Or. Admin. Code § 350-082-0070 - Definitions

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As used in this land use ordinance, unless otherwise noted, the following words and their derivations have the following meanings. Unless otherwise noted, these definitions apply to both General Management Area (GMA) and Special Management Areas (SMAs).

(1) 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.

(2) Accessible: In compliance with the Federal accessibility guidelines and standards. Accessible sites and facilities do not contain barriers limiting their use by people with disabilities.

(3) Accessory structure or Accessory building: A structure or detached building 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. The term "detached" means that the main building and accessory building do not share a common wall. An accessory building connected to the main building by a breezeway is a detached building.

(4) Accessory renewable energy system: A system accessory to a primary structure or allowed use on the parcel that converts energy into a usable form such as electricity or heat and conveys that energy to the allowed structure or use. An Accessory Renewable Energy System is a solar thermal, photovoltaic, or wind turbine structure, or group of structures designed to offset all or part of the annual energy requirements of the primary use on the subject parcel.

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

(6) Addition: An extension or increase in the area or height of an existing building.

(7) Adversely affect or Adversely affecting: A reasonable likelihood of more than moderate adverse consequence for the scenic, cultural, recreation or natural resources of the scenic area, the determination of which is based on-

(a) the context of a proposed action;

(b) the intensity of a proposed action, including the magnitude and duration of an impact and the likelihood of its occurrence;

(c) the relationship between a proposed action and other similar actions which are individually insignificant but which may have cumulatively significant impacts; and

(d) and proved mitigation measures which the proponent of an action will implement as part of the proposal to reduce otherwise significant effects to an insignificant level.

(8) Agency official: The federal, state, or local agency head or designee who has authority over a proposed project.

(9) Agricultural building: A building 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 or storage of crops and livestock. These include, but are not limited to: barns, silos, workshops, equipment sheds, greenhouses, and processing facilities.

(10) Agricultural specialist (SMA only): A person such as a county extension agent with a demonstrated knowledge of farming operations, and a demonstrated ability to interpret and recommend methods to implement regulations pertaining to agriculture. Such abilities are usually obtained through a combination of higher education and experience.

(11) Agricultural structure: A structure (not including buildings) located on a farm or ranch and used in the operation. These include, but are not limited to: wind machines (orchards), storage bins, fences, trellises, and irrigation systems.

(12) 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, fur-bearing 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:

(a) The operation or use of farmland subject to any agriculture-related government program;

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

(d) Land under buildings supporting accepted agricultural practices; and

(e) Agricultural use does not include livestock feedlots.

(13) Air: The mixture of gases comprising the Earth's atmosphere.

(14) Anadromous fish: Species of fish that migrate upstream to freshwater after spending part of their life in the ocean (saltwater).

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

(16) Aquaculture: The cultivation, maintenance, and harvesting of aquatic species.

(17) Aquatic area: The water area of a stream, pond, or lake measured at the ordinary high water mark.

(18) Archaeological resources: See cultural resource.

(19) 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.

(20) Background: One of three main visibility distance zones used to determine relative sensitivity of a development, structure, or use based on its distance from the viewer. Background is represented in the space from four miles to the horizon.

(21) Bed and breakfast inn: An establishment located in a structure designed as a single-family dwelling where more than two rooms but fewer than six 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 traveler accommodations, not as rooming or boarding houses.

(22) Best Management Practices (BMPs): 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.

(23) Biodiversity (SMA only): A diversity of biological organisms at the genetic, species, ecosystem, and landscape levels.

(24) Boat landing: Cleared area or developed structure used to facilitate launching or retrieving watercraft.

(25) 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.

(26) Building: Any structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy. Buildings have a roof supported by columns or walls. They include, but are not limited to, dwellings, garages, barns, sheds, and shop buildings.

(27) Camping vehicle 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 vehicle or recreational vehicle shall be considered a dwelling unit if it is connected to a sewer system (including septic tank), water, and electrical lines, or occupied on the same parcel for more than 60 days in any consecutive 12-month period.

(28) 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.

(29) 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.

(30) Canopy closure (SMA only): For forest practices, the percentage measuring the degree to which one layer of a tree canopy blocks sunlight or obscures the sky as measured from below.

