Accepted agricultural practice

A mode of operation that is common to farms or ranches of similar nature, necessary for the operation of such farms or ranches to obtain a profit in money and customarily utilized in conjunction with agricultural use.

Accessory building

A building or structure whose use is incidental and subordinate to that of the main use of the property, and that is located on the same parcel as the main building or use.

Active wildlife site

A wildlife site that has been used within the past five (5) years by a sensitive wildlife species.

Agency official

The federal, state, or local agency head or designee who has authority over a proposed project.

Agricultural structure

A structure located on a farm or ranch and used in the operation for the storage, repair, and maintenance of farm equipment and supplies or for the raising and/or storage of crops and livestock. These include, but are not limited to: barns, silos, workshops, equipment sheds, greenhouses, wind machines (orchards), processing facilities, storage bins and structures.

Agricultural use

The current employment of land for the primary purpose of obtaining a profit in money by raising, harvesting, and selling crops; or by the feeding, breeding, management, and sale of, or production of livestock, poultry, furbearing animals or honeybees; or for dairying and the sale of dairy products; or any other agricultural or horticultural use, including Christmas trees. Current employment of land for agricultural use includes:

    The operation or use of farmland subject to any agriculture-related government program.

    Land lying fallow for one (1) year as a normal and regular requirement of good agricultural husbandry.

    Land planted in orchards or other perennials prior to maturity.

    Land under buildings supporting accepted agricultural practices. Agricultural use does not include livestock feedlots.

Anadromous fish

Species of fish that migrate upstream to freshwater after spending part of their life in the ocean saltwater.

Anaerobic

A condition in which molecular oxygen is absent (or effectively so) from the environment.

Aquaculture

The cultivation, maintenance, and harvesting of aquatic species.

Aquatic area

The water area of a stream, pond, or lake measured at the ordinary high water mark.

Archaeological resources

See “Cultural resource.”

Archival research

Research in primary documents that is likely to yield information regarding human occupation of the area in question, including but not limited to deed, census, cartographic, and judicial records.

Bed and breakfast inn

An establishment located in a structure designed as a single-family dwelling where more than two (2) rooms but fewer than six (6) rooms are rented on a daily basis. Bed and breakfast inns are clearly incidental to the use of a structure as a single-family dwelling and are owner occupied and operated. Bed and breakfast inns operate as transient accommodations, not as rooming or boarding houses.

Best management practices

Conservation techniques and management measures that:

    Control soil loss and reduce water quality degradation caused by nutrients, animal waste, toxins, and sediment;

    Minimize adverse effects to groundwater and surface-water flow and circulation patterns; and

    Maintain the chemical, biological, and physical characteristics of wetlands, ponds, streams, and riparian areas.

Biodiversity (SMA)

A diversity of biological organisms at the genetic, species, ecosystem, and landscape levels.

Boat landing

Cleared area or developed structure used to facilitate launching or retrieving watercraft.

Buffer zone

An area adjacent to a wetland, stream, pond, or other sensitive area that is established and managed to protect sensitive natural resources from human disturbance. In instances that involve a wetland, stream, or pond, the buffer zone includes all or a portion of the riparian area.

Building

Any structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy.

Camping or recreational vehicle

A vacation trailer, camper, self-propelled vehicle, or structure equipped with wheels for highway use that is intended for recreational purposes, but not for residential purposes, and is equipped with plumbing, sink, or toilet. A camping or recreational vehicle shall be considered a dwelling unit and subject to review for consistency with this chapter if it is connected to a sewer system (including septic tank), water, and electrical lines or is occupied on the same parcel for more than sixty (60) days in any consecutive twelve (12) month period.

Campsite

Single camping unit, that usually consists of a cleared, level area for a tent, and may include a parking spur, fire ring, table, and other amenities.

Capability

The ability of land to produce forest or agricultural products due to characteristics of the land itself, such as soil, slope, exposure, or other natural factors.

Cascadian architecture (SMA)

Architectural style using native rockwork, large timber, and steeply pitched roofs in a rustic manner.

Catastrophic situations (SMA)

Forces such as fire, insect and disease infestations, and earth movements.

