CHAPTER 3: FORESTRY (N.J.A.C. 7:3)

1 1 CHAPTER 3: FORESTRY ( 7:3) Statutory Authority: 13 through 102; 13 ; 13:1D-9; 13:1L-1 et seq.; 45:1 9; 52:14B-1 et seq., and 54 et seq. Date Last Amended: December 18, 2017 For regulatory history and effective dates see the New Jersey Administrative Code. Table of Contents SUBCHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS 7 Construction 7 Severability 7 Definitions 7 Submissions and communications 7 through 7 (Reserved) SUBCHAPTER 2. FORESTATION PROGRAM OF THE NEW JERSEY STATE FOREST NURSERY 7 Scope and authority 7 Distribution of forestation stock to New Jersey landowners 7 Compliance 7 Permitted uses of forestation stock 7 through 7 (Reserved) SUBCHAPTER 3.

2 LIST OF APPROVED FORESTERS 7 Scope and purpose 7 Application procedure, qualifications, and approval criteria 7 Professional services of an Approved Forester 7 Standards of conduct 7 Continuing education 7 Semi-annual reports 7 Removal from the List of Approved Foresters 7 Reinstatement to the List of Approved Foresters 7 Adjudicatory hearing requests SUBCHAPTER 4. 7 through 7 (Reserved) 2 SUBCHAPTER 5. FOREST STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM 7 General provisions 7 Plan criteria 7 Title page 7 Background and goals 7 Property overview 7 Forest stands 7 Management schedule 7 Appendices 7 Submission of a plan, plan amendment, or plan conversion 7 Department review 7 Monitoring and recordkeeping 7 Plan amendments 7 Change in ownership 7 Plan conversions SUBCHAPTER 6.

3 FOREST STEWARDSHIP ADVISORY COMMITTEE 7 Committee membership 7 (Reserved.) 7 Appointed members; term and compensation 7 Functions and authority of the Committee 7 Organization and conduct of the Committee 7 Authority and responsibilities of the Chair 3 CHAPTER 3 FORESTRY SUBCHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS 7 Construction (a) The provisions of this CHAPTER shall be liberally construed to permit the Department to discharge its statutory functions. (b) The provisions of this CHAPTER are not intended to, and do not, relieve any person of the duty to comply with all applicable State or Federal statutes, rules, and regulations, or the terms of any easement or other legal obligation.

4 7 Severability If any section, subsection, provision, clause, or portion of this CHAPTER , or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is adjudged unconstitutional or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such judgment shall be confined in its operation to the section, subsection, provision, clause, portion, or application directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered and it shall not affect or impair the remainder of this CHAPTER or the application thereof to other persons or circumstances.

5 7 Definitions The following words and terms, when used in this CHAPTER , shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. "Age" means, with respect to a stand: 1. If the stand is even aged, the mean age of the trees calculated from the year of the stand's establishment; and 2. If the stand is uneven aged, the mean age of the dominant or, if applicable, co-dominant tree species in the stand. "Age class" means an interval into which the age range of trees is divided for classification or utilization.

6 "Age-class distribution" means, with respect to a stand, the location or proportionate representation, or both, of different age classes in the stand. "Agroforestry" means a system of land management that involves deliberate mixture of trees or other woody perennials with crop and animal production to take advantage of economic or ecological interactions among the components. "Approved Forester" means an individual whose name is on the List of Approved Foresters. "Basal area" means the cross-sectional area of: 1.

7 With respect to a single tree, its stem, including the bark, measured at breast height ( feet above the ground), typically expressed in square feet or square meters; and 2. With respect to a stand, or all trees of one or more specified species within the stand, all the trees, measured at breast height ( feet above the ground), typically expressed 4 in square feet or square meters per acre or per other unit of land area. "Biomass" means, with respect to a stand at a given time, the vegetative matter in the stand and is typically expressed in units of volume of wet or dry weight per acre.

8 Depending on the context in which it is used, this term may apply to all vegetative matter in the stand collectively or to a component of the stand, such as a given species of trees or a harvestable forest product. "Canopy cover" means the proportion of the forest floor covered by a vertical projection of the tree crowns, and is expressed as a percent of an area of forest land. Commissioner means the Commissioner of the Department. "Contiguous" shall have the same meaning as defined for this term in the Department of the Treasury's Farmland Assessment Act rules at 18:15, except that no easement that crosses a property and that is held by a public utility or other public entity shall be deemed to disrupt the property's contiguity.

9 "Critical habitat" shall, with respect to a Federally listed threatened or endangered species, have the same meaning as defined for this term in Section 3 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 1532. "Crown" means the part of a tree or woody plant bearing live branches and foliage. "Crown class" means a category of tree based on its crown position relative to those of adjacent trees. Examples of such classes include dominant, co-dominant, intermediate, and overtopped. Department means the Department of Environmental Protection.

10 "Destruction or adverse modification" shall, with respect to a Federally listed threatened or endangered species, have the same meaning as defined for this term in the USFWS's Endangered Species Committee regulations at 50 CFR "Diameter at breast height" or "DBH" means the diameter of the stem of a tree measured at breast height ( feet above the ground). "Diameter class" or "DBH class" means any of the intervals into which a range of diameters of tree stems or logs may be divided for classification and utilization. "Ecosystem service" means a service rendered by an ecosystem that benefits people.