, rain, and melting snow. dense nesting cover—Composition of grasses and forbs that allows for a dense stand of vegetation that protects eutrophication—Overenrichment of a waterbody nesting birds from the view of predators, usually with nutrients, resulting in the excessive growth of consisting of one to two species of wheatgrass, alfalfa, organisms and the depletion of oxygen. and sweetclover. evaporation—Physical process by which a liquid or the district—See wetland management district. solid is transformed to a gas. drawdown—Act of manipulating water levels in an exogenous—Pertaining to a nutrient that is not stored impoundment to allow for the natural drying-out cycle and is readily available. of a wetland. exotic—Nonnative species of plants or animals often DUD—Duck use-day; number of days that an area can brought into an area by human activity. support a duck’s energetics’ needs. extinction—Complete disappearance of a species from EA—See environmental assessment. the earth; no longer existing. ecosystem—Dynamic and interrelating complex of extirpation—Extinction of a population; complete plant and animal communities and their associated eradication of a species within a specifi ed area. nonliving environment; a biological community, together with its environment, functioning as a unit. fauna—All the vertebrate and invertebrate animals For administrative purposes, the Service has of an area. designated 53 ecosystems covering the United States federal trust species—Species where the federal and its possessions. These ecosystems generally government has primary jurisdiction including correspond with watershed boundaries and their sizes federally endangered or threatened species, migratory and ecological complexity vary. birds, anadromous fi sh, and certain marine mammals. emergent—Plant rooted in shallow water and having FGDC—Federal Geographic Data Committee. most of the vegetative growth above water such as cattail and hardstem bulrush. fl ood—Unusual accumulation of water above the ground caused by heavy rain, melting snow, or rapid runoff; a temporary condition of partial or complete Glossary 105 inundation of lands that normally do not pool water conditions that do not require oxygen and that favor throughout the entire year. the growth and regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation; hydric soils suggest the presence of wetlands. fl oodplain—Low-lying, nearly level area along a river or stream that is periodically subject to being fl ooded hydrophyte—Plant that is adapted to grow in water; by water from any source. a wetland plant species. fl ora—Plants, specifically plants within a particular hydrophytic vegetation—Visible plants growing in set of boundaries that may be geographical, temporal, water or on a substrate and periodically defi cient in or biological. oxygen as a result of excessive water content. fl yway—Pathway taken by migrating birds to or from impoundment—Body of water created by collection their nesting grounds in northern North America to and confinement