Childcare center

A facility providing day care to three (3) or more children, but not including:

    The provision of care that is primarily educational, unless provided to a preschool child for more than four (4) hours a day.

    The provision of care that is primarily supervised training in a specific subject, including but not limited to dancing, gymnastics, drama, music or religion.

    The provision of short-term care related to or associated with group athletic or social activities.

    The provision of day care in the provider’s home in the family living quarters for less than thirteen (13) children.

Clear-cut

A created opening of one (1) acre or more.

Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Graphic Signing System

Sign design standards developed for the Scenic Area for public signs in and adjacent to public road rights-of-way.

Commercial development/use

Any facility or use of land or water whose function is primarily retail buying or selling of goods or services or both. This does not include fruit or produce stands.

Commercial forest products

These include timber for lumber, pulp, and firewood for commercial purposes.

Commercial recreation

Any private (non-governmental) recreational activity or facility on privately owned land, excluding nonprofit facilities. This does not include operation of a public recreation facility by a private vendor.

Community facility

Basic utilities and services necessary to support public service needs, including but not limited to water and power utilities, sanitation facilities, public microwave stations and communication facilities, schools, roads and highways. This does not include sanitary landfills.

Consulting parties (cultural resources)

Organizations or individuals who submit substantive written comments to the Development Review Officer in a timely manner because they are concerned with the effects of a proposed use on cultural resources.

Contiguous land

Parcels or other lands that are under the same ownership and have a common boundary, regardless of whether or not portions of the parcels have separate tax lot numbers, lie in different counties, lie in different sections or government lots, lie in different land use or zoning designations, or are separated by public or private roads. Contiguous land does not include parcels that meet only at a single point.

Counties

The six (6) counties within the Scenic Area: Hood River, Multnomah, and Wasco in Oregon, and Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat in Washington.

Created opening (SMA)

A created forest opening with less than eighty percent (80%) crown cover closure of trees averaging less than twenty (20) feet tall.

Creation (wetlands)

A human activity that converts an upland into a wetland. This definition presumes that the area to be converted has not been a wetland in recent times (one hundred (100) to two hundred (200) years).

Cultivation

Any activity that prepares land for raising crops by turning, breaking, or loosening the soil. Cultivation includes plowing, harrowing, leveling, and tilling.

Cultural resource

Evidence of human occupation or activity that is important in the history, architecture, archaeology or culture of a community or region. Cultural resources include, but are not limited to, the following:

    Archaeological resources. Physical evidence or ruins of human occupation or activity that are located on or below the surface of the ground and are at least fifty (50) years old. Archaeological resources include, but are not limited to, the remains of houses, villages, camp and fishing sites, and cave shelters; rock art such as petroglyphs, and pictographs; artifacts such as arrowheads, utensils, tools, fragments of tools and utensils, obsidian flakes or other material byproducts from tool and utensil-making activities; and graves, human remains, and associated artifacts.

    Historic buildings and structures. Standing or aboveground buildings and structures that are at least fifty (50) years old. Historic buildings and structures include, but are not limited to, log cabins, barns, canals, flumes, pipelines, highways, and tunnels.

    Traditional cultural properties. Locations, buildings, structures, and objects that are associated with cultural beliefs, customs, or practices of a living community that are rooted in that community’s history and are important in maintaining the continuing cultural identity of the community. Traditional cultural properties include, but are not limited to, a location associated with the traditional beliefs of a Native American group about its origins or its cultural history, a location where a community has traditionally carried out artistic or other cultural practices important in maintaining its historical identity; and a location where Native American religious practitioners have historically gone, and go today, to perform ceremonial activities. Objects may include petroglyphs, pictographs, rock cairns or other rock structures, trees, and rock outcrops.

Cumulative effects

The combined effects of two (2) or more activities. The effects may be related to the number of individual activities, or to the number of repeated activities on the same piece of ground. Cumulative effects can result from individually minor but collectively significant actions taking place over a period of time.

Cut

An area where soil or earth is excavated or removed in conjunction with development activities.

Days

Calendar days, including weekends and holidays.

