In this Forest Health Tracker system, projects are defined as a particular proposal, plan, treatment, or interaction specifically aimed to improve forest health and resiliency in our state. Projects are submitted by individuals and organizations responsible for their implementation, and interpretation of projects that meet this definition is the responsibility of the individual or organization submitting information. Some projects are simple one-time events or single treatments, such as a stand-alone prescribed burn.  In other cases, there are projects that present plans to include multiple treatments and activities within them that are completed in a strategically phased approach within a specific geography. An example of the latter includes a US Forest Service Record of Decision for a project that includes a plan and authorizes a series of commercial and non-commercial thinning treatments across national forest land in a particular watershed to be followed with some acres also having a prescribed burn treatment.  Project types include:

• Commercial vegetation treatment - A manipulation of vegetation in a forested ecosystem with an objective to improve forest health and resiliency that also had a primary or by-product of economically valued material.  These actions may include a commercial thin, uneven-age harvest, or regeneration harvest.
• Forest Stewardship Plan (restricted view due to privacy considerations with the data).  Forest Stewardship is a nationwide program providing advice and assistance to help family forest owners manage their lands. The program is a cooperative effort between the USDA Forest Service and state forestry agencies. In Washington state, the program is administered by DNR’s Forest Health and Resiliency Division.  A Forest Stewardship Plan is prepared by an interested private landowner in coordination with a professional forester to guide current and future management actions and help qualify for financial assistance, current use taxation, recognition, and certification programs.
• Integrated Forest Health Project - A project plan for a landscape that integrates multiple treatments types (commercial, non-commercial, and/or prescribed fire) to achieve forest health goals.  An integration forest health project can also include interactions.
• Interactions – In the Forest Health Tracker system, an interaction is a non-treatment action taken by an individual or group to increase understanding, knowledge, and engagement in order to achieve forest health and resiliency goals in Washington.  These include events, outreach, education, site visits, research, and monitoring actions.  An interaction can be a stand-alone project, a component of an integrated forest health project, or linked to a treatment.  Two categories of interactions are tracked below:
  • Education and Outreach (includes site visits)
  • Research and Monitoring
• Non-commercial vegetation treatment - An action to manage vegetation in a forest ecosystem to improve forest health and resiliency that did not produce a commercial product, but was done at a cost.  These actions may include a non-commercial thin, pre-commercial thin, surface fuels treatment (ladder fuel removal, pruning, piling), native planting/reforestation, or invasives treatment.
• Prescribed fire treatment - Also sometimes called prescribed burn fire or controlled fire, this is when fire is intentionally applied by trained practitioners to vegetation to improve forest ecosystem health and resiliency. This includes two primary types of prescribed fire:  broadcast burning and pile burning.
• Other - A category to track a vegetation management action that improves forest health and resiliency that does not fit in a category above.