(b)(2) Water - Section 3406(b)(2) of the CVPIA directs the Secretary of the Interior to dedicate and manage annually eight hundred thousand acre-feet of Central Valley Project yield for the primary purpose of implementing the fish, wildlife, and habitat restoration purposes and measures authorized by the CVPIA.  The 800,000 acre-feet of water dedicated by the CVPIA is referred to as "(b)(2) water." - Bureau Of Reclamation -- BOR -- Water Acquisition Glossary

 

BA - Big Arm

 

BA - Biodiversity Associates

 

BA - Biological Agent

 

BA - Boundary Adjustment (NPS and others)

 

BA - Buildable Area

 

BA - Business Alliance

 

BAA - Bay Area Action

 

BAC - Bureau of Arms Control

 

BACC - Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce, Incorporated

 

Back Country Byway - A road segment designated as part of the National Scenic Byway System. (BLM)

 

Back Pressure - A pressure that can cause water to backflow into the water supply when a user’s water system is at a higher pressure than the public water system.

 

Backfill - Material used in refilling excavation, or the process of such refilling,  Material used to fill an excavated trench.

 

Backfilling - The replacement of soil and earth removed during mining. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

 

Backflow - A reverse flow condition, created by a difference in water pressures, which causes water to flow back into the distribution system.

 

Backfurrow - The first cut of a plow, from which the slice is laid on undisturbed soil.

 

Background - That part of a scene, landscape, etc., which is furthest from the viewer, usually from three miles to infinity from the observer.

 

Background Level - The amount of a pollutant present in water or air from natural sources. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

 

Backpacking - Hiking in combination with primitive camping, carrying camping and food materials in a backpack.

 

Back Pumping - The process of pumping water in a manner in which the water is returned to its source. - Everglades Plan glossary

 

Backsiphonage - Reverse seepage of water in a distribution system. – USGS

 

Backwashing - Reversing the flow of water through a home treatment device filter or membrane to clean and remove deposits. - USGS

 

Backwater - A small, generally shallow body of water with little or no current of its own.  Stagnant water in a small stream or inlet.  Water moved backward or held back by a dam, tide, etc.

 

Backwater - Water backed up or retarded in its course as compared with its normal or natural condition of flow. In stream gaging, a rise in stage produced by a temporary obstruction such as ice or weeds, or by the flooding of the stream below. The difference between the observed stage and that indicated by the stage-discharge relation, is reported as backwater. - USGS

 

BACT - Best available control technology (EPA)

 

Badland - A region nearly devoid of vegetation where erosion has cut the land into an intricate maze of narrow ravines, and sharp crests and pinnacles, instead of curving hills and valleys of the ordinary type. - BLM (DOI) Grand Escalante Staircase National Monument DEIS Glossary

 

BAE - Bureau of Agricultural Economics

 

Baffle - A flat board or plate, deflector, guide or similar device constructed or placed in flowing water to cause more uniform flow velocities, to absorb energy, and to divert, guide, or agitate the flow.

 

BAGLY - Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Youth

 

Bajadas - The lower slopes of mountains characterized by loose sediment and poor soil development. - NPS Ecology and Restoration Glossary

 

Balance - Balance is first referred to in Paragraph 6(iii) of the Operational Guidelines with reference to efforts to maintain a "reasonable balance between the numbers of cultural heritage and the natural heritage properties" included in the World Heritage List.  This statement is reaffirmed in Paragraph 15 of the Operational Guidelines (UNESCO February 1996: 2, 3 and 5) and is in conformity with the spirit of the Convention as an instrument for the conservation of both the natural and the cultural heritage. In the section of the Operational Guidelines concerned with the granting of international assistance, Paragraph 111 states that a "balance will be maintained between funds allocated to projects for the preservation of the cultural heritage on the one hand and projects for the conservation of the natural heritage on the other hand" (UNESCO February 1996: 38). Section VI of the Operational Guidelines is entitled "Balance between the Cultural and the Natural Heritage in the Implementation of the Convention" (UNESCO February 1996: 40-41).  Paragraph 121 outlines a number of measures recommended by the Committee to achieve this balance (UNESCO February 1996: 40-41). The balance between the numbers of natural and cultural properties inscribed in the World Heritage List was the subject of discussion at the March 1996 "Expert Meeting on Evaluation of general principles and criteria for nominations of natural World Heritage sites" (UNESCO 15 April 1996).  The report of the Expert Meeting notes that ""balance" is not about numbers, but about representativity for biogeographical regions or events in the history of life" (UNESCO 15 April 1996: 6). The World Heritage Bureau and Committee will consider the substance of the report of the Expert Meeting at their twentieth sessions in 1996.

