010-15 Wyo. Code R. § 15-3
(a) "Assessment" means any activity conducted for assessing rangeland health including, but not limited to, current condition and long term health trends.
(b) "Audit" means an unbiased examination and evaluation of the governmental agency data collected, records, financial accounts, and financial statements associated with a RHAP to verify their accuracy.
(c) "Budget" means an itemized summary of estimated or intended income and expenditures for a given period.
(d) "Credible data" means scientifically valid data collected under an accepted rangeland monitoring plan, including quality control, quality assurance procedures, and historical data.
(e) "Cooperative Monitoring" means rangeland monitoring established as a planned effort between a land management agency and permittees / lessees / landowners, or other partners sharing similar interests. The actual monitoring may be carried out jointly or by any individual partner with the objective of providing information to all parties to guide decision making and adaptive management and to help the parties evaluate relative success in applied management, in implementing guidance provided by the grazing permit / lease, and in meeting or moving toward mutually designed objectives.
(f) "Director" means the Director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture.
(g) "Ecological site" means a distinctive kind of land with specific soil and physical characteristics that differs from other kinds of land in its ability to produce distinctive kinds and amounts of vegetation, and in its ability to respond similarly to management actions and natural disturbances. Unlike vegetation classification, ecological site classification uses climate, soil, geomorphology, hydrology, and vegetation information to describe the ecological potential of land areas. A particular ecological site may feature several plant communities (described by vegetation classification) that occur over time and/or in response to management actions.
(h) "Ecological site description" means reports that describe the biophysical properties of ecological sites and vegetation and surface soil properties of reference conditions that represent either:
(i) "Governmental agency" means the University of Wyoming, institutions of higher education and other qualified state and local governmental agencies.
(j) "Match" means cash and/or in-kind contributions. Contributions must have value and must be applicable to the period to which the matching requirement applies and must be necessary for the project. Examples of in-kind contributions include: labor, materials, and professional services. In-kind contributions must be verifiable from the records of the governmental agency. These records must show how the value placed on in-kind contributions was derived. Labor services will be reported using rates consistent with those ordinarily paid by the governmental agency or other employers for similar work in the same labor market. Donated supplies and equipment will be valued at market value at the time of donation. Loaned equipment will be valued at the fair rental rate of the equipment at the time of donation.
(k) "Monitoring Plan" means a proposed or tentative course of action, including goals for the monitoring area and measurable objectives which are designed to evaluate progress towards meeting the goal. It must also identify the type, level and method of monitoring, as well as the responsible party.
(l) "Partner" means each party participating on a particular project.
(m) "Program Application" means the application form and associated documents required for inclusion in the RHAP. The form will be prescribed and document templates distributed by the WDA.
(n) "Project" means an approved individual Rangeland Health Assessment Program plan.
(o) "Rangeland" means expansive, mostly unimproved lands on which a significant portion of the natural vegetation is native grasses, grass-like plants, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forb, and shrubs. Rangelands include natural grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, savannahs, tundra, most deserts, and riparian and wetland plant communities including marshes and wet meadows. Includes lands revegetated naturally or artificially that are managed like native vegetation.
(p) "Rangeland health assessment" means an evaluation of rangeland resources utilizing approved and scientifically accepted protocols and methodologies to determine an areas current state or its ability to support site-specific objectives.
(q) "Rangeland health determination" means a determination of whether or not a rangeland is healthy, at risk, or unhealthy based on the evaluation of three criteria:
(r) "Rangeland monitoring" means the orderly collection, analysis, and interpretation of resource data to evaluate progress toward meeting management objectives. This process must be conducted over time in order to determine whether or not management objectives are being met.
(s) "RHAP" means the Rangeland Health Assessment Program.
(t) "Vegetation Loss" means loss of plants or plant species above what would be expected from proper grazing management of livestock taking into account other herbivores present (e.g., wildlife, insects). It does not include proper utilization of forage plants by domestic livestock.
(u) "WDA" means the Wyoming Department of Agriculture.
010-15 Wyo. Code R. § 15-3