California Code of Regulations
Title 14 - Natural Resources
Division 1.5 - Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
Chapter 9.8 - Chaparral Management
Article 1 - Introduction
Section 1561.1 - Definitions

Universal Citation: 14 CA Code of Regs 1561.1
Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024

PRC Section Containing Ref. Def.

The definitions set forth in this section and the definitions contained in Sections 4104 and 4464 of the Public Resources Code are applicable to this chapter.

PRC Sec. Containing Ref. Def.
"Act" means the provisions of Chapter 525, Statutes of 1980.
"Board" means the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. 700(a),
730
"Chaparral" means brush stands that may fall into one or more of three types: "hard" chaparral, "soft" chaparral, and mountain brush.
Hard chaparral is characterized by usually dense stands of tough, upright woody shrubs such as manzanita (Arctostaphylos Spp. Ceanothus Spp.), scrub oak (Quercus Spp.), and chamise (Adenostoma Spp.). These plant communities are highly flammable after 20-30 years, and may burn inadvertently every 20 to 50 years.
Soft chaparral is characterized by shrubs such as sage (Saliva Spp.) buckwheat (Eriogonum Spp.) and sagebrush (Artemisia Spp.). These shrubs tend to be limber, and grow in less dense, more penetrable stands. Because grasses are a common component, this type may burn inadvertently on a more frequent cycle, as little as 2-5 years.
Mountain brush, or forest chaparral, may occur at higher altitudes on large acreages as a secondary succession stage in coniferous forests. Most species are different from those of the "hard" chaparral and include many deciduous species.
"Cost-share" means the proportionate amount of the resources needed for site preparation, prescribed fire operations and liability insurance that is to be provided by each party according to the cost sharing agreement. The state's share of the costs shall bear the same ratio to the total costs of the operation as the public benefits bear to all public and private benefits to be derived from the operation, but will not exceed 90% of the total project cost.
"Cost-sharing agreement" means the written agreement between an eligible landowner and the Department whereby the state assumes responsibility for a percentage of the total cost of the prescribed burning or other hazardous fuels reduction that the state does for the landowner.
"Deer forage lanes" means the narrow strips of treated vegetation through brush stands which provide deer browse and facilitate animal travel.
"Department" means the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. 700(a),
700(b)
"Director" means the Director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or his/her duly authorized representative.
"Eligible landowner" means an owner of property, or any other person meeting the requirements of PRC 4475 and 14 CAC 1562.
"Field capacity" means the amount of water remaining in a well-drained soil when the downward movement of flow into unsaturated soil has become small or negligible.
"Fire hazard" means the fuel complex defined by kind, arrangement, volume, condition, and location that forms a special threat of ignition and suppression difficulty.
"Fish and wildlife habitat improvement" means the changes made to protect or enhance food, escape, resting, nesting, roost cover, and water supplies for wildlife, or to better water flows and other stream conditions for fish and other aquatic life.
"Foreseeable damage" means the predictable undesired effects of a prescribed burn or its aftermath. These effects include, but are not limited to, damage to structures or other improvements, accelerated erosion and sedimentation, air pollution, loss of soil productivity, and other resource damages.
"Forest land" means the land having at least 10% of the area occupied by tree crowns of any size, or formerly having had such tree cover and not currently zoned for uses incompatible with forest management.
"Geologic hazard area" means the site of "foreseeable damage" from erosion or mass earth movement. Factors to be considered in identification of such areas are precipitation, soil characteristics, slope, vegetation cover and geology, including evidence of previous land sliding and dip of bedding planes or jointing systems.
"Participant" means a person who has entered into a cost sharing contract with the Director.
"Person." 4464(f)
"Prescribed burning or prescribed fire and other hazardous fuel reduction." 4464(e),
4464(a).
"Prevailing costs" means the values of supplies, material and the pay rental rates for services and equipment that are approved by the Board for use by the Director in estimating and computing the cost of completing a prescribed burning or other hazardous fuels reduction project.
"Program" means all the Director's activities relating to the selection, planning, operations, and administration of vegetation management projects.
"Project" means all work necessary to complete the planning, prescription development, preparation of the site or sites, and to complete the prescribed burning or other hazardous fuels reduction treatment of wildlands.
"Project manager" means the designated officer of the Department responsible for working with landowners, preparing prescribed burning or other hazardous fuels reduction plans, determining cost-share ratios, preparing and administering agreements providing leadership of interagency planning to satisfy environmental requirements, and evaluating the results to determine project effectiveness.
"Public benefit" means the improvement in overall welfare resulting from an intentional change in the vegetative cover. Public benefits from vegetation management include reduction of fire hazards, breaking fire/flood cycles, increasing water yields for any beneficial use, improving food and cover for wildlife, increasing forage production for domestic livestock, protection of forests, enhanced esthetics, improving of air quality and recreation potential.
"Rangeland" means the land on which the existing vegetation, whether growing naturally or through management, is suitable for grazing and browsing. "Rangeland" includes any natural grasslands, savannas, shrublands, deserts, woodlands, and wetlands which support a vegetative cover of native grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, shrubs, or naturalized species. "Rangeland" is land that is dominated by vegetation other than trees. Many woodlands (including Eastside ponderosa pine, pinyon, juniper, chaparral, and oak woodlands) are included in "rangelands" because their response to range management principles and activities are similar to those of other shrubby ecosystems.
"Riparian vegetation" means the plant species normally found growing on the moist edges of streams and some lakes. These plants normally have high water-use requirements and usually are incapable of growing on dry hill slopes where they do not have a moisture supply other than residual soil moisture. Typical species include cottonwoods (Populus Spp.), sycamores (Platanus Spp.), willows (Salix Spp.) bay or pepperwood (Umbellularia californica), and alders (Alnus Spp.).
"Site preparation" means the action taken to prepare an area to be burned under prescription. Such preparation may consist of securing control points, providing access for equipment, building temporary firelines and providing water sources.
"Smoke management" means the process of conducting a prescribed burn under specified fuel moisture and meteorological conditions, and using firing techniques that keep the smoke's impact upon the environment within acceptable limits.
"Smoke sensitive areas" means a populated area, an airport, a traveled road or highway, areas designated Class I for visibility standards, or any place where smoke can adversely effect the public health and welfare.
"Snag" means a standing dead tree or a standing section thereof, regardless of species.
"Species diversity" means the variety or number of different plant or animal species in an area.
"State Responsibility Area." 4125-4128
"Vegetation management" means the planned manipulation of living and dead vegetation to achieve desired results and objectives.
"Watercourse" means any well-defined channel with distinguishable bed and bank showing evidence of having contained flowing water indicated by deposit of rock, sand, gravel or soil.
"Watercourse and lake protection zone." 14 CAC 912,
932, 952
"Watershed management" means the protection or enhancement of vegetative cover to provide optimum water yields, to protect water quality, and to minimize soil erosion, flood peaks and downstream sediment damage.
"Wet meadows, marshes, and other wet areas" means those natural areas, except cutover lands as defined in PRC 4522.5, that are moist on the surface throughout most of the year and support aquatic vegetation, grasses, or forbs.
"Wildland." 4464(f)
"Wildland fuel." 4464(h)
"Windrow" means plant material and/or debris that has been mechanically or hand-piled into long, continuous rows.
"Zone" means the land use zone designated by the county where the project is taking or will take place.

1. Amendment of section and NOTE filed 10-27-2009; operative 11-26-2009 (Register 2009, No. 44).

Note: Authority cited: Section 4475.5(b), Public Resources Code. Reference: Sections 4475, 4475.5 and 4476, Public Resources Code.

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