Days, working

Days during which Clark County Department of Community Development offices are open to the public, excluding weekends and holidays.

Dedicated site

An area actively devoted to the current use and as delineated on the site plan.

Deer and elk winter range

Areas normally used, or capable of being used, by deer and elk from December through April.

Destruction of wetlands

Loss of the wetlands or any of its component parts, including the filling, draining, or other adverse effect to the sustainable functioning of the wetland.

Developed recreation

Recreational opportunities characterized by high-density use on specific sites and requiring facilities installation. Density of use, amount of site development, and type of recreation site can vary widely across the spectrum of recreation activities.

Development

Any land division or structure, including but not limited to, new construction of buildings and structures, and mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, and excavation.

Diameter at breast height (dbh)

The diameter of a tree as measured at breast height.

Duplex

A building containing two (2) dwelling units and designed for occupancy by two (2) families.

Dwelling, single-family

A detached building containing one (1) dwelling unit and designed for occupancy by one (1) family only.

Dwelling unit

A single unit designed for occupancy by one (1) family and having not more than one (1) cooking area or kitchen.

Effect on treaty rights

To bring about a change in, to influence, to modify, or to have a consequence to Indian treaty or treaty related rights in the Treaties of 1855 with the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakima tribes executed between the individual Indian tribes and the Congress of the United States and as adjudicated by the federal courts.

Endemic

Plant and animal species that are found only in the vicinity of the Columbia River Gorge area.

Enhancement (natural resources)

A human activity that increases one (1) or more functions of an existing wetland, stream, lake, riparian area, or other sensitive area. Enhancement is generally limited to a wetland, stream, lake, riparian area, or other sensitive area that is degraded. Enhancing an area that is in good or excellent condition may reduce biological diversity and eliminate other natural functions and may not be desirable.

Emergency/Disaster

A sudden unexpected occurrence, either the result of human or natural forces, necessitating immediate action to prevent or mitigate significant loss or damaged to life, health, property, essential public services, or the environment.

Emergency/Disaster response

Actions involving any development or vegetation removal that must be taken immediately in response to an emergency/disaster event. Emergency/disaster response actions that do not involve any structural development or ground-disturbance activities are not included in this definition.

Ethnography

The descriptive and analytic study of the culture of particular groups. An ethnographer seeks to understand a group through interviews with its members and often through living in and observing it.

Existing use or structure

A legally established use that existed before the effective date of the Scenic Area Act, the Management Plan, or a land use ordinance established pursuant to the Scenic Area Act. “Legally established” means established in accordance with the law in effect at the time of establishment of the use.

Exploration, development (extraction and excavation), and production of mineral resources

Includes all or any part of the process of surface, underground, or submerged mining of mineral resources. Minerals include soil, coal, clay, stone, sand, gravel, metallic ore, oil and gases and any other material or substance excavated for commercial, industrial or construction use. Exploration of mineral resources means removal of minerals for informational and testing purposes, with no marketing of materials. Development (extraction and excavation) means removal, typically in larger volumes, of minerals for the purpose of marketing and/or production. Production of mineral resources means the use of portable crushing, on-site stockpiling, washing, milling, screening, or sorting equipment or other similar methods of initial treatment of a mineral resource to transport to another site for use or further processing. Secondary processing such as concrete or asphalt batch plants is considered industrial use and not mineral development or production.

Fill

The placement, deposition, or stockpiling of sand, sediment, or other earth materials to create new uplands or create an elevation above the existing surface.

Fire break

A break in groundcover fuels, adjacent to and surrounding buildings.

Forbs

Broad leaved herbs, in contrast to ferns, fern allies, and grasses and grass-like plants.

Foreground (SMA)

One-half (1/2) mile on either side of a traveled road or trail.

Forest products

Commodities produced from a forest, including, but not limited to, timber products, boughs, mushrooms, pine cones, and huckleberries.

Forest practices

Those activities related to the growing and harvesting of forest tree species, as defined by the Washington Forest Practices Act.

Forest use

The growing, propagation, and harvesting of forest tree species and other forest products.

