OAR 603-095-0010: Definitions

Unless otherwise required by the context, as used in this Division: (1) “Active Channel Erosion” means gullies or channels which at the largest dimension have a cross sectional area of at least one square foot and which occur at the same location for two or more consecutive years. (2) “Adequate vegetative buffer” means an area that is maintained in vegetative cover that maintains at least 70 percent ground cover. (3) “Agency of this state” has the meaning given in ORS 568.210(1). (4) “Agricultural use” means the use of land for the raising or production of livestock or livestock products, poultry or poultry products, milk or milk products, fur-bearing animals; or for the growing of crops such as, but not limited to, grains, small grains, fruit, vegetables, forage grains, nursery stock, Christmas trees; or any other agricultural or horticultural use or animal husbandry or any combination thereof. Wetlands, pasture, and woodlands accompanying land in agricultural use are also defined as in agricultural use. (5) “Agricultural Water Quality Management Area Plan” or “area plan” means a plan for the prevention and control of water pollution from agricultural activities and soil erosion in a management area whose boundaries have been designated under ORS 568.909. (6) “Approved Voluntary Water Quality Farm Plan” or “approved voluntary plan” means a Voluntary Water Quality Farm Plan which has been developed according to standards and specifications developed by the department and which has been approved by the Local Management Agency with jurisdiction in the area for which the plan was developed. (7) “Best Management Practice” means a practice, or combination of practices, that is determined to be the most effective practicable (including technological, economical, and institutional considerations) means of preventing or reducing the amount of pollution generated by nonpoint sources of pollution to a level compatible with water quality goals. Best Management Practices may include structural and nonstructural practices, conservation practices, and operation and maintenance procedures. (8) “Confined Animal Feeding Operation” has the meaning given in OAR 603-074-0010. (9) “Department” means the state Department of Agriculture. (10) “Designated Management Agency” has the meaning given in OAR 340-042-0030. (11) “District” or “soil and water conservation district” has the meaning given in ORS 568.210. (12) “Erosion, soil” means the general process by which soils are removed from the surface of the land by the action of water, wind, ice, or gravity. (13) “Erosion rate, sheet and rill” means the annualized amount of soil material lost from a field or parcel of land due to sheet and rill erosion, expressed in tons of soil eroded per acre per year, and calculated according to the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) or the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). (14) “Erosion, rill” means an erosion process in which numerous small channels only several inches deep are formed and which occurs mainly on recently disturbed soils. The small channels formed by rill erosion would be obliterated by normal smoothing or tillage operations. (15) “Erosion, sheet” means the removal of a fairly uniform layer of soil from the land surface by runoff water. (16) “Erosion, streambank” means erosion within a perennial stream or river which is caused by the action of water flowing in a concentrated stream acting against the soil confining its flow. (17) “Excessive soil loss” means soil loss that is greater than the standards set forth in Oregon Administrative Rules adopted by the Oregon Department of Agriculture to implement any Agricultural Water Quality Management Area Plan adopted pursuant to ORS 568.900 through 568.933. Excessive soil loss may be evidenced by sedimentation on the same parcel of land, on adjoining land, in wetlands or a body of water, or by ephemeral, active channel, or streambank erosion; or by calculations using the USLE or RUSLE showing soil loss exceeding the soil loss tolerance factor. (18) “Field Office Technical Guide” means the localized document currently used by the soil and water conservation district and developed by the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service which provides: (a) Soil descriptions; (b) Sound land use alternatives; (c) Adequate conservation treatment alternatives; (d) Standards and specifications of conservation practices; (e) Conservation cost-return information; (f) Practice maintenance requirements; (g) Soil erosion prediction procedures; and (h) A listing of local natural resource related laws and regulations. (19) “Formal complaint” means a complaint against a landowner or operator alleging a violation of a requirement of any Water Quality Management Area Plan adopted pursuant to ORS 568.900 through 568.933 at a specific site. The complaint shall be submitted in writing stating the nature and location of the violation and shall be filed with the department or by agreement with the department, with the Local Management Agency with jurisdiction over the site in question. (20) “Highly erodible lands” means soils with a potential erodibility of eight times the soil loss tolerance factor. (21) “Informal complaint” means a water pollution complaint, not formally filed with the department. (22) “Irrigation water discharge” means the release of irrigation return flows to surface waters. (23) “Land disturbing activity” means any activity not directly related to general farming resulting in a disturbance of the natural condition or vegetative covering of the earth’s surface. (24) “Landowner” includes any landowner, land occupier or operator as defined in