Glossary

Agriculture: the science, art, and business of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock.

Botany: the science, a branch of biology, which deals with plants, their life, structure, growth, classification, etc.

Browsing: consumption of woody forage (from trees and shrubs) by wildlife or livestock. In contrast, consumption of herbaceous plants is referred to as grazing.

Coarse-textured (soils): consisting pre:dominately of gravels larger than 2.5 inches in diameter, cobbles, or boulders.

Community (Plant Community): an as:sembly of plants living together, reflecting no particular ecological status.

Compromise: a settlement of differences in which each side makes concessions.

Conservation: the controlled use and sys:tematic protection of natural resources.

Critical area: an area that has exceptional resource values or that is particularly sensitive to alteration, or one which has special importance for ecological or management reasons and thus requires special attention.

Diversity: the kind and amount of plant and animal species in a community per unit area.

Domesticated: animals which humans have tamed over many years, to be kept in captivity, bred and used for their own special purposes (i.e., dogs, cats, cows, horses, etc.)

Ecology: the branch of biology that deals with the relations between living organisms and their environment; the complex of relations be:tween a specific organism and its environment.

Ecosystem: the complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning together.

Emergent vegetation: deep-rooted plant species whose roots are in the substrate, but the upper part of which extends above a water sur:face.

Fine sediments (Fine-textured soils):soil particles less than .062 millimeters in diameter at the middle axis; silts and clay particles and organic debris parts.

Forb: an herbaceous or non-woody plant that is not a grass or grass-like plant.

Graminoid: grass or grass-like plant, such as grasses, sedges, and rushes.

Graze: to feed on growing grasses and other palatable plants.

Habitat: the home or place where an animal lives; the requirements of a habitat include all things every animal must have to survive: food, water, shelter or cover, and space to move about and carry on necessary activities for survival, and the proper arrangement of these features.

Herbaceous: non-woody vegetation, such as graminoids and forbs.

Hydrology: the science dealing with the properties, distribution, and circulation of water.

Key area: an area selected for monitoring because it is representative of the grazing unit (riparian area) as a whole, reflects the of the grazing unit (riparian area), and should reflect changes based on management actions

Livestock: domesticated animals, such as cattle, sheep or horses, raised for home use or profit.

Management: the act of directing or con:trolling the use of something.

Natural resource: a material source of wealth, such as land, timber, wildlife, fresh water, or a mineral deposit, that occurs in a natural state.

Over-use: to use to excess.

Overgraze: to graze to excess.