Fully screened

A description of the relative visibility of a structure where that structure is not visible as viewed from a specified vantage point (generally a Key Viewing Area, for the purpose of the Management Plan).

Grade (ground level)

The average elevation of the finished ground elevation as defined by the International Building Code.

Grading

Any excavating or filling of earth materials or any combination thereof, including the land in its excavated or filled condition.

Height of building

The vertical distance from the grade to the highest point of the roof.

Herbaceous

A plant with no persistent woody stem above the ground, with characteristics of an herb.

Herbs

Non-woody (herbaceous) plants, including grasses and grass-like plants, forbs, ferns, fern allies, and non-woody vines. (Note: Seedlings of woody plants that are less than three (3) feet tall shall be considered part of the herbaceous layer.)

Historic buildings and structures

See cultural resource.

Historic survey

Actions that document the form, style, integrity, and physical condition of historic buildings and structures. Historic surveys may include archival research, architectural drawings, and photographs.

Home occupation

Small-scale professional or vocational activities conducted on noncommercial properties in a manner which does not detract from residential or resource characteristics of the surrounding area. Under this chapter, home occupations shall be consistent in definition and usage with the Scenic Area Management Plan provisions for cottage industries and home occupations.

Horses, boarding of

The stabling, feeding, and grooming for a fee, or the renting of stalls for and the care of horses not belonging to the owner of the property, and related facilities, such as training arenas, corrals, and exercise tracks.

Hydric soil

A soil that is saturated, flooded, or ponded long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part.

In-lieu sites

Sites acquired by the Army Corps of Engineers and transferred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for treaty fishing, in lieu of those usual and accustomed fishing areas lost by inundation from reservoir construction. These sites were acquired under the provisions of Public Law 14 and Public Law 100-581, 401. Additional in-lieu sites will be provided for.

Indian tribal government

The governing bodies of the Nez Perce Tribe (Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee), the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (Board of Trustees), the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (Tribal Council), and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation (Tribal Council).

Indian tribes

The Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Industrial uses

Any use of land or water primarily involved in:

    Assembly or manufacture of goods or products;

    Processing or reprocessing of raw materials, processing of recyclable materials or agricultural products not produced within a constituent farm unit;

    Storage or warehousing, handling or distribution of manufactured goods or products, raw materials, agricultural products, forest products, or recyclable materials for purposes other than retail sale and service; or

    Production of electric power for commercial purposes.

Interpretive displays

Signs and structures that provide for the convenience, education, and enjoyment of visitors, helping visitors understand and appreciate natural and cultural resources and their relationship to them.

Key components

The attributes that are essential to maintain the long-term use and productivity of a wildlife site. The key components vary by species and wildlife site. Examples include fledgling and perching trees, watering sites, and foraging habitat.

Key viewing areas

Those portions of important public roads, parks, or other vantage points within the Scenic Area from which the public views Scenic Area landscapes. These include:

Historic Columbia River Highway

Crown Point

Highway I-84, including rest stops

Multnomah Falls

Washington State Route 14

Beacon Rock

Panorama Point Park

Cape Horn

Dog Mountain Trail

Cook Underwood Road

Rowena Plateau and Nature Conservancy Viewpoint

Portland Women’s Forum State Park

Bridal Veil State Park

Larch Mountain

Rooster Rock State Park

Bonneville Darn Visitor Centers

Columbia River

Washington State Route 141

Washington State Route 142

Oregon Highway 35

Sandy River

Pacific Crest Trail

SMA only:

Old Washington State Route 14 (County Road 1230)

Wyeth Bench Road

Larch Mountain Road

Sherrard Point on Larch Mountain

Land division

The division or redivision of contiguous land(s) into tracts, parcels, sites or divisions, regardless of the proposed parcel or tract size or use. A land division includes, but is not limited to, short subdivisions, partitions, and subdivisions.

Landscape setting

The combination of land use, landform, and vegetation patterns that distinguish an area in appearance and character from other portions of the Scenic Area.

Livestock feedlot

Stockyards and commercial livestock finishing yards for cattle, sheep, swine, and furbearers. Feedlots do not include winter pasture or winter hay-feeding grounds.