 

Balance of Payments - An accounting statement measuring the value of goods, services and capital exchanged between a country and all foreign countries. A nation is said to have either: (1) a balance of payments deficit if it sends abroad less in goods, services, and capital than it receives from foreigners; or (2) a balance of payments surplus if it sends abroad more in goods, services, and capital than it receives.

 

Balance of Payments Manual 5 (BPM5) - The manual describes the methodology for measuring the economic transactions of an economy with the rest of the world. The International Monetary Fund is the custodian of BPM5. (UN)

 

Balance of Trade - The difference in value between a country's merchandise imports and exports in a specified period. A country's balance of trade is only one factor -- though an important one -- in its balance of payments.

 

Balanced Head Condition - The condition in which the water pressure on the upstream and downstream sides of an object are equal (such as an emergency or regulating gate).

 

Balkanization - The fragmentation of a region into smaller, often hostile, political units.  The term comes from the Balkan Peninsula of Europe, a region that has balkanized may time, and is still undergoing balkanization.

 

Ballast water - Ocean-going ships load up with water in bilge holds using the extra mass to keep them stable while they ply their way to their destination port. More ballast is used when ship are not fully loaded with cargo and this water is then pumped back into the sea when the ship takes on new cargo. Many problems can result if discharged ballast water contains pollutants or living organisms that can potentially have negative effects on local marine life at the destination port. (UNESCO)

 

Balzac v. Porto Rico, 258 U.S. 298, 312 (1922) - In Balzac, Chief Justice William Howard Taft stated that the United States District Court for Arecibo, Porto Rico, as Puerto Rico was known then, "created by virtue of the sovereign congressional faculty, granted under Article IV, § 3, of that instrument, of making all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory belonging to the United States."   Puerto Rico is the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and it has not been incorporated into the United States though its inhabitants are United States citizens.  The inclusion of Puerto Rico in Chapter 5 as § 119 does not make the district court for Puerto Rico an Article III court because Puerto Rico has not been incorporated into the Union. Balzac v. Porto Rico, 258 U.S. 298 (1921) and Mookini v. United States, 303 U.S. 201 (1938) made it clear that a "district court of the United States" described a court created under Article III and a "United States district court" described a territorial court.  The former identified a constitutional court of the United States exercising the judicial power of the United States and the latter merely identified a court for a district of the government of the United States.

 

BANANA - Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything

 

Band Application - The spreading of chemicals over, or next to, each row of plants in a field, as opposed to broadcast application.

 

BANDESA - Banco Nacional de Desarrollo Agrícola (Guatemala)

 

Banding - Applying fertilizer or other amendment into the soil (7-15 cm, or 2.7-6 in, deep) in a thin narrow strip (band), as beside or beneath a planted row of seeds or plants.

 

Band-Interleaved-by-Line (BIL) - BIL is a CCT tape format that stores all bands of satellite data in one image file. Scanlines are sequenced by interleaving all image bands. The CCT header appears once in a set. - USDA glossary

 

Band-Interleaved-by-Pixel (BIP) - When using the BIP image format, each line of an image is stored sequentially, line 1 all bands, line 2 all bands, etc. For example, the first line of a three-band image would be stored as p1b1, p1b2, p1b3, p2b1, p2b2, p2b3, where p1b1 indicates pixel one, band one, p1b2 indicates pixel one, band two, etc. - USDA glossary

 

Band-Interleaved-by Pixel-Pair (BIP-2)(CCT-X) - BIP-2 is a CCT tape format available only for MSS data acquired before 1979. Data in each of four vertical swaths are stored in a separate image file. Scanlines are sequenced and interleaved-by-pixel- pairs. The CCT header information is recorded on each image file. BIP-2 is sometimes referred to as CCT-X format. - USDA glossary

 

Bank - The margins of a channel. Banks are called right or left as viewed facing in the direction of the flow. – USGS

 

The “Bank for International Settlements” (BIS) was established at Basle, Switzerland, in 1930 with the object of promoting cooperation among central banks. It performs four primary functions: (1) it is the “central banks’ bank,” accepting central banks’ reserves as deposits and using them for lending to central banks and for investment in the market on a short-term basis; (2) it is a forum for monetary cooperation among central banks and international financial institutions; (3) it acts as agent, depository, etc., in the implementation of international financial agreements and provides secretariat facilities for a number of central bank committees; and (4) it is a center for monetary and economic research. The central banks, or financial institutions acting in their stead, of 25 European countries, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa, and the United States are represented at BIS general meetings. – WB

 

Bank Full - An established river stage at a given location along a river which is intended to represent the maximum safe water level that will not overflow the river banks or cause any significant damage within the river reach.