(31) Cascadian architecture (SMA only): Architectural style using native rock work, large timber, and steeply pitched roofs in a rustic manner.

(32) Catastrophic situations (SMA only): Forces such as fire, insect and disease infestations, and earth movements.

(33) Childcare center: A facility providing daycare to three or more children, but not including:

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

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

(d) The provision of daycare in the provider's home in the family living quarters for less than 13 children.

(34) Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Graphic Signing System: Sign design standards developed for the National Scenic Area for public signs in and adjacent to public road rights-of-way.

(35) Columbia River treaty tribes: See definition for Indian tribes.

(36) Commercial event: An organized gathering at an allowed commercial development. Such events include weddings, receptions, indoor concerts, and farm dinners, and are incidental and subordinate to the primary use on a parcel.

(37) Commercial development or 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 and produce stands.

(38) Commercial forest products: These include timber for lumber, pulp, and firewood for commercial purposes.

(39) 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.

(40) 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.

(41) Consulting parties (cultural resources): Organizations or individuals who submit substantive written comments to the Executive Director in a timely manner because they are concerned with the effects of a proposed use on cultural resources.

(42) Contiguous land: Parcels or other lands that are under the same ownership and have a common boundary, regardless of whether 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.

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

(44) Created opening (SMA only): A created forest opening with less than 40 percent average canopy closure of overstory trees and less than 60 percent average canopy closure of understory trees averaging less than five inches diameter at breast height for coniferous forests and less than 25 percent total canopy cover for oak woodlands. This definition does not include agricultural fields.

(45) 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 (100 to 200 years).

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

(47) Cultural resource: The objects, features, sites and places that have meaning and significance for specific human groups and cultures. Cultural resources support the cohesive bonds of the communities that recognize and comprehend their significance. Cultural resources can be divided into four types: archaeological resources, historic buildings and structures, traditional cultural properties, and traditional use areas.

(a) Archaeological resources: The artifacts and features left in the landscape of early American Indian activities and the historic activities of early settlers. Artifacts are human-manufactured items and the waste material from manufacture. Features are the human alterations in the landscape. Artifacts include arrowheads and the stone waste flakes from making them and historic cans, bottles, ceramics and wooden and metal objects left in dumps or scattered in the landscape. Features include human-made pits in talus slopes, stacked rocks, rock walls, blazed and scarred trees, ditches, railroad grades, wagon roads, cabin foundations and other human modifications of the natural landscape.

(b) Historic buildings and structures: Standing structures and their associated features. Often, they are still in use but can be abandoned and deteriorating. They are distinct from historic archaeological resources by being above ground and not collapsed to the level of the surrounding landscape.

(c) Traditional cultural properties: Monumental sites, sacred places, legendary areas, mythical locations, traditional gathering areas, and landscapes and landscape features that are identified by the specific communities that hold meaning for them. They maintain and perpetuate values and practices of the group that attach significance to them. They provide spiritual cohesion to the community.

(d) Traditional use areas: Procurement and processing sites in the landscape for every kind of resource a society needs to perpetuate its specific culture. They are the sources for food, medicine, fibers and tools that provide subsistence for a specific group's culture.

(48) Culturally significant foods: Natural resources used by Native Americans for subsistence, medicine and ceremony, including, water, fish, big game, roots, and berries.

(49) Culturally significant plants and wildlife: native plant and animal species essential to the culture of a Native American group.

(50) Cumulative effects: The combined effects of two 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.

(51) Cut: An area where soil or earth is excavated or removed in conjunction with development activities.

(52) Dedicated site: An area actively devoted to the current use and as delineated on the site plan.

(53) Deer and elk winter range: Areas normally used, or capable of being used, by deer and elk from December through April.

(54) 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.

(55) 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.

(56) Developed road prism (SMA only): The area of the ground associated with a particular road and containing the road surface, ditch, shoulder, retaining walls, or other developed features. Does not include the natural appearing portions of cut and fill slopes.

(57) Development: Any land division or new construction or modification of buildings, structures and roads, and any earth-moving activity, including, but not limited to, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, and excavation.

(58) Diameter at breast height (dbh): The diameter of a tree as measured at breast height.