Lot line adjustment

Transfer of a portion of a parcel from one (1) owner to the owner of an adjacent parcel resulting in no increase in the number of parcels.

Management plan

The document entitled “Management Plan for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area” adopted October 14, 1991. The Management Plan becomes effective upon approval of land use ordinances by the Commission for the General Management Area and concurrence of land use ordinances by the Secretary of Agriculture for the Special Management Area.

Mitigation

The use of any or all of the following actions:

    Avoiding the impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action.

    Minimizing impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation.

    Rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment.

    Reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action.

Multifamily dwelling

A dwelling constructed or modified into two (2) or more single-family units.

Native species

Species that naturally inhabit an area.

Natural resources

Naturally occurring features including land, water, air, plants, animals (including fish), plant and animal habitat, and scenery.

Natural resource specialist

A person with professional qualifications, including an academic degree or sufficient professional experience, in the subject matter the specialist is being asked to analyze or evaluate.

Natural resource-based recreation (SMA)

Recreation activities, uses, or facilities that essentially depend on the unique natural, scenic, or cultural resources found within the Scenic Area. Campgrounds, trails, boating and windsurfing facilities, swimming beaches, picnic sites, viewpoints, interpretive parks, and similar outdoor recreation facilities are considered resource-based; golf courses, tennis courts, and rental cabins are not.

Nonprofit organization

An organization whose nonprofit status has been approved by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Old growth

Any stand of trees ten (10) acres or greater generally containing the following characteristics:

    Contain mature and over-mature trees in the overstory and are well into the mature growth state;

    In coniferous forests, will usually contain a multilayered canopy and trees of several age classes;

    In coniferous forests, standing dead trees and down material are present; and

    Evidence of man’s activities may be present, but does not significantly alter the other characteristics and would be a subordinate factor in description of such a stand.

Open spaces

Unimproved lands not designated as agricultural lands or forest lands by the Management Plan and designated as open space by the Management Plan. Open spaces include:

    Scenic, cultural, and historic areas;

    Fish and wildlife habitat;

    Lands which support plant species that are endemic to the Scenic Area or which are listed as rare, threatened or endangered species pursuant to State or Federal Endangered Species Acts;

    Ecologically and scientifically significant natural areas;

    Outstanding scenic views and sites;

    Water areas and wetlands;

    Archaeological sites, Indian burial grounds and village sites, historic trails and roads and other areas which are culturally or historically significant;

    Potential and existing recreation resources; and

    Federal and state wild, scenic, and recreation waterways.

Ordinary high water mark

The mark on all streams, ponds, and lakes that will be found by examining the bed and banks and ascertaining where the presence and action of waters are so common and usual, and so long continued in all ordinary years, as to mark upon the soil a vegetative character distinct from that of the abutting upland. In any area where the ordinary high water mark cannot be found, the line of mean high water shall substitute.

Parcel

    Any parcel legally created by a short division, partition, or subdivision.

    Any unit of land legally created and separately described by deed or sales contract prior to November 17, 1986, created in compliance with applicable planning, zoning, and land division ordinances or regulations.

    A unit of land created and separately described by deed or sales contract after November 17, 1986, if the unit created was approved by the Gorge Commission or the Forest Service Scenic Area Office.

    A unit of land shall not be considered a separate parcel simply because the subject tract of land:

o    Is a unit of land created solely to establish a separate tax account,

o    Lies in different counties;

o    Lies in different sections or government lots;

o    Lies in different land use or zoning designations; or

o    Is dissected by a public or private road.

Partial retention

A visual quality objective that provides for management activities that may be evident but must remain visually subordinate to the characteristic landscape. Activities may repeat form, line, color, or texture common to the characteristic landscape, but changes in their qualities of size, amount, intensity, direction, pattern, etc., shall remain visually subordinate to the characteristic landscape.

Practicable

Able to be done, considering technology and cost.

Pre-existing

Existing prior to the adoption of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Management Plan.

Primarily

A clear majority as measured by volume, weight, or value.