 

Bankfull stage - Stage at which a stream first overflows its natural banks. (See also Flood stage. Bankfull stage is a hydraulic term, whereas flood stage implies damage.) – USGS

 

Bank Storage - Water that has infiltrated from a reservoir into the surrounding land where it remains in storage until water level in the reservoir is lowered.

 

Bank storage - The water absorbed into the banks of a stream channel, when the stages rise above the water table in the bank formations, then returns to the channel as effluent seepage when the stages fall below the water table. (After Houk, 1951, p. 179.) - USGS

 

Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 - P.L. 75-210 authorized acquisition by the federal government of damaged lands to rehabilitate and use them for various purposes. Some Bankhead-Jones lands are managed by both the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Some Forest Service Bankhead Jones lands are National Grasslands.

 

Banks for Cooperatives (BC) - Lending institutions within the Farm Credit System that provide credit to agricultural cooperatives and rural utility cooperatives nationwide. Currently, there are two BCs with national charters -- the St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives and CoBank Agricultural Bank (Denver). CoBank also has the authority to finance U.S. agricultural exports and to provide international banking services to farmer-owned cooperatives.

 

Banquette - An embankment at the toe of the land side of a levee, constructed to protect the levee from sliding when saturated with water.

 

BAP – The Beijing Action Plan (UN)

 

Bardon v Northern Pac R Co. 12 S CT 856, 145 US 535, 538 36L, ED 806 - ‘It is well settled that all land to which any claim or rights of others is attached does not fall within the designation of public lands.’ United States Supreme Court Decision

 

BARE - Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics

 

Bargaining Association - A farmer cooperative intended primarily to influence farm prices or other terms of trade between the members and the buyers of the commodities they produce.

 

Bark Beetle - An insect that bores through the bark of forest trees to eat the inner bark and lay its eggs.  Bark beetles are important killers of forest trees.

 

Barrage (gate-structure dam) - A barrier built across a river, comprising a series of gates which when fully open allow the flood to pass without appreciably increasing the flood level upstream of the barrage.

 

Barrage - Any artificial obstruction placed in water to increase water level or divert it. Usually the idea is to control peak flow for later release. – USGS

 

Barrel of oil equivalent - A unit of energy equal to the amount of energy contained in a barrel of crude oil. Approximately 5.78 million Btu or 1,700 kWh. A barrel is a liquid measure equal to 42 gallons. - Bioenergy Glossary

 

Barren - A General cover category consisting of nonvegetated lands, including alkaline barrens, unreclaimed mined land, and other barren areas incapable of supporting vegetation. Barren areas are nonvegetated either because the substrate will not support plant growth or because the area is subject to frequent disturbance (e.g., scouring, flooding) that prevents plant growth. - National Resources Inventory

 

Barren land - A Land cover/use category used to classify lands with limited capacity to support life and having less than 5 percent vegetative cover. Vegetation, if present, is widely spaced. Typically, the surface of barren land is sand, rock, exposed subsoil, or salt-affected soils. Subcategories include salt flats; sand dunes; mud flats; beaches; bare exposed rock; quarries, strip mines, gravel pits, and borrow pits; riverwash; oil wasteland; mixed barren lands; and other barren land. - National Resources Inventory

 

Barren Solution - A solution in hydrometalurgical treatment from which all valuable constituents have been removed. See Pregnant Solution. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

 

Barrio - Term meaning "neighborhood" in Spanish. Usually refers to an urban community in a Middle or South American city: also applied to low-income, inner-city concentrations of Hispanics in such western U.S. cities as Los Angeles.