(59) Distance zone: distance zones (see Background, Middleground, and Foreground) are used to determine relative sensitivity of a development, structure, or use based on its distance from the viewer. Generally, the closer a development is to the area it is being viewed from, the more attention will need to be given to site placement, design features, and mitigations to ensure the development blends with the landscape

(60) Duplex: A building containing two dwelling units and designed for occupancy by two families.

(61) Single-family dwelling: A detached building containing one dwelling unit and designed for occupancy by one family only.

(62) Dwelling unit: A single self-contained unit with basic facility needs for day-to-day living. Basic facility needs include, but are not limited to, a food preparation area or kitchen, sleeping area(s), and a bathroom.

(63) Earth materials: Any rock, natural soil or any combination thereof. Earth materials do not include non-earth or processed materials, including, but not limited to, construction debris (e.g., concrete, asphalt, wood), organic waste (e.g., cull fruit, food waste), and industrial byproducts (e.g., slag, wood waste).

(64) 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 Yakama tribes executed between the individual Indian tribes and the Congress of the United States and as adjudicated by the Federal courts.

(65) Emergency/disaster: A sudden unexpected occurrence, either the result of human or natural forces, necessitating immediate action to prevent or mitigate significant loss or damage to life, health, property, essential public services, or the environment.

(66) Emergency/disaster response: Actions involving any development (such as new structures, grading, or excavation) or vegetation removal that must be taken immediately in response to an emergency/disaster event (as defined above). Emergency/disaster response actions not involving any structural development or ground-disturbance (such as use of emergency transport vehicles, communications activities, or traffic control measures) are not included in this definition and are not affected by these provisions.

(67) Endemic: Plant and animal species that are found only in the vicinity of the Columbia River Gorge area.

(68) Enhancement (natural and scenic resources): A human activity that increases or makes greater the value, desirability or attractiveness of one or more functions of an existing sensitive area. For riparian areas, such as wetlands, streams, and lakes, enhancement is generally limited to the area that is degraded. Enhancing a sensitive natural resource area that is in good or excellent condition may reduce biological diversity and eliminate other natural functions and may not be desirable.

(69) Ephemeral streams (SMA only): streams that contain flowing water only during, and for a short duration after, precipitation events.

(70) Equitable recreation: development and services that are equally accessible and available to all people regardless of income level, ethnicity, gender, ability, or age.

(71) 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.

(72) Existing industrial complex: Areas including some existing industrial use and where readily visible remnants of past industrial activities exist. The complex includes buildings, including those abandoned or partially abandoned, paved areas, stockpiles, equipment storage areas, quarry areas, etc., and may include isolated patches of vegetation or rock outcroppings surrounded by areas described above. The complex does not extend to include areas where evidence of past activity is no longer readily evident in the landscape.

(73) Existing use or structure: Any use or structure that was legally established and that has continued to operate lawfully and has not been discontinued. "Legally established" means:

(a) The landowner or developer obtained applicable land use and building permits and complied with land use regulations and other laws that were in effect at the time the use or structure was established, or that were in effect at the time the landowner or developer corrected an improperly established use or structure;

(b) The use or structure was initially operated or constructed according to those applicable permits, land use regulations and other laws, or has been operated or constructed according to permits obtained to correct an improperly established use or structure; and

(c) Any changes to the original use or structure must comply with all applicable permit requirements, land use regulations and other laws that were in effect at the time the change was established.

(74) 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, and transportation of mineral resources from the site. 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. For the Management Plan, this definition includes all exploration and mining, regardless of area disturbed or volume mined. Production of mineral resources means the use of portable crushing, onsite stockpiling, washing, milling, screening, or sorting equipment or other similar methods of initial treatment of a mineral resource and transport to another site for use or further processing. Secondary processing such as concrete or asphalt batch plants are considered industrial uses.

(75) 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.

(76) Finished grade: The final elevation of the ground level of a property after construction is completed.

(77) Footprint: The area that falls directly beneath and shares the same perimeter as a structure.

(78) Forbs: Broad-leaved herbs, in contrast to ferns, fern allies, and grasses and grasslike plants.

(79) Foreground: One of three main visibility distance zones used to determine relative sensitivity of a development, structure, or use based on its distance from the viewer. Foreground is represented in the space from zero (the viewer) up to one-half mile.