Project area

The geographic area or areas within which new development and uses may cause changes in the character or use of cultural resources, if any such resources exist.

Public use facility

Recreation development(s) that meet the definition of “recreation facility” in the Management Plan and are open for use by the general public. Private clubs and other facilities limited to members or otherwise restricted in availability shall not be considered public use facilities.

Rare plant species

Used in a generic sense to refer to various categories of sensitive plants cited in federal and state programs.

Recreation facility

A cluster or grouping of recreational developments or improvements located in relatively close proximity to one another, and that are not separated in distance by more than one quarter (1/4) mile of land that does not contain any such developments or improvements, except for roads and/or pathways.

Reconnaissance survey

Actions conducted to determine if archaeological resources are present in an area that would be affected by a proposed use. Reconnaissance surveys may include archival research, surface surveys, subsurface testing, and ethnographic research.

Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS)

A means of classifying areas in relation to the types of recreation opportunities and experiences they provide or are appropriate for. The spectrum ranges from primitive (wilderness areas) to urban (highly modified areas).

    Primitive: Remote, inaccessible areas with a high degree of solitude and with resources essentially unmodified.

    Semi-primitive: Areas accessible only by primitive transportation routes, with low to moderately infrequent human encounters and with only subtle modifications to the natural setting.

    Roaded Natural: Roaded areas with moderately frequent human encounters and with resource modifications evident.

    Rural: Roaded areas with moderate to highly frequent human encounters and with the natural setting dominated by cultural modifications.

    Suburban: Areas representing the rural urban interface, with urban like roads, structures, highly frequent human encounters, and dominant resource modifications encroaching into the rural landscape.

    Urban: Highly accessible, roaded areas dominated by human encounters and human related structures.

Recreation resources

Areas and facilities that provide recreation opportunities and experiences. Recreation resources include semi-primitive areas with few facilities and developed sites.

Rehabilitation (natural resources)

A human activity that returns a wetland, stream, buffer zone, or other sensitive area that was disturbed during construction of a permitted use to its natural or preconstruction condition.

Repair and maintenance

An activity that restores the size, scope, configuration, and design of a serviceable structure to its previously authorized and undamaged condition. Activities that change the size, scope, and configuration of a structure beyond its original design are not included in this definition.

Resource-based recreation

Those recreation uses that are essentially dependent upon the natural, scenic, or cultural resources of the Scenic Area and that do not adversely affect those resources upon which they depend.

Responsible official

The director of the department of Community Development of Clark County or the director’s authorized designate. The responsible official is responsible for the administration, interpretation and implementation of this chapter.

Restoration

A human activity that returns a resource from a disturbed or altered condition to a previous, less disturbed or less altered condition. This definition does not modify or eliminate the Management Plan definition of restoration applicable only to wetlands.

Restoration (wetlands)

A human activity that converts an area that was formerly a wetland back into a wetland. This definition presumes that the area to be restored no longer qualifies as a wetland because of past activities, alterations, or catastrophic events.

Retention

A visual quality objective that provides for management activities that are not visually evident to the casual visitor. Management activities may only repeat form, line, color, and texture that are frequently found in the characteristic landscape. Changes in their qualities of size, amount, intensity, direction, pattern, etc., shall not be evident.

Review uses

Proposed uses and developments that must be reviewed by a county planning department, the Gorge Commission, or the Forest Service to determine if they comply with the policies and guidelines in the Management Plan.

Riparian area

The area immediately adjacent to streams, ponds, lakes, and wetlands that directly contributes to the water quality and habitat components of the water body. This may include areas that have high water tables and soils and vegetation that exhibit characteristics of wetness, as well as upland areas immediately adjacent to the water body that directly contribute shade, nutrients, cover, or debris, or that directly enhance water quality within the water body.

Road

The entire right-of-way of any public or private way that provides ingress to or egress from property by means of vehicles or other means or that provides travel between places by means of vehicles. “Road” includes, but is not limited to:

    Ways described as streets, highways, throughways, or alleys.

    Road related structures that are in the right-of-way, such as tunnels, culverts, or similar structures.

    Structures that provide for continuity of the right-of-way, such as bridges.

