OAR 635-415-0005: Definitions

For the purposes of OAR 635-415-0000 through 635-415-0025 only: (1) “Department” means the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. (2) “Development Action” means any activity subject to regulation by local, state, or federal agencies that could result in the loss of fish and wildlife habitat. Development actions may include, but are not limited to, the planning, construction, and operational activities of local, state, and federal agencies. Development actions also include subsequent re-permitting for activities with new impacts or continued impacts that have not been mitigated consistent with current standards. (3) “Essential Habitat” means any habitat condition or set of habitat conditions which, if diminished in quality or quantity, would result in depletion of a fish or wildlife species. (4) “Fish and Wildlife” means all fish, shellfish, intertidal animals, wild birds, amphibians, reptiles, and wild mammals over which the Fish and Wildlife Commission has jurisdiction. (5) “Habitat” means the physical and biological conditions within the geographic range of occurrence of a species, extending over time, that affect the welfare of the species or any sub-population or members of the species. (6) “Habitat Quantity” means the amount of a given habitat type. (7) “Habitat Quality” means the relative importance of a habitat with regard to its ability to influence species presence and support the life-cycle requirements of the fish and wildlife species that use it. (8) “Habitat Type” means the classification of a site or area based on its dominant plant, soil, and water associations or other salient features (e.g. tidal influence, salinity, substrate, alkalinity, etc.) of value to the support and use by fish and wildlife. (9) “Home Range” means the area that a species traverses in the scope of normal life-cycle activities. (10) “Impact” means an adverse effect of a development action upon fish and wildlife habitat. (11) “Important Habitat” means any habitat recognized as a contributor to sustaining fish and wildlife populations on a physiographic province basis over time. (12) “In-kind Habitat Mitigation” means habitat mitigation measures which recreate similar habitat structure and function to that existing prior to the development action. (13) “In-proximity Habitat Mitigation” means habitat mitigation measures undertaken within or in proximity to areas affected by a development action. For the purposes of this policy, “in proximity to” means within the same home range, or watershed (depending on the species or population being considered) whichever will have the highest likelihood of benefiting fish and wildlife populations directly affected by the development. (14) “Irreplaceable” means that successful in-kind habitat mitigation to replace lost habitat quantity and/or quality is not feasible within an acceptable period of time or location, or involves an unacceptable level of risk or uncertainty, depending on the habitat under consideration and the fish and wildlife species or populations that are affected. “Acceptable,” for the purpose of this definition, means in a reasonable time frame to benefit the affected fish and wildlife species. (15) “Limited habitat” means an amount insufficient or barely sufficient to sustain fish and wildlife populations over time. (16) “Mitigation” means taking one or more of the following actions listed in order of priority: (a) Avoiding the impact altogether by not taking a certain development action or parts of that action; (b) Minimizing impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the development action and its implementation; (c) Rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment; (d) Reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the development action and by monitoring and taking appropriate corrective measures; (e) Compensating for the impact by replacing or providing comparable substitute resources or environments. (17) “Mitigation Bank” means fish and/or wildlife habitat that is restored, created, or enhanced for the purpose of selling habitat credits in exchange for anticipated unavoidable future habitat loses due to development actions. (18) “Mitigation Plan” means a written plan or statement that thoroughly describes the manner in which the impact of a development action will be reduced or eliminated over time, avoided, and/or minimized; and the affected environment, including fish and wildlife habitat, monitored, restored, rehabilitated, repaired and/or replaced or otherwise compensated for in accordance with OAR 635-415-0010 of these rules. (19) “Native” means fish and wildlife species, subspecies or populations that occur currently or historically in Oregon through natural (i.e. nonhuman) colonization or immigration, rather than by human action or intervention. (20) “Nonnative” means a fish or wildlife species not native to Oregon; foreign or introduced. (21) “Net Benefit” means an increase in overall in-proximity habitat quality or quantity after a development action and any subsequent mitigation measures have been completed and monitored. (22) “Net Loss” means a loss of habitat quantity and/or habitat quality resulting from a development action despite mitigation measures having been taken. (23) “Off-site” means outside the boundary of the development action. (24) “Off-proximity Habitat Mitigation” means habitat mitigation measures undertaken outside the area that would constitute “in-proximity mitigation” but within the same physiographic province as the development action. (25) “Out-of-kind Habitat Mitigation” means habitat mitigation measures which result in different habitat structure and function that may benefit fish and wildlife species other than those existing at the site prior to the development action. (26) “Physiographic Province” means any one of ten major geographical areas within the State of Oregon based on differences in topography, climate, and vegetation as defined in the Oregon Wildlife Diversity Plan (OAR 635-100-0001 through 0040). (27) “Project Life” means the period of time during which a development action is subject to regulation by local, state, or federal agencies. (28) “Project Proponent” means any individual, corporation, association or agency or their delegated representative that proposes a development action. (29) “Reliable Method” means a mitigation method that has been tested in areas with site factors similar to those affected by a development action and the area in which the mitigation action is being proposed and that has been found (e.g., through field trials, demonstration projects or scientific studies) to produce the habitat effects required to meet the mitigation goal for that action. (30) “Site Factors” means climate, soil series, sediments, hydrology, salinity, pH, DO, plant community, fish and wildlife use, or other characteristics of an area that determine its capacity to produce vegetation or maintain habitat features valuable to fish and wildlife. (31) “Watershed” means a drainage basin encompassing a stream, its tributaries, and associated uplands at the USGS 4th Field Hydrologic Unit level.