(80) Forest health (SMA only): A measure of the robustness of forest ecosystems. Forests are deemed healthy when they have capacity across the landscape for renewal, for the maintenance of wildlife habitats, for recovery from a wide range of disturbances, and for retention of their resilience.

(81) Forest practice (SMA only): Any activity conducted on or directly pertaining to forested land and relating to forest ecosystem management including but not limited to growing, thinning, or removing live or dead forest tree or shrub species, road and trail construction, reforestation, fertilizing, brush control, prevention of wildfire, and suppression of diseases and insects. The removal of hazardous trees is excluded. Uses that include establishment, management or harvest of Christmas trees, nursery stock, or fiber producing tree species requiring intensive cultivation (irrigation, fertilization, etc.) and a harvest rotation of 12 years or less are considered agricultural uses.

(82) Forest practice (GMA only): Those activities related to the growing and harvesting of forest tree species, as defined by the Oregon Forest Practices Act or the Washington Forest Practices Act.

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

(84) Forest Service: The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service - National Scenic Area Office.

(85) Forest stand structure (SMA only): The number, types and spacing of tree species, tree sizes, and canopy layers contained in a stand of trees.

(86) Forest use: The growing, propagation, and harvesting of forest tree species and other forest products.

(87) Fruit and produce stand: A venue on a farm or ranch selling produce and agricultural products primarily grown on the subject farm or ranch. Associated incidental agricultural products from the local region and associated incidental marketing materials shall not make up more than 25% of the sales at the stand. Incidental products may include processed foods like jams and jellies. Foods prepared for consumption on the premises are not permitted. Fruit and produce stands are not a commercial use.

(88) Fully screened: A description used when determining compliance with the scenic standards (visually subordinate and not visually evident), where a structure, development or use is not visible as viewed from a specified vantage point (generally a key viewing area, for the purpose of the Management Plan). See Scenic Resources Implementation Handbook for more information regarding screening for development in the National Scenic Area.

(89) General Management Area or GMA: The portion of the National Scenic Area that is not designated in the National Scenic Area Act as a special management area or an urban area. The National Scenic Area Act does not use the term "general management area."

(90) Gorge Commission: The Columbia River Gorge Commission.

(91) Grade (ground level): The average elevation of the finished ground elevation as defined by the International Building Code.

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

(93) Hazard tree (SMA only): A tree with a structural defect that will predictably result in whole or partial failure within 1.5 tree lengths of a road or maintained development. A defective tree is hazardous only when its failure could result in danger to people or damage to structures, vehicles, or other property.

(94) Height of building: The greatest vertical distance between the point of lowest finished grade adjoining any exterior wall of a building and the highest point of the roof, such as the highest coping or parapet of a flat roof, the highest deck line of a mansard roof, or the highest ridge of a hip, gable, gambrel, shed or other pitched roof.

(95) Herbaceous: A plant with no persistent woody stem above the ground, with characteristics of an herb.

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

(97) Historic buildings and structures: See cultural resource.

(98) 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.

(99) Home occupation: A small-scale commercial use conducted in a legal single-family dwelling or accessory structure, employing the residents of the dwelling and up to three outside employees. Periodic use of home offices, studios, and other work areas used only by the residents of the dwelling are not a home occupation.

(100) Horses, boarding of (GMA only): The stabling, feeding, and grooming, or the use 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. These facilities are either operated for a fee or by a nonprofit organization.

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

(102) Immediate foreground for scenic corridors: A subset of one of the three main visibility distance zones used to determine relative sensitivity of a development, structure, or use based on its distance from the viewer. Immediate foreground is represented in the space from zero (the viewer) up to one-quarter mile. For scenic travel corridors in the GMA, immediate foreground also includes lands within one-quarter mile of the edge of pavement. In the SMAs, immediate foreground includes the developed prism of a road or trail KVA or within the boundary of the developed area of KVAs (such as Crown Point or Multnomah Falls).

(103) In-lieu or treaty fishing access 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 79-14 and Public Law 100-581, Section 401. Additional in-lieu or treaty fishing access sites will be provided for.

(104) Indian tribes: The Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

(105) Industrial uses: Any use of land or water primarily involved in:

(a) Assembly or manufacture of goods or products;

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

(c) 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

(d) Production of electric power for commercial purposes.

(106) 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.

(107) 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.

