(a) Approved management plan means a plan approved by the department for the management of an eligible tract which will ensure the continuing production of a merchantable forest crop selected by the owner. Every approved management plan must meet the standards and requirements of section 199.6 of this Part. Such plan must be prepared by or under the direct supervision of a forester who may be the owner or an agent of the owner, including an industrial forester or a cooperating consultant forester.

(b) Assessor means an elected or appointed officer or body of officers charged by law with the duty of assessing real property for the purposes of taxation or special ad valorem levies, for county, city, town, village, school district or special district purposes.

(c) Basal area means the total cross sectional area of all live tree stems expressed as square feet per acre and measured at a point 4 ½feet above the ground.

(d) Certificate of approval means the document issued by the department evidencing that the tract is an eligible tract for purposes of the real property tax exemption authorized by section 480-a of the Real Property Tax Law (RPTL).

(e) Commercial harvest cutting means the removal of a forest crop from an eligible tract of forest land for which the owner receives economic value either from a sale or through utilization. Commercial harvest cutting shall not include up to 10 standard cords which may be cut annually for the owner's own use in accordance with sound forestry practices, or noncommercial cuttings prescribed in the approved management plan.

(f) Commitment means a declaration to the department and the assessor, made on an annual basis by the owner of a certified eligible tract, in writing, on forms provided by the department, committing such tract to continued forest crop production for the next succeeding 10 years under the approved management plan.

(g) Compatible or supportive use means any use of an eligible tract which is desired by the owner and compatible with or supportive of the continuing production of a merchantable forest crop. A use will be considered to be compatible or supportive unless it precludes forest crop production, involves permanent physical construction, or materially alters forest land with significant adverse impact upon the condition of forest crops. Compatible or supportive uses will be permissible but not mandatory components of approved management plans. The inclusion of a compatible or supportive use in an approved management plan does not represent the owner's undertaking to perform the use and does not imply that other compatible or supportive uses may not be undertaken on the eligible tract.

(h) Contiguous acres shall refer to an eligible tract where forest lands are adjacent or near each other. These may be divided by nonforest land owned and controlled by the owner, or Federal, State, county or town roads, easements, rights-of-way, energy transmission corridors, or similar facilities, as long as vehicular access necessary for forest management purposes is not precluded.

(i) Cooperating consultant forester means a forester who, or a forestry consultant firm which, has entered into an agreement with the department under the New York State cooperating consultant foresters program pursuant to section 9-0713 of the Environmental Conservation Law.

(j) Department means the Department of Environmental Conservation.

(k) Diameter at breast height (DBH) means the diameter of a tree measured 4 ½ feet from the ground.

(l) Diameter class means one of the following classifications of the stand:

(m) Eligible tract means a tract of privately owned forest land of at least 50 contiguous acres, exclusive of any portion thereof not devoted to the production of merchantable forest crops, which has a certificate of approval issued by the department. No otherwise eligible tract, or portion thereof, shall be deemed to be ineligible solely on the ground that any general or special State law, or rule or regulation adopted thereunder, partially restricts or requires further approval for forest crop production practices or activities on such tract or portion.

(n) Endangered and threatened species means those species of fish, shellfish, crustacea, wildlife and plants designated or listed as endangered species or threatened species under orders, rules or regulations issued by the department pursuant to section 11-0535 or section 9-1503 of the Environmental Conservation Law.

(o) Forester means an individual who has graduated from a school of forestry recognized by the Society of American Foresters, or who possesses qualifications for the practice of forestry essentially equivalent to those possessed by a graduate of a school of forestry in a curriculum of forest management recognized by the Society of American Foresters.

(p) Forest land means land primarily devoted to and suitable for forest crop production under accepted evenaged or unevenaged forest management systems through natural regeneration or through forestation and sufficiently stocked with forest trees to produce a merchantable forest crop within 30 years of time of original certification. Forest land shall consist of a stand or stands of commercial species of forest trees which contain at least either 500 stems per acre or 60 square feet of basal area per acre which shall be evenly distributed over the area of the stand. The department may approve a smaller number of planted trees per acre if the resulting spacing between trees is appropriate for satisfactory growth for the species being planted. For natural seedlings to be part of a stand, they must be at least one foot in height, and planted trees must be at least in their third growing season on the site.

(q) Forest management area means a specific area of forest land to be managed under the approved management plan. A forest management area may be a planned sale area, anticipated commercial harvest cutting unit, or other defined operational area in which one or more stands, or portions of stands, will be managed collectively. A forest management area may contain any number of forest types, species, diameter classes, or site classes. Management systems and cutting prescriptions within a forest management area may be generic to all stands of the same forest type. Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, within every forest management area, stand prescriptions based upon individual stands shall be provided to the department pursuant to section 199.6(b) of this Part.

(r) Management system means the silvicultural system to be employed on an eligible tract to assure the continued production of merchantable forest crops.

(s) Merchantable forest crop means timber or pulpwood, including veneer bolts, sawlogs, poles, posts, chips and fuelwood, that is produced on forest land, has a value in the market and may be sold.

(t) Noncommercial cutting means the elimination of those trees in a stand on an eligible tract which have no commercial net value in the marketplace because of size, condition or species and that are competing with crop trees.

(u) Owner means the person or persons having legal title to the eligible tract.

(v) Person means any individual, corporation, industry, partnership, association, firm, trust, estate or any other legal entity whatsoever, but shall not include the State, any municipality, or any governmental agency.

(w) Site class means the classification of the stand in terms of the inherent capacity to grow crops for commercial harvest cuttings.

(x) Stand means an aggregation of trees or other growth occupying a specific area and sufficiently uniform in species composition, arrangement or condition so as to be distinguishable from adjacent areas. Every stand shall be forest land, as defined in this section.

(y) Stand prescription means the stand analysis documents specifying all of the work necessary to accomplish the management system in a stand and will be based upon an onsite inspection of the stand by a forester.

(z) Stumpage value means the current fair market value of a merchantable forest crop as it stands prior to the time of sale, cutting, required cutting or removal. Stumpage value shall be determined by the department through one or more of the following methods: the sale price of the crop in an arm's-length sale, a review of solicited bids, the stumpage price report prepared by the department, comparison with like sales on State forests or private lands, or other appropriate means to assure that a fair market value is established within an acceptable range based on the appropriate geographic area.

(aa) Type means the classification of the stand according to generally accepted forest procedures.