N.M. Admin. Code § 19.20.4.7

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 23, December 10, 2024

Section 19.20.4.7 - DEFINITIONS

A. "Act" means the Forest Conservation Act, NMSA 1978, Sections 68-2-1 to 68-2-25.

B. "Alternate practice" means a forest practice standard used in place of a specific requirement in the forest harvest practices standards, 19.20.4.9 NMAC. The applicant may request to use an alternate practice in the harvest permit application or at a later time. The alternate practice is not effective until the division provides written approval.

C. "Applicant" means the owner.

D. "Basal area" means the cross sectional area of the stem at diameter at breast height or at diameter at root collar of all trees in a stand, generally expressed as square units per unit area (e.g. square feet per acre).

E. "Cessation of harvest activities" means absence of harvesting within a cutting unit for six consecutive days.

F. "Closed road" means a road constructed for the harvest that will be closed upon the harvest's completion.

G. "Commercial forest species" means:

SCIENTIFIC NAME	COMMON NAME
Abies concolor	white fir
Abies lasiocarpa	subalpine fir
Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica	corkbark fir
Cupressus arizonica	Arizona cypress
Juniperus coahuilensis or erythrocarpa	redberry juniper/rose-fruited juniper
Juniperus deppeana	alligator juniper
Juniperus monosperma	one seed juniper
Juniperus osteosperma	Utah juniper
Juniperus pinchotii	Pinchot juniper/redberry juniper
Juniperus scopulorum	Rocky Mountain juniper
Picea engelmannii	Engelmann spruce
Picea pungens	Colorado blue spruce
Pinus aristata	bristlecone pine
Pinus arizonica	Arizona pine
Pinus cembroides	Mexican piñon
Pinus discolor	border piñon
Pinus edulis	piñon
Pinus engelmannii	Apache pine
Pinus flexilis	limber pine
Pinus leiophylla	Chihuahuan pine
Pinus monophylla	singleleaf piñon
Pinus ponderosa	ponderosa pine
Pinus strobiformis	southwestern white pine
Populus tremuloides	quaking aspen
Pseudotsuga menziesii	Douglas-fir
Quercus spp.	oak species when in tree form or when harvested with other commercial forest species

H. "Construction project" includes clearing of right of ways for utilities, pipelines, fences or roads, except for roads facilitating harvesting of commercial forest species; clearing for construction of residences or businesses with an approved building permit; or clearing related to the development of other regulated industries such as mining or landfills.

I. "Continuing violation" means that a permittee or responsible person or entity has received a notice of deficient condition and has failed to take corrective action.

J. "Contract harvester" means a person or entity, other than the owner or the owner's direct employees, harvesting commercial forest species.

K. "Contractor" means a person or entity that the applicant or permittee has reached an agreement with to harvest or purchase commercial forest species.

L. "Cutting unit" means an area within the forest harvest practice plan not exceeding 300 forested acres. The designation of each unit is based on the topography of the area to be harvested, the number of persons to be engaged in the harvest, transportation, climate and other relevant factors. The applicant shall divide an area larger than 300 forested acres into two or more cutting units, unless the division determines that a larger area is appropriate because of the topography, equipment or the harvest's objectives and number of persons to be participating in harvest activities.

M. "Damaged trees" means trees over three feet in height not intended for harvest that, as a result of the harvest, are damaged or knocked down to the extent that mortality or serious deterioration is likely to occur or partially pushed over so as to result in permanent lean or visible damage to the root system.

N. "Deficient condition" means a harvest activity not in conformance with the act, 19.20.4 NMAC or a harvest permit. It also means the failure to have statements of understanding for each person or entity conducting major harvest activities.

O. "Diameter at breast height" means the tree's outside bark diameter measured at four and one half feet above the forest floor on the tree's uphill side. For the purposes of determining breast height, the forest floor includes the duff layer that may be present, but does not include unincorporated woody debris that may rise above the ground line.