 

BART - Belle Air Residents for Truth (San Bruno, CA)

 

Barter - A form of countertrade in which goods having offsetting values are exchanged under a single contract, within a specified period of time, and without any flow of money taking place. The U.S. government ran a barter program from 1950 to 1973, exchanging surplus agricultural commodities for strategic materials and for goods and services it otherwise would have purchased. In addition, barter agreements between the United States and Jamaica were signed in 1982 and 1983.

 

BAS - Best Available Science

 

Basal Area - The area of the cross section of a tree trunk near its base, usually four and one-half feet above the ground, expressed in square feet per acre and is a measure of stocking density.  Basal area is a way to measure how much of a site is occupied by trees.  The term basal area is often used to describe the collective basal area of trees per acre.  

 

Basal Area - The area in square feet of the cross section at breast height of a single tree, a group of trees, or all of the trees in a stand, usually expressed in square feet per acre. - USDA/FS

 

Basal Cover (Area) - The area of ground surface covered by the stem or stems of a rangeland plant, usually measured 1 inch above the soil, in contrast to the full spread of the foliage.

 

Basalt - Fine-grained, dark-colored igneous rocks that are either intrusive or extrusive. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

 

Base - A substance that has a pH value between 7 and 14.

 

Base acreage (or crop acreage base) - A farm's crop-specific acreage of wheat, feed grains, upland cotton, or rice eligible to participate in commodity programs under previous farm legislation. For wheat and feed grains, this was an average of the acreage planted or considered planted for harvest on the farm for the preceding 5 crop years. For upland cotton and rice, the average is for the preceding 3 years. Acreage considered planted included acreage idled under acreage reduction programs or for weather-related reasons or natural disasters; acreage devoted to conservation purposes or planted to certain other allowed commodities; and acreage the Secretary determined was necessary for fair and equitable treatment. A farmer's crop acreage base is reduced by the portion of land placed in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), but is increased by CRP base acreage leaving the CRP.  - USDA-Economic Research Service Farm and Commodity Policy Glossary of Policy Terms

 

Base Acres - See Acreage Base.

 

Base-Country Invariance - The index-number property that involves the symmetrical treatment of all countries, with the result that the relative index-number standings of the countries are not affected by the choice of the reference (numeraire) country. (UN)

 

Base Course - A layer of specified or selected material of planned thickness constructed on the sub-grade or sub-base for the purpose of serving one or more functions such as distributing load, providing drainage, minimizing frost action, etc.

 

Base discharge (for peak discharge) - In the Geological Survey's annual reports on surface-water supply, the discharge above which peak discharge data are published. The base discharge at each station is selected so that an average of about three peaks a year will be presented. (See also Partial-duration flood series.) – USGS

 

Base-end station - Observation station at either end of a base line, containing an azimuth instrument or depression position finder, used to supply position data for the indirect aiming of coast artillery weapons. - NPS Architecture, Fortifications, and Preservation glossary

 

Base Flood - The flood having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.  This term is used in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to indicate the minimum level of flooding to be used by a community in its flood plain management regulations.

 

Base Flow - Ground water inflow to the river.  Portion of stream discharge that is derived from natural storage.

 

Base Line - A surveyed line established with more than usual care; used as the known length of a triangle (in triangulation) for computing the other triangle sides. - Cadastral Data glossary

 

Base Line (sectionalized land) - A parallel of latitude, or approximately a parallel of latitude, running through an arbitrary point chosen as the starting point for all sectionalized land within a given area. - Cadastral Data glossary

 

Base line - A pre-surveyed horizontal line used for accurate position-finding and fire control, with observation posts called base-end stations at either end. - NPS Architecture, Fortifications, and Preservation glossary

 

Baselining - Obtaining data on the current process that provide the metrics against which to compare improvements and to use in benchmarking. - Forest Service http://svinet2.fs.fed.us/recreation/permits/final1.htm

 

Beaux-Arts - French term [Ecole Nationale et Spéciale des Beaux-Arts, Paris] meaning fine arts; label for an architectural movement and training program, and for its associated architects, 1865-1915; loosely, architecture as fine art, characterized by an emphasis on classical tradition; Beaux-Arts was sometimes used as an alternative term for Classical or Colonial Revival design in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. - NPS Architecture, Fortifications, and Preservation glossary

 

Base Metal - A metal inferior in value to gold and silver, a term generally applied to the commercial metals such as copper and lead. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

 

Base Property - For the Bureau of Land Management: land or water resources, owned or controlled by a holder of a grazing permit or lease, that are suitable to support livestock for a part of the year. For the Forest Service: lands and improvements owned and used by a permittee for a farm or ranch and designated by the permittee to qualify for a grazing permit. One must own or control base property to be eligible for permits or leases to graze private livestock on federal lands.