ORS 568.903. (25) “Load allocation” has the meaning given in OAR 340-041-0002. (26) “Local Management Agency” means any agency of this state, including but not limited to a soil and water conservation district, which has been designated by the department through an interagency agreement to undertake activities within a management area whose boundaries have been designated under ORS 568.909. (27) “Near-stream management area” means the area extending 25 feet as measured along the ground surface from the top of the streambank of a perennial stream or river, or the ordinary high-water mark of a pond or a lake. (28) “Nonpoint sources” has the meaning given in OAR 340-041-0002. (29) “Operator” has the meaning given in ORS 568.900(2). (30) “Ordinary high-water mark” means the point on the streambank or shore up to which the presence and action of surface water is so continuous as to leave a distinctive mark such as by erosion, destruction or prevention of terrestrial vegetation, predominance of aquatic vegetation, or other recognizable characteristics. (31) “Pasture” means land with a permanent, uniform cover of grasses or legumes used for providing forage for livestock. A pasture does not include any area where supplemental forage feeding is provided on a regular basis. (32) “Perennial stream” means a natural channel in which water flows continuously and which is shown on a United States Geological Survey quadrangle map. (33) “Point source pollution” means water pollution which emanates from a clearly identifiable discharge point. (34) “Pollution” or “water pollution” has the meaning given in ORS 468B.005. (35) “Prohibited condition” means a condition of the land which is not allowed under division 95 rules. (36) “Riparian vegetation” means plant communities consisting of plants dependent upon or tolerant of the presence of water near the ground surface for at least part of the year. (37) “Runoff” means the portion of rainfall, other precipitation, or irrigation water that leaves a location in the form of surface water. (38) “RUSLE” means the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, which is a method used to estimate soil loss by sheet, rill, and wind erosion. (39) “Sediment” means soil particles, both mineral and organic, that are in suspension, are being transported, or have been moved from the site of origin by flowing water or gravity. (40) “Sewage” has the meaning given in ORS 468B.005. (41) “Sloughing” means a slip or downward movement of an extended layer of soil resulting from the undermining action of water or the earth disturbing activity of man. (42) “Soil” means unconsolidated mineral or organic material that overlies bedrock, on the immediate surface of the earth, that serves as a medium for the growth of plants. (43) “Soil disturbing activity” means any agricultural use resulting in a disturbance of the natural condition of vegetative surface or soil surface exceeding 10,000 square feet in area, including, but not limited to tilling, clearing, grading, excavating, grazing, and feedlot usage, but not including such minor land disturbing activities as home gardens and individual landscaping and maintenance. (44) “Soil loss” means soil moved from a given site by the forces of erosion and redeposited at another site, on land or in a body of water. (45) “Soil loss tolerance factor” or “T” means maximum average annual amount of soil loss from erosion, as estimated by the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) or the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), and expressed in tons per acre per year, that is allowable on a particular soil. This represents the tons of soil (related to the specific soil series) which can be lost through erosion annually without causing significant degradation of the soil or potential for crop production. (46) “Streambank” means the boundary of protected waters and wetlands, or the land abutting a channel at an elevation delineating the highest water level which has been maintained for a sufficient period of time to leave evidence upon the landscape; commonly that point where the natural vegetation changes from predominantly aquatic to predominantly terrestrial. For perennial streams or rivers, the streambank shall be at the ordinary high-water mark. (47) “Surface drainage field ditch” is a graded ditch for collecting excess water in a field. (48) “Total Maximum Daily Load” or “TMDL” has the meaning given in OAR 340-041-0002. (49) “USLE” means the Universal Soil Loss Equation, which is a method used to estimate soil loss by sheet, rill, and wind erosion. (50) “Vegetative cover” means grasses or other low growing plants grown to keep soil from being blown or washed away. (51) “Voluntary Water Quality Farm Plan” or “voluntary plan” means a plan for the prevention or control of water pollution from agricultural activities and soil erosion for an individual landowner. (52) “Wasteload allocation” or “WLA” has the meaning given in OAR 340-041-0002. (53) “Wastes” has the meaning given in ORS 468B.005 and includes but is not limited to commercial fertilizers, soil amendments, composts, animal wastes, vegetative materials or any other wastes. (54) “Waste discharge” or “waste discharges” means the discharge of waste, either directly or indirectly, into the waters of the state. (55) “Water” or “the waters of the state” has the meaning given in ORS 468B.005. (56) “Water quality limited” has the meaning given in OAR 340-041-0002. (57) “Woodland” means an area with a stand of trees that has a canopy cover as shown on the most recent aerial photographs of at least 50 percent, being at least one acre in size and having a minimum width measured along the ground surface of at least 132 feet.