(108) Key viewing area (KVA): Those portions of identified important public roads, parks, or other vantage points within the National Scenic Area from which the public views National Scenic Area landscapes. Such portions include gathering points, rest areas, roads and trails that provide primary access to the area, parking lots, and associated recreation areas. Identified areas include:

(a) For projects located in the GMA and SMAs:

(A) Historic Columbia River Highway (including the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail)

(B) Crown Point

(D) Multnomah Falls

(E) Washington State Route 14

(F) Beacon Rock

(G) Panorama Point Park

(H) Cape Horn

(I) Dog Mountain Trail

(J) Cook-Underwood Road

(K) Rowena Plateau and Nature Conservancy Viewpoint

(L) Portland Women's Forum State Park

(M) Bridal Veil State Park

(N) Larch Mountain (including Sherrard Point)

(O) Rooster Rock State Park

(P) Bonneville Dam Visitor Centers

(Q) Columbia River

(R) Washington State Route 141

(S) Washington State Route 142

(T) Oregon Highway 35

(U) Sandy River

(V) Pacific Crest Trail

(b) For projects located in the SMAs only:

(A) Old Highway 8 (previously known as Old Washington State Route 14 and County Road 1230)

(B) Wyeth Bench Road (also known as Wyeth Road)

(109) 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.

(110) Landscape setting: The combination of land use, cultural features, landform pattern and features, vegetation, and waterform that distinguish an area in appearance and character from other portions of the National Scenic Area.

(111) Livestock feedlot: Stockyards and commercial livestock finishing yards for cattle, sheep, swine, and fur bearers. Feedlots do not include winter pasture or winter hay-feeding grounds.

(112) Lot line adjustment: Relocation of one or more common boundary lines between two contiguous parcels that does not create additional parcels.

(113) Maintenance: Ordinary upkeep or preservation of a serviceable structure affected by wear or natural elements. Maintenance does not change the original size, scope, configuration, or design of a structure. Maintenance includes, but is not limited to, painting and refinishing, regrouting masonry, patching roofs, grading gravel roads and road shoulders, cleaning and armoring ditches and culverts, filling potholes, controlling vegetation within rights-of-way, removing trees and other roadside hazards within rights-of-way, and testing and treating utility poles.

(114) Managerial setting: the on-site controls (signs, regulations, or other regimentation) and types of facilities recreationists could expect when visiting recreation sites.

(115) Middleground: one of three main visibility distance zones used to determine relative sensitivity of a development, structure, or use based on its distance from the viewer. Middleground is represented in the space between the foreground and the background. The middleground is located from one-half mile up to four miles from the viewer.

(116) Mitigation: The use of any or all the following actions, in the following order of priority:

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

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

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

(e) Offsetting impacts by creating or enhancing affected resources.

(f) Monitoring the result of mitigation actions and taking appropriate corrective actions.

(117) Mosaic (SMA only): The dispersal of overstory and understory leave trees in irregularly spaced clumps of varying sizes throughout an irregularly shaped created forest opening.

(118) Multifamily dwelling: A dwelling constructed or modified into two or more dwelling units.

(119) National Scenic Area: The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

(120) Native species: Species that naturally inhabit an area.

(121) Natural grade: The undisturbed elevation of the ground level of a property before any excavation or construction operations.

(122) Natural resources: Wetlands, streams, ponds and lakes, riparian areas, wildlife and wildlife habitat, rare plants, and natural areas. In the SMAs, natural resources also include soil productivity.

(123) 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.

(124) Natural resource-based recreation (SMA only): Recreation activities, uses, or facilities that essentially depend on the unique natural, scenic, or cultural resources found within the National 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.

(125) Nonprofit organization: An organization whose nonprofit status has been approved by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

(126) Not visually evident (SMA only): One of the two scenic standards applicable within the National Scenic Area. A description of the relative visibility of a development, structure or use that provides for developments, structures, or uses that are not visually noticeable to the casual visitor and the defining landscape setting characteristics appear intact. Deviations may be present but must repeat form, line, color, texture and pattern common to the natural landscape setting so completely and at such scale, proportion intensity, direction, pattern, etc., that it not be noticeable.