 

Base Property - Lands or water sources on a ranch that are owned by or under long-term control of the operator. - BLM

 

Base Rates - The minimum cash price for national forest timber to be cut and removed.

 

Base runoff - Sustained or fair weather runoff. In most streams, base runoff is composed largely of groundwater effluent. (Langbein and others, 1947, p. 6.) The term base flow is often used in the same sense as base runoff. However, the distinction is the same as that between streamflow and runoff. When the concept in the terms base flow and base runoff is that of the natural flow in a stream, base runoff is the logical term. (See also Ground-water runoff and Direct runoff.) - USGS

 

Base Saturation Percentage (base cation saturation) - The degree to which the adsorption complex of a soil is saturated with basic cations (cations other than hydrogen and aluminum), usually expressed in percentage.

 

Baseline (condition or alternative) - Conditions that would prevail if no actions were taken (future without).

 

Baseline Profile - Used for a survey of the environmental conditions and organisms existing in a region prior to unnatural disturbances.

 

Baseload - Minimum load in a power system over a given period of time.

 

Baseloading - Running water through a power plant at a roughly steady rate, thereby producing power at a steady rate.  

 

Basic Commodities - Six agricultural crops (corn, cotton, peanuts, rice, tobacco, and wheat) declared by permanent law as requiring federal price support.

 

Basic Control - In cadastral cartography, the horizontal control of the base control map. The basic control is the position of points which has been accurately coordinated and correlated by a method called analytical bridging - forming a network of lines to which other surveys and deeds are adjusted. - Cadastral Data glossary

 

Basic Formula Price (BFP) - Calculated monthly by USDA, the BFP is the base price for all milk regulated by federal milk marketing orders. Currently, the BFP is based on the preceding month's average price of Grade B milk paid by processors in Minnesota and Wisconsin, adjusted by current- month changes in the value of certain manufactured dairy products.  

 

Basic Headings - The subdivisions of final expenditure which correspond to the first aggregation of price (or quantity) ratios for individual specifications or items. Basic headings are sometimes referred to as detailed categories. (UN)

 

Basic hydrologic data - Includes inventories of features of land and water that vary only from place to place (topographic and geologic maps are examples), and records of processes that vary with both place and time. (Records of precipitation, streamflow, groundwater, and quality-of-water analyses are examples.) - USGS

 

Basic hydrologic information - A broader term that includes surveys of the water resources of particular areas and a study of their physical and related economic processes, interrelations and mechanisms. – USGS

 

Basic Land Unit - The parcel, or land parcel.- Cadastral Data glossary

 

Basic-stage flood series - See Partial duration flood series. - USGS

 

Basin Programs - Sets of state administrative rules that establish types and amounts of water uses allowed in the state's major river basins and form the basis for issuing water rights. (BLM)

 

Basin Runoff Model - Any one of the computer programs that mathematically models basin characteristics to forecast reservoir inflow from rainfall and/or streamflow data.

 

BASINS - Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (EPA)

 

BASIS - Bill Action and Status Inquiry System (Congress)

 

Basis - The difference between the current spot price (or cash price) of a commodity and the price of the nearest futures contract for the same or a related commodity. Basis is usually computed in relation to the futures contract next to expire and may reflect different time periods, product forms, qualities, or locations.

 

Basis Risk - The possibility of unexpected variation in basis and a resulting loss of expected revenue when a futures contract is liquidated and the commodity sold on the cash market.

 

BASS - Battlefield Area Surveillance Systems 

 

BASS - Battlefield Automated Subordinate Systems 

 

BASS - BCE Automated Support System 

 

BASS - Black Agents in the Secret Service

 

BASS - Broadband Array Spectrograph System 

 

BASS - Bulk Agent Stockpile Summary

 

BASS, Inc. - Business Application Software Services, Inc.