Scenic Area

The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

Scenic travel corridor

Those portions of Interstate 84, the Historic Columbia River Highway, Oregon Highway 35, and Washington State Routes 14, 141, and 142 located in the Scenic Area and specifically designated to be managed as scenic and recreational travel routes.

Secretary

The Secretary of Agriculture.

Sensitive plant species

Plant species that are:

    Endemic to the Columbia River Gorge and vicinity, and

    Listed as endangered or threatened pursuant to federal or state endangered species acts; or listed as endangered, threatened or sensitive by the Oregon or Washington Natural Heritage Program.

In the Special Management Area, sensitive plant species also include plant species recognized by the Regional Forester as needing special management to prevent them from being placed on federal or state endangered species lists.

Sensitive wildlife species

Animal species that are:

    Listed as endangered or threatened pursuant to federal or state endangered species acts;

    Listed as endangered, threatened, sensitive, or candidate by the Washington Wildlife Commission; or

    Considered to be of special interest to the public, limited to great blue heron, osprey, mountain goat golden eagle, and prairie falcon rearing ponds.

In the Special Management Area, sensitive wildlife species also include animal species recognized by the Regional Forester as needing special management to prevent them from being placed on federal or state endangered species lists.

Service station

A business operated for the purpose of retailing and delivering motor vehicle fuel into the fuel tanks of motor vehicles.

Serviceable

Presently useable.

Shall

Action is mandatory.

Should

Action is encouraged.

Shrub

A woody plant usually greater than three (3) feet but less than twenty (20) feet tall that generally exhibits several erect, spreading, or prostrate stems and has a bushy appearance. (Note: For the Management Plan, seedlings of woody plants that are less than three (3) feet tall shall be considered part of the herbaceous layer.)

Sign

Any placard, poster, billboard, advertising structure or inscribed surface, pattern or artificial lighting, pictorial or symbolic ornament, emblematic structure, banner, fluttering apparatus, statue, model, ornamental figure, or other visually communicative or expressive device that is visible from an out-of-doors position and is used to advertise or call the public’s attention to any public, business, commercial, industrial, recreational or any other activity, object for sale or lease, person or place, or to bear any kind of message. It includes any surface on which a name, text, device, signal, ornament, logotype, or advertising matters is made visible. The meaning of “sign” shall also include any sign currently in disuse, but still visible from an out-of-doors position, and any frame or support structure erected specifically to bear or uphold a sign.

Significant cultural resource (SMA)

A cultural resource that is included in, or eligible for inclusion in, the National Register of Historic Places. (The criteria for evaluating the eligibility of properties for the National Register of Historic Places appear in “National Register Criteria for Evaluation” [36 CFR 60].)

Skyline

The line that represents the place at which a landform, such as a cliff, bluff or ridge, meets the sky, as viewed from a specified vantage point (generally a Key Viewing Area, for the purpose of the Management Plan). In areas with thick, unbroken tree cover, the skyline is generally formed by the top of the vegetative canopy. In treeless areas or areas with more open tree cover, the skyline is generally formed by the surface of the ground.

Soil capability class

A classification system developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service to group soils as to their capability for agricultural use.

Special habitat area

Wetlands, mudflats, shallow water, and riparian vegetation that have high values for waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors, songbirds, upland game, and reptiles.

Special streams

Streams that are primary water supplies for fish hatcheries and rearing ponds.

Stand

A group of trees possessing uniformity in regard to type, age, vigor, or size.

Story

A single floor level of a structure, as defined by the International Building Code.

Streams

Areas where surface water produces a defined channel or bed, including bedrock channels, gravel beds, sand and silt beds, and defined-channel swales. The channel or bed does not have to contain water year-round. This definition is not meant to include irrigation ditches, canals, storm or surface water runoff structures, or other artificial watercourses unless they are used to convey streams naturally occurring prior to construction of such watercourses.

For the Management Plan, streams are categorized into two (2) classes: perennial streams and intermittent streams. Perennial stream means a stream that flows year-round during years of normal precipitation. Intermittent stream means a stream that flows only part of the year, or seasonally, during years of normal precipitation.