(127) Old growth (SMA only): A forest stand usually at least 180-220 years old with moderate to high canopy closure; a multi-layered, multi-species canopy dominated by large overstory trees; high incidence of large trees, some with broken tops and other indications of old and decaying wood (decadence); numerous large snags, and heavy accumulations of wood, including large logs on the ground.

(128) Operational (SMA only): For new agricultural use, an agricultural use shall be deemed operational when the improvements and investments described in the Stewardship Plan are in place on the parcel.

(129) 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.

(130) Other related major structure (SMA only): A structure related to a dwelling on a parcel in an SMA that is less than 40 acres in size, which is not incidental and subordinate to the main use of the property. A building or structure that satisfies the definition of "accessory building" is not an "other related major structure" or a "major development action."

(131) Overnight accommodations (GMA only): The rental of one or more rooms located in legal single-family dwelling on a daily or weekly basis. Overnight accommodations are clearly incidental to the use of a structure as a single-family dwelling and are owner-operated.

(132) Overstory (SMA only): For forest practices, the tall or mature trees that rise above the shorter or immature understory trees.

(133) Parcel:

(a) Any unit of land legally created by a short division, partition, or subdivision that was legally recognized under all state laws and local ordinances in effect on November 17, 1986. A unit of land that is eligible for consolidation as provided in the Management Plan shall not be considered a parcel.

(b) Any unit of land legally created and separately described by deed, sales contract, or record of survey prior to November 17, 1986, if the unit of land complied with all planning, zoning, and land division ordinances or regulations applicable at the time of creation and up through November 16, 1986.

(c) A unit of land legally created and separately described by deed or sales contract after November 17, 1986, if the unit was approved under the Final Interim Guidelines or a land use ordinance consistent with the Management Plan, or by the Forest Service prior to the Final Interim Guidelines.

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

(A) Is a unit of land solely created to establish a separate tax account;

(B) Lies in different counties;

(D) Lies in different land use or zoning designations; or

(E) Is dissected by a public or private road.

(134) Physical setting: the physical quality of the landscape at a recreation site, and how rustic recreation facilities may appear. Physical setting is distinct and not to be confused with landscape settings and landscape setting character descriptions.

(135) Practicable: Able to be done, considering technology and cost.

(136) Preexisting: Existing prior to the adoption of the first Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Management Plan on October 15, 1991.

(137) Previously disturbed: An area of land where the natural surface has been graded, excavated, paved, or graveled.

(138) Priority Habitat: Areas that provide habitat for rare wildlife determined by the Forest Service, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, or Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.

(139) 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.

(140) Public dock: A dock constructed, maintained and operated by a federal, state, local, or tribal government entity to provide public access to a water body.

(141) 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.

(142) Rare plant species: Various categories of plants and plant communities cited in federal and state programs. Rare plants and rare plant ecosystems are:

(a) Endemic to the Columbia River Gorge and vicinity (see 350-082-0690 Table 2 - Columbia Gorge and Vicinity Endemic Species);

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

(c) Designated global or state status rank 1, 2, or 3 by the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center or Washington Natural Heritage Program.

(d) Additionally, in the SMAs, rare 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.

(143) Rare wildlife species: Wildlife species that are:

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

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

(d) Considered to be of special interest to wildlife management authorities and the public (great blue heron, osprey, golden eagle, peregrine falcon, and prairie falcon).

(e) Additionally, in the SMAs, rare 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.

(144) 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 1/4 mile of land that does not contain any such recreational developments or improvements, except for roads or pathways.

(145) Recreation resort: A master-planned development focused on accessing a range of resource-based recreational opportunities, consisting of predominately short-term visitor accommodations and supporting commercial uses.

(146) 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.

(147) 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).

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

(b) Semiprimitive: Areas accessible only by primitive transportation routes, with low to moderately infrequent human encounters and with only subtle modifications to the natural setting.

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

(e) 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.

(f) Urban: Highly accessible, roaded areas dominated by human encounters and human-related structures.

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

(149) Recreation setting: the tool for managing recreation development and opportunities based on the sites social, physical, and managerial setting.

(150) Reflective surface: providing a reflection; capable of reflecting light or other radiation.

(151) Regularly maintained: An area of land that has been previously disturbed and where periodic actions have been taken to keep the area clear of vegetation (e.g., shoulders, utility yards), limit the height and type of vegetation (e.g., utility rights-of-way), or establish and retain non-native vegetation (e.g., landscaped medians, rest area grounds).