 

BAT - best available technology and practices

 

BATF - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

 

Bathymetric - Of or having to do with the depth of large bodies of water. - NPS Ecology and Restoration Glossary

 

Bathymetry - The measurement of depths of water in oceans, seas, and lakes. Also, the information derived from such measurements. - USDA glossary

 

BAU - Business As Usual

 

Bay-Delta - The San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a low, nearly flat alluvial tract of land formed by deposits at the converging mouths of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. - Bureau Of Reclamation -- BOR -- Water Acquisition Glossary

 

BB - Bucket Brigade

 

BBA - Black Book of Arson (Loompanics Unlimited)

 

BBC - British Broadcasting Co

 

BBI - Business-to-Business Information

 

BBLs - Barrels (a measure of the quantity of condensate)

 

BBN - Bring Back the Natives [DOI/USFWS program that 'supports on-the-ground habitat restoration projects that benefit native aquatic species (e.g., native fish, aquatic insects, mollusks, and amphibians) in the historic range.]

 

BBO - Broad-Based Organizations

 

BBR - Big Bend Reach (Nebraska)

 

BBS - Broad-Based Support

 

BBT - Binational Border Transportation

 

BC - Benefit Cost

 

BC – Bicycle Coalition

 

BC - Biodiversity Conservation

 

BC - Bioregional Councils

 

BC - Buffer Council

 

BC - Bulk Companies

 

BC - The Business Community

 

BCBP - Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (Border Patrol new department)

 

BCC - Banking and Currency Committee

 

BCC - Biological Connecting Corridor

 

BCD - Behind Closed Doors

 

BCD - Biological and Conservation Data (a copyrighted patent product of The Nature Conservancy)

 

BCDS - Biological and Conservation Data System

 

BCEII - British Columbia Environmental Information Institute (Canada)

 

BCESC - British Columbia Endangered Species Coalition

 

BCF - Billion Cubic Feet (a measure of quantity of natural gas)

 

BCFS - Biodiversity Conservation Focus Site http://ddcf.aibs.org/forestry/loi2002/rloi.asp

 

BCFA - British Canadian Forest Alliance (Canada)

 

BCFA - British Contract Furnishing Association

 

BCIO - Building Communities from the Inside Out

 

BCIS - Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration http://www.bcis.gov

 

BCMA - Brevard County Manufacturers Association (Florida)

 

BCPGV - Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence

 

BCPLAW - Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works  (1971)

 

BCR - Benefit-Cost Ratio

 

BCS - The Basel Convention Secretariat (UN)

 

BCSD - Business Council for Sustainable Development

 

BCWG - Buffer Council Watershed Goal

 

BD - Believable Deception

 

BD - Bird Depredation

 

BDA - Back Door Approach

 

BDA - Border Development Authority

 

BDF - Business Development Funds

 

BDG - Business Development Grant

 

BDPO - Breeding Duck Population Objective

 

BDR - Baseline Documentation Report

 

BDR – Bill Draft Request (legislative)

 

BDW - The Berry, Dexter, Wilson Ponds Watershed Association (Maine)

 

BE - Building Envelope

 

BEA - U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis

 

Beach - A Barren land subcategory. Includes the area adjacent to the shore of an ocean, sea, large river, or lake that is washed by the tide or waves. - National Resources Inventory

 

Beaching - The action of water waves by which beach materials settle into the water because of removal of finer materials.

 

Bearing - The direction of a line measured from north or south to east or west, not exceeding 90 degrees. Examples: North 30 Degrees West or South 87 Degrees East. - Cadastral Data glossary

 

Bearing Tree - A tree that is used as a reference to the position of a corner. - Cadastral Data glossary

 

BECC - Border Environment Cooperation Commission

 

BED - Border Economic Development

 

Bed Elevation - Height of streambed above a specified level.

 

Bed Layer - The flow layer, several grain diameters thick (usually taken as two grain diameters thick), immediately above the bed.                

 

Bed Load - The part of the total stream load that is moved on or immediately above the stream bed, such as the larger or heavier particles (boulders, pebbles, gravel) transported by traction or saltation along the bottom; the part of the load that is not continuously in suspension or solution.  Sediment that moves by rolling or sliding along the bed and is essentially in contact with the streambed in the bed layer.  Coarse sediments carried along near the bottom of a river.

 

Bed Load Discharge - The quantity of bed load passing a cross section of a stream in a unit in time.

 

Bed Material - Unconsolidated material, or sediment mixture, of which a streambed is composed.

 

Bed Material Discharge - That part of the total sediment discharge which is composed of grain sizes found in the bed.  The bed material discharge is assumed equal to the transport capability of the flow.

 

Bedding - Ground, or layer of such, for support purposes on which pipe is laid.  Soil is placed beneath and beside a pipe to support the load on the pipe.