Structure

That which is built or constructed, an edifice or building of any kind, or any piece of work artificially built up or composed of parts joined together in some definite manner. This includes, but is not limited to, buildings, walls, fences, roads, parking lots, signs, and additions/alterations to structures.

Subsurface testing

Any procedure that removes material from beneath the ground surface for the purpose of identifying cultural resources, such as shovel tests, posthole digger tests, and auger borings.

Suitability

The appropriateness of land for production of agricultural or forest products or for recreation, considering its capability for production; surrounding uses and features associated with development; compatibility with scenic, cultural, natural and recreation resources, compatibility among uses; and other cultural factors, such as roads, powerlines, dwellings, and size of ownership.

Travelers accommodations

Any establishment having rooms rented or kept for rent on a daily or weekly basis to travelers or transients for a charge or fee paid or to be paid for rental use or use of facilities.

Treaty rights or other rights

Rights reserved by the Indian tribes through the Treaties of 1855. These include the right of fishing at all usual and accustomed places, as well as the privilege of pasturing livestock and hunting and gathering on open and unclaimed lands in common with the citizens of the states.

Tributary fish habitat

Streams that are used by anadromous or resident fish for spawning, rearing and/or migration.

Undertaking

Any project, activity, program or development or change in land use that can result in changes in the character or use of a cultural resource, if any such cultural resources are located in the area of potential effects. For federal undertakings, the project, activity, or program must be under the direct or indirect jurisdiction of a federal agency or licensed or assisted by a federal agency. Undertakings include new and continuing projects, activities, or programs and any of their elements [36 CFR 800.2(o)].

Unimproved lands

Lands that generally do not have developments such as buildings or structures.

Upland

Any area that does not qualify as a wetland because the associated hydrologic regime is not sufficiently wet to elicit development of vegetation, soils, and/or hydrologic characteristics associated with wetlands.

Uses allowed outright

New uses and developments that may occur without being reviewed by a county planning department, the Gorge Commission, or the Forest Service to determine if they are consistent with the Management Plan.

Utility facility

Any structure that provides for the transmission or distribution of water, sewer, fuel, electricity, or communications.

Viewshed

A landscape unit seen from a Key Viewing Area.

Visual Quality Objective (VQO)

A set of visual management goals established by the Forest Service to achieve a desired visual objective. These objectives include retention and partial retention, and others in the Mt. Hood and Gifford Pinchot National Forest Plans.

Visually subordinate

A description of the relative visibility of a structure where that structure does not noticeably contrast with the surrounding landscape, as viewed from a specified vantage point (generally a Key Viewing Area, for the Management Plan). As opposed to structures that are fully screened, structures that are visually subordinate may be partially visible. They are not visually dominant in relation to their surroundings.

Water-dependent

Uses that absolutely require, and cannot exist without, access or proximity to, or siting within, a water body to fulfill their basic purpose. Water-dependent uses include, but are not limited to, docks, wharfs, piers, dolphins, certain fish and wildlife structures, boat launch facilities, and marinas. Dwellings, parking lots, spoil and dump sites, roads, restaurants, trails and paths, trailer parks, resorts, and motels are not water-dependent.

Water-related

Uses not directly dependent upon access to a water body, but whose presence facilitates public access to and enjoyment of a water body. In the GMA, water-related uses shall be limited to boardwalks, trails and paths, observation decks, and interpretative aids, such as kiosks and signs.

Wetlands

Areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. This does not include riparian areas, rivers, streams, and lakes.

Wetlands functions

The beneficial roles that wetlands serve, including storage, conveyance, and attenuation of floodwaters and stormwaters; groundwater recharge and discharge; protection of water quality and reduction of sediment and erosion; production of waterfowl, game and nongame birds, mammals, and other living resources; protection of habitat for endangered, threatened, and sensitive species; food chain support for a broad range of wildlife and fisheries; educational, historical, and archaeological value protection; and scenic, aesthetic, and recreational amenities.

Woody plant

A seed plant (gymnosperm or angiosperm) that develops persistent, hard, fibrous tissues.