(152) 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.

(153) Remnant old forest (SMA only): Large trees in the overstory that are well into the mature growth state (older than 180 years).

(154) Repair: Replacement or reconstruction of a part of a serviceable structure after damage, decay or wear. A repair returns a structure to its original and previously authorized and undamaged condition. It does not change the original size, scope, configuration or design of a structure, nor does it excavate beyond the depth of the original structure. Repair includes, but is not limited to, reroofing a building, replacing damaged guardrails, reconstructing a rotten deck or porch, replacing a broken window or door, replacing a utility pole and associated anchors, replacing a section of broken water or sewer line, replacing a damaged or defective utility line, reconstructing a portion of a building damaged by fire or a natural event, and replacing railroad ties or rails.

(155) Resort core: The portion of a recreation resort formerly occupied by the existing industrial complex.

(156) Resource-based recreation: Those recreation uses that are essentially dependent upon the natural, scenic, or cultural resources of the National Scenic Area and that do not adversely affect those resources upon which they depend.

(157) 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.

(158) 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.

(159) 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, 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.

(160) 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:

(a) Ways described as streets, highways, throughways, or alleys;

(b) Road-related structures that are in the right-of-way, such as tunnels, culverts, or similar structures; and

(161) Scenery Management System: The overall framework for the orderly inventory, analysis, and management of scenery developed in coordination with the Forest Service.

(162) 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 National Scenic Area and specifically designated to be managed as scenic and recreational travel routes.

(163) Secretary: The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

(164) Service station: A business operated for the purpose of retailing and delivering motor vehicle fuel into the fuel tanks of motor vehicles.

(165) Serviceable: Presently useable.

(166) Shall: Action is mandatory.

(167) Should: Action is encouraged.

(168) Shrub: A woody plant usually greater than three feet but less than 20 feet tall that generally exhibits several erect, spreading, or prostrate stems and has a bushy appearance. For this land use ordinance, seedlings of woody plants that are less than three feet tall shall be considered part of the herbaceous layer.

(169) 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.

(170) Significant cultural resource (SMA only): 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).

(171) Skyline: The line that represents the place at which a landform, such as a cliff, bluff, or ridge, meets the sky and is topographically visible from a specified vantage point (generally a key viewing area, for the purpose of the Management Plan). The skyline is formed where the surface of the earth meets the sky except in existing densely forested landscapes with thick, unbroken coniferous tree cover characteristic to its setting, the skyline may be formed by the top of the vegetative canopy.

(172) Social settings: identifies the opportunities for solitude as well as quantity and type of encounters visitors could experience when visiting a recreation site or area.

(173) 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.

(174) Special habitat area: Wetlands, mudflats, shallow water, and riparian vegetation that have high values for waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors, songbirds, upland game, and reptiles.

(175) Special Management Areas, or SMA or SMAs: The portions of the National Scenic Area that Congress designated in section 4(b) of the National Scenic Area Act as special management areas. The legal descriptions of special management areas are contained in Commission Rule 350-10.

(176) Special streams: Streams that are primary water supplies for fish hatcheries and rearing ponds.

(177) Stand: A group of trees possessing uniformity in regard to type, age, vigor, or size.

(178) Story: A single floor level of a structure, as defined by the International Building Code.

(179) Streams: Areas where surface water produces a defined channel or bed, including bedrock channels, gravel beds, sand and silt beds, springs, 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 classes: perennial streams and intermittent or ephemeral 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 (ephemeral), during years of normal precipitation.

(180) 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, patios, driveways, and additions or alterations to structures, including repaving or resurfacing roads, driveways, and patios.

(181) Submit: To deliver a document (e.g., land use application, written comment) to a reviewing agency's office by personal delivery, commercial delivery, mail, fax, or E- mail. When a document must be submitted within a specified period, it must arrive at the reviewing agency's office by the close of business on the last day of the specified period.

(182) 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.

(183) Suitability: The appropriateness of land for production of agricultural or forest products or for recreation, considering its capability for production; whether the land is committed by development to another land use that does not allow for agricultural use; 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.