 

Bedding Plane - A separation or weakness between two layers of rock, caused by changes during the building up of the rock-forming material.

 

Bedrock - The solid rock at the surface or underlying other surface materials.  Rock of relatively great thickness and extent in its native location.  A general term for any solid rock, not exhibiting soil-like properties, that underlie soil or other unconsolidated surficial materials.  As distinguished from boulders.  The consolidated body of natural solid mineral matter which underlies the overburden soils.  The solid rock that underlies all soil, sand, clay, gravel, and other loose materials on the earth’s surface.  Any sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic material represented as a unit in geology; being a sound and solid mass, layer, or ledge of mineral matter; and with shear wave velocities greater than 2,500 feet per second

 

BEED - Border Economic and Enterprise Development

 

Beef (cattle) Price Index (BPI) - An index of the weighted average annual price for beef cattle, excluding calves, for an 11 western state area as compared with a specific base period equal to 100. This index is used in calculating federal grazing fees.

 

BEF - Bonneville Environmental Foundation

 

BEF - Buckeye Egg Farms

 

Behave - A system of interactive computer programs for modeling fuel and fire behavior that consists of two systems: BURN and FUEL. – FS

BEHAVE - Behavioral Education for Human, Animal, Vegetation & Ecosystem Management (affiliated with Ted Turner's Flying D Ranch) http://alic.arid.arizona.edu/behave/index.html

 

Behavior - Reaction of an animal to its environment.

 

Being - Denotes a secondary call. In to the northeast corner of Brown's land, being also a two-inch iron pipe, the "two inch pipe" is usually the secondary or informative call, whereas "Brown's corner" is normally the superior call. A "being clause" is frequently a controlling call. - Cadastral Data glossary

 

Being Clause - The "being clause' of a deed denotes the origin or history of the present deed, such as being the same land conveyed to Brown in Book 1237, page 672, of Official Records. If a change is made in the wording of a deed, there should always be inserted a being clause. Reference to a being clause generally does not serve to enlarge or restrict a particular and sufficient description of land conveyed. - Cadastral Data glossary

 

BEIP - Business Employment Incentive Program

 

Below-cost Timber Sale - A timber sale from national forest lands in which the expected federal revenues are less than the estimated federal expenses to sell the timber.

 

Bench - A working level or step in a cut.

 

Benching - Installing fill materials in lifts. - NPS Architecture, Fortifications, and Preservation glossary

 

Bench Mark (BM) - A permanent or temporary monument of known elevation above sea level, used for vertical control at a construction site.  A point of known or assumed elevation used as a reference in determining other elevations.  A permanent reference point (elevation) used in a survey.

 

Bench Mark - A point whose elevation, above or below some definite or assumed datum, is known. A benchmark can be natural or artificial, and it can be either permanent or temporary. - Cadastral Data glossary

 

Benchmark Soil - A benchmark soil is one of large extent, one that holds a key position in the soil classification system, one for which there is a large amount of data, or one that has special significance to farming, engineering, forestry, ranching, recreational development, urban development, wetland restoration, or other uses. The cost of investigation and the large number of combinations of soil uses and management practices preclude laboratory and field studies of all soils; therefore, studies of benchmark soils are essential. A benchmark soil is selected because it can represent other soils. Knowledge of the properties and behavior of benchmark soils is applied to the understanding and interpretation of other soils with similar properties. This knowledge is important to soil technology and the use of soil surveys.

 

Benchmark - A measurement or standard that serves as a point of reference by which process performance is measured. - Forest Service http://svinet2.fs.fed.us/recreation/permits/final1.htm

 

Benchmarking - A structured approach for identifying the best practices from industry and government, and comparing and adapting them to the organization's operations. Such an approach is aimed at identifying more efficient and effective processes for achieving intended results, and suggesting ambitious goals for program output, product/service quality, and process improvement. - Forest Service http://svinet2.fs.fed.us/recreation/permits/final1.htm

 

Bench terrace - A raised, level or nearly level strip of earth constructed on or nearly on the contour, supported by a barrier of rocks or similar material, and designed to make the soil suitable for tillage and to prevent accelerated erosion. – USDA

 

Benefit-Cost Analysis - A technique to compare the various costs associated with an investment with the benefits that it proposes to return. Both tangible and intangible factors should be addressed and accounted for. - Forest Service