1. (a) “Any stream, river, or brook which normally flows throughout the year” means a watercourse that is in the groundwater table for most of the year and so has groundwater as its primary source of water for stream flow, with runoff from rainfall and snowmelt as supplemental source of water, so that it contains flowing water year round during a typical year, and which is not intermittent.
2. (b) “Basal area” means “basal area” as defined in RSA 227‑G:2, I, namely “the cross sectional area of a tree measured at a height of 4 1/2 feet above the ground, usually expressed in square feet per acre for a stand of trees.”
3. (c) “50 percent basal area” means 1/2 of the cumulative total of basal area of all live trees at least 2-inch diameter breast height which is the diameter measured 4-1/2 feet from ground level, before any trees were removed from specified area.
4. (d) “Director” means “director” as defined in RSA 227-G:2, IV, namely “the director of the division of forests and lands, department of natural and cultural resources, also known as the state forester.”
5. (e) “Fourth order stream” means “fourth order streams” as defined in RSA 227-G:2, XII, namely “those streams on a list maintained by the office of state planning and development, as of the effective date of this section, using the Strahler method whereby the highest year-round streams in a watershed are first order streams, their juncture yields second order streams, the juncture of second order streams yields third order streams, and the juncture of third order streams yields fourth order.”
6. (f) “Great pond” means any body of fresh water having an area of 10 acres or more.
7. (g) “Healthy growing trees” means live trees.
8. (h) “Land conversion” means the removal of naturally occurring or planted vegetation or planted trees from a specific lot, tract, or parcel of land with the long term intent of changing land use and characteristics from the natural growth or management and production of forest products to any other use. The term does not include silvicultural practices for forest or wildlife management purposes.
9. (i) “Landowner” means any person or persons who own the land upon which wood or timber is cut, a previous owner who retains timber rights to land and who registers their claim with the registry of deeds, and any person who has purchased stumpage and cutting rights on public lands. The term “landowner” includes “authorized agent.”
10. (j) “Market value” means “market value” as defined in RSA 227-G:2, XII-a, namely “stumpage value as determined in the same manner as other property values for the purposes of taxation at the time the timber is cut.”
11. (k) “Public highway” means highways as classified in RSA 229:5 to include all class I, II, III, IV, V, and VI roads listed in the road listing by the New Hampshire department of transportation.
12. (l) “Scenic vista” means a point or area which affords a panoramic, unique, or pleasant view towards a feature or features in the distance.
13. (m) “Slash” means, branches, bark, tops, chunks, cull logs, uprooted stumps, and broken or uprooted brush and trees left on the ground after timber harvesting operations, and other cutting operations. The term does not include wood chips and small chunks of woody debris when such materials are the result of public safety activities including but not limited to highway right of way maintenance, or woody debris placed into a body of water as part of an approved fisheries habitat improvement plan, and approved by the New Hampshire department of environmental services.
14. (n) “Timber growing and forest uses” means the management or maintenance of naturally occurring or planted vegetation or trees on a specific lot, tract, or parcel of land, or portion thereof for the purpose of producing forest products or providing wildlife habitat or other forest benefits. The term does not include vegetation or trees within existing utility rights of way.
15. (o) “Timber harvesting operation” means the removal of primary forest products from the stump where the removal is subject to intent to cut requirements of RSA 79:10 or the removal is one of those activities identified as exceptions to the intent to cut requirements of RSA 79:10. The term includes, but is not limited to cutting, skidding, processing, and transporting the primary forest product.
16. (p) “Well distributed stand” means a residual stand with an intermixture of single trees and groups of trees interspersed throughout the specified area, such that the basal area is not concentrated in one portion of the specified area.

Source. #14243, INTERIM, eff 4-23-25; ss by #14452 (formerly Ncr 5301.01), eff 12-6-25, EXPIRES 12-6-35