(184) Thinning (SMA only): A forest practice intended to create favorable conditions for the continued growth of trees within an existing stand of trees. A thinning becomes a forest opening in coniferous forests when the average canopy closure of the overstory layer is zero or less than 40 percent and the understory layer is less than 60 percent average canopy closure of trees averaging less than five inches diameter at breast height. A thinning becomes a forest opening in oak woodlands when the total average canopy closure is less than 25 percent.

(185) Topographic visibility: Refers to areas that can be seen (generally from a key viewing area, for the purpose of the Management Plan) if all vegetation were to be removed.

(186) Total canopy closure (SMA only): For forest practices, the percentage measuring the degree to which all layers of the tree canopy combine together to block sunlight or obscure the sky as measured from below.

(187) Traditional foods: natural and cultural resources that Native Americans rely on for sustenance, based on history, culture and tradition.

(188) Trail characteristics: tools to describe the types of trail conditions that recreationists should expect when visiting a recreation resource.

(189) Treatment (SMA only): For forest practices, a site-specific operation that carries out the forest management objectives for an area.

(190) 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.

(191) 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 (Tribal Council), and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation (Tribal Council).

(192) Tributary fish habitat: Streams that are used by anadromous or resident fish for spawning, rearing or migration.

(193) Unobtrusive: when a structure does not intrude or visually dominate the scene of a landscape and for which the introduced forms, lines, colors, textures, and patterns mimic the native environment.

(194) Understory (SMA only): For forest practices, the shorter or immature trees below the tall or mature overstory trees.

(195) Undertaking: Any project, activity, program, 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 800.16(y)).

(196) Unimproved lands: Lands that generally do not have developments such as buildings or structures.

(197) 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, or hydrologic characteristics associated with wetlands.

(198) 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.

(199) Utility facility: Any structure that provides for the transmission or distribution of water, sewer, fuel, electricity, or communications.

(200) Vested right: The right to develop or continue to develop a use, development or structure that was reviewed and approved pursuant to this Management Plan.

(201) Viewshed: A landscape unit visible from a key viewing area.

(202) Visually subordinate: One of the two scenic standards applicable in the National Scenic Area. A description of the relative visibility of a development, structure, or use where that development, structure, or use does not noticeably contrast with the defining landscape setting characteristics, as viewed from a specified vantage point (generally a key viewing area, for the Management Plan) and the setting appears only slightly altered (distinctive characteristics of that setting remain dominant). As opposed to development, structures, or uses that are fully screened, structures that are visually subordinate may be partially visible but would be difficult to discern to the common viewer. Visually subordinate development, structures, or uses as well as forest practices in the SMAs shall repeat form, line, color, or texture common to the natural landscape, while changes in their qualities of scale, proportion, intensity, direction, pattern, etc., shall not dominate the natural landscape setting.

(203) 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.

(204) 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 are limited to boardwalks, trails and paths, observation decks, and interpretative aids, such as kiosks and signs.

(205) 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.

(206) 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 non-game birds, mammals, and other living resources; protection of habitat for endangered, threatened, and rare species; food chain support for a broad range of wildlife and fisheries; educational, historical, and archaeological value protection; and scenic, aesthetic, and recreational amenities.

(207) Winery or cidery: An agricultural building used for processing fruit into wine or cider, including laboratories, processing areas, offices, and storage areas. A winery or cidery is distinct from a wine or cider sales and tasting room; each of these uses must be explicitly reviewed and approved.

(208) Wine or cider sales and tasting room: A facility that is accessory to a winery or cidery and used for tasting and retail sales of wine or cider, including interior space (e.g., wine bar, sitting room) and exterior space (e.g., patio, veranda). A wine or cider sales and tasting room shall not be used for preparing or serving meals or hosting weddings, receptions or other commercial events, unless allowed, reviewed and approved under the "Commercial Events" provisions in Part II, Chapter 7: General Policies and Guidelines of this Management Plan. A wine or cider sales and tasting room is distinct from a winery or cidery; each of these uses must be explicitly reviewed and approved.

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

Notes

Or. Admin. Code § 350-082-0070

CRGC 1-2022, adopt filed 03/02/2022, effective 5/1/2022

Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 196.150, RCW 43.97.015, 16 USC § 544e(c), 16 USC § 544f(l)

Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 196.150, RCW 43.97.015, 16 USC § 544e(c), 16 USC § 544f(l)

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