P. "Diameter at root collar" means the diameter of the tree's trunk measured outside the bark at ground level.

Q. "District forester" means the supervisory forester of one of the six district offices located in Bernalillo, Capitan, Chama, Cimarron, Las Vegas and Socorro.

R. "Division" means the New Mexico energy, minerals and natural resources department, forestry division or forestry division personnel.

S. "Erosion control measure" means a method of reducing soil erosion including seeding, using mulch or slash for ground cover, reducing slope of roads and skid trails, installing water bars, crowning roads, outsloping roads, dipping roads with lateral relief ditches, culverts and avoidance of excessive slopes.

T. "Evidence of ownership" means a deed or other document, recorded with the county clerk in the county where the commercial forest species are located, containing a property description included in the harvest permit application evidencing ownership of the land surface or the right to control the land including harvesting commercial forest species, or a timber deed including the commercial forest species subject to the harvest permit application. Evidence of ownership does not include commercial forest species purchased through a contract, purchase agreement or similar document that indicates that the commercial forest species' ownership will transfer after the trees are harvested.

U. "Excessive slope" means a slope of more than 40 percent over a ground distance of 80 yards or more.

V. "Felling equipment" means equipment used to sever the tree stem from its stump such as chainsaws, feller-bunchers and harvesters.

W. "Firewood" means any part or portion of a tree that has been cut and removed from its original location and is to be used for heating or cooking in an open pit, grill, fireplace or stove. Firewood does not mean wood that is used in biomass facilities to create electricity or thermal heat or wood that is used to create ethanol.

X. "Forest" means an area of at least one acre with at least 10 percent tree crown cover.

Y. "Gully erosion" means erosion caused by water accumulating in narrow channels and removing the soil from the channel to depths of one foot or more and that carries sediment downstream.

Z. "Harvest or harvesting" means activities related to removing a commercial forest species or its products from the property where the activities are occurring, including: constructing haul roads and skid trails; cutting and severing, pushing over, plucking, chipping or masticating standing trees; skidding or removing trees to landings; transporting the tree or wood products from the cutting site or landing; installing erosion control measures; or supervising or directing such activities. Harvest or harvesting does not mean digging commercial forest species that are planted and cultivated for balled and burlap stock, landscaping or live Christmas trees; or removal by any means during maintenance, renovation or removal of a windbreak.

AA. "Harvest permit" means the harvest permit application, the forest harvest practice plan and the harvest permit approval letter.

BB. "Intermittent watercourse" means a stream or reach of stream, as shown on a United States geological survey 1:24000 scale topographic map or as otherwise identified on the property by the division or the owner, that contains water only at certain times of the year, such as when it receives flow from springs, melting snow or precipitation.

CC. "Lake" means an inland body of freshwater, but does not include stock ponds or windmills.

DD. "Landowner" means a person or entity, or the person or entity's agent, owning or having a right to control the surface of the land where the commercial forest species to be harvested are located.

EE. "Lateral yarding distance" means the maximum distance perpendicular to each side of a cable within which a log can be attached for yarding.

FF. "Leave trees" means those trees to be left in the cutting unit after the harvest is completed.

GG. "Long butting" means the cutting of a portion of the main stem that does not meet the utilization standards provided in Subsection H of 19.20.4.9 NMAC.

HH. "Lop and scatter" means a hand method of removing the upward-extending branches from tops of felled trees to keep slash low to the ground, to increase the decomposition rate, to lower the fire hazard or as a pretreatment prior to burning.

II. "Major harvest activity" means felling trees; skidding or yarding; and construction of roads, skid trails and landings.

JJ. "Mineral soil" means the portion of the soil immediately below the litter and duff layers.

KK. "Multiple cutting unit permit" means a harvest permit for an area with two or more designated cutting units.

LL. "Municipal lands" means the territory a municipality has incorporated or annexed pursuant to NMSA 1978, Sections 3-2-1et seq., Sections 3-3-1et seq. or Sections 3-7-1et seq.

MM. "Noxious weed" means a plant species that is not indigenous to New Mexico and that has been targeted pursuant to the Noxious Weed Management Act, NMSA 1978, Section 76-7D-1 et seq. for management or control because of its negative impact on the economy or the environment.

NN. "Owner" means the landowner, unless there is a timber deed owner who owns the commercial forest species that are the subject of the harvest permit application. Then the timber deed owner is the owner.

OO. "Perennial watercourse" means a stream or river, or reach of a stream or river, as shown on a United States geological survey 1:24000 scale topographic map or as otherwise identified on the property where the harvest will occur by the division or the owner, that contains water continuously throughout the years in all years; its upper surface, generally, is lower than the water table of the region adjoining the stream or river.

PP. "Permittee" means an owner to whom the division issues a harvest permit.

QQ. "Personal delivery" means delivery to the individual personally; or if the individual is absent, delivery to a person residing at the individual's usual residence who is over the age of 15 years.

RR. "Public road" means a highway or road open for public motor vehicle access including federal highways, state highways, state roads, county roads and United States forest service roads.

SS. "Pre-commercial thinning" means thinning that is made as an investment in the future growth of a stand of trees where the owner does not sell or exchange for service the utilized trees.

TT. "Responsible person or entity" means a person, partnership, corporation, association or other entity, other than the owner, required to sign a statement of understanding or, when Subsection A of 19.20.4.8 NMAC does not require a harvest permit, that have an active role in major harvest activities or a management role that may impact the harvest.

UU. "Rill erosion" means erosion that cuts a number of small channels less than one foot in depth into the soil by water moving over and concentrating in low places in the soil surface.

VV. "Rub tree" means a tree used as a pivot in cable yarding or on skid trails to protect the remaining trees during extraction.

WW. "Silviculture" means the theory and practice of controlling forest establishment, composition, growth or harvesting.

XX. "Skid trail" means a path built for log skidding or caused by skidding equipment's use.

YY. "Slash" means branches, boughs or pieces of a tree's main stem severed or damaged as a result of the harvest.

ZZ. "State forester" means the director of the energy, minerals and natural resources department, forestry division or the state forester's designee.

AAA. "Statement of understanding" means the statement that persons, partnerships, corporations, associations or other entities that have an active role in major harvest activities or a management role that may impact the harvest shall sign verifying that they are aware that they must comply with the act, 19.20.4 NMAC and the harvest permit. A supervisor of a business entity conducting harvest activities may sign a statement of understanding accepting responsibility for the entity's employees performing major harvest activities.

BBB. "Streamside management area" means the area near a lake, perennial or intermittent watercourse or a wetland designated for special protection in the forest harvest practice plan.

CCC. "Timber deed owner" means the owner of a timber deed recorded with the county clerk in the county where the commercial forest species are located. It does not include a person, corporation, partnership or other entity that has agreed to purchase commercial forest species through a contract, purchase agreement or similar document with title to be transferred after the trees are harvested.

DDD. "Tree" means a woody perennial plant usually having a single main stem generally with few or no branches on its lower part; however, species such Gambel oak (quercus gambelii) and one seed juniper (juniperus monosperma) may be multi-stemmed and species such as fir (abies), spruce (picea) and juniper (juniperus) may have many branches on the stem's lower part.

EEE. "Utilization" means the removal of trees, tree stems or portions of trees from areas within the harvest permit boundaries.

FFF. "Water bar" means a drainage structure such as a ditch, mounded earth or staked log installed across the entire width of a road or skid trail at an approximate 30-degree downslope angle that diverts water runoff into adjacent undisturbed areas.

GGG. "Wetland" means an area that is inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions in New Mexico.

HHH. "Working days" means Monday through Friday, excluding state holidays.

N.M. Admin. Code § 19.20.4.7

19.20.4.7 NMAC - N, 1/1/2002; A, 6/29/2007; A, 9/14/2007