G8S - Group of Eight Summit (Genoa 2001) (UN)

GA - Generally Applicable

GA - Glaring Anomaly

GA - Global Agriculture

GA - Globalist Agenda

GA - Governmental Affairs

GA - Grant Administration

GA - Green Alliance

GA - Greening Australia

GA - Greenways Archive

GA - Groundwater Aquifers

GAAP - Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

The Gadsden Purchase - The Gadsden Purchase (Southern Arizona and New Mexico) by the Federal government from Mexico, 1853, completed the acquisition of land forming the contiguous 48 States. The purchase was designed to obtain suitable land for a southern route for a transcontinental railroad. Eventually, the Southern Pacific Railroad traversed the area, providing an east-west trunk line to which the short, copper-related, mine-specific, railroads could connect. This contributed to the development of the world-class copper mines of Arizona. - USGS

GAG - Green Advocacy Group

Gage height - The water-surface elevation referred to some arbitrary gage datum. Gage height is often used interchangeably with the more general term stage although gage height is more appropriate when used with a reading on a gage. - USGS

Gaging station - A particular site on a stream, canal, lake, or reservoir where systematic observations of gage height or discharge are obtained. (See also Stream-gaging station.) - USGS

GAIA - Genetic Architecture for Information Availability

Gaia Religion - See National Religious Partnership for the Environment.

Gaining Stream - A stream that receives ground-water discharge. The flow increases as one moves downstream.

Gaining (Effluent) Stream - A stream or reach of a stream that receives water from the zone of saturation and provides base flow; its channel lies below the water table. See LOSING STREAM. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

Gallery - A long room or passage, typically enclosed. - NPS Architecture, Fortifications, and Preservation glossary

GALMC - The Governor's Annual League of Municipalities Conference

Game Species - Any species of wildlife or fish that is harvested according to prescribed limits and seasons.

Gantt Chart - A chart that uses timelines and other symbols to illustrate multiple, time-based activities or project on a horizontal time scale. - EvergladesPlan glossary

GAO - General Accounting Office

GAP - Gap Analysis Program (USGS)

GAP - The Gap Analysis Project. Also: The Florida Gap Analysis Project (GAP) is creating data layers and models for the natural resource managers developing regional policies that influence the maintenance of biological diversity in Florida. A primary objective of our effort is to conduct an analysis of potential terrestrial vertebrate, butterfly, skipper, and ant species richness in Florida in relation to existing reserves and managed areas, and to identify areas of high species richness or unique species concentrations not found within existing reserves; i.e., "gaps" in the existing network of conservation lands. What is the National Gap Analysis Program? Gap Analysis is a scientific method for identifying the degree to which native animal species and natural communities are or are not represented in our present-day conservation lands. Those species and communities not adequately represented in areas that are being managed for native species constitute "gaps" in the existing network of conservation lands. The purpose of the Gap Analysis Program is to provide broad geographic information on the status of all terrestrial vertebrates and their habitats in order to proactively address the loss of biological diversity and prevent future conservation crises. The Gap Analysis Program is sponsored primarily by the US Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division. The US Geological Survey ensures scientific and technical validity and coordinates activities among the state projects. However, the state projects are only made possible through the cooperation of over 200 organizations. The Program is carried out state-by-state in partnership with state governments in 40 states. At the national level, major support comes from the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, and The Nature Conservancy. Cooperators in state GAP projects include businesses, state universities, state and federal agencies, and nonprofit groups. The Gap Analysis Program is the first state- and national-level effort to complete all of the following, at resolutions usable by land owners, planners, scientists, and policy makers: * map existing natural land cover to the level of dominant or co-dominant plant species; * map present distributions and potential habitat of native vertebrate species; * map public land ownership and private conservation lands; * show the current network of conservation lands; * compare distributions of any native vertebrate species, group of species, or vegetation communities of interest with the network of conservation lands; * provide an objective basis of information for local, state, and national options in managing biological resources. At the national level, these data are combined and displayed with a computerized geographic information system (GIS) using Arc/Info software at a spatial resolution (minimum area that can be mapped) of 1 kilometer (cartographic scale of 1:100,000). GAP provides a standardized method and format among states. Patterns of biodiversity at scales from species and natural communities to large regional and multi-state landscapes are discerned. To learn more about the details and methodologies of the program, please visit the National GAP web site. http://www.gap.uidaho.edu/default.htm 

GAP - Goal Assessment Program(s)

GAP - Government Agencies in Partnership http://www.gap.fed.gov/ 

GAP - Southeast Anatolia Project (Turkey)

GARD - Geographic Assistant Regional Director (FWS)

GARI - GAuley River National Recreation Area, West Virginia http://www.nps.gov/gari/ 

GARP -Global Association of Risk Professionals

GAS - Global Aquifer Survey

GAS - Graphics And Signage

GASB - Governmental Accounting Standards Board

Gas shift process - A process in which carbon monoxide and hydrogen react in the presence of a catalyst to form methane and water. - Bioenergy Glossary

Gastropod - Any if a large class of mollusks having one-piece, straight or spiral shells, as snails, limpets, etc. - BLM (DOI) Grand Escalante Staircase National Monument DEIS Glossary

GAT - Government Acceptance Test

GAT - Green Anarchy Tour

GATE - Gifted And Talented

GATS - General Agreement on Trade in Services (UN)

GATT - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

GB - Gradient Boundary

GB - Great Basin

GBA - Global Biodiversity Assessment

GBC - Ground-Breaking Ceremony

GBCIT - Grizzly Bear Community Involvement Team

GBD - Growth By Design

GBE - Global Banking Economy

GBHC - Great Basin Heritage Corridor (NPS proposal)

GBI - Guilt By Implication

GBNHA - Great Basin National Heritage Area

GBR - Great Bear Rainforest (in British Columbia, CANADA)

GBR - Green Brick Road (A non-profit organization which specializes in resources and information for students and teachers of global and environmental education. GBR works with many groups including Learning Through Landscapes, WWF-UK, and the International Institute for Global Education, along with the many other groups represented in our resource "Guide." We continue to seek out new partners … promoting quality resources for environmental education.

GBRM - Great Basin Resource Management (Nevada)

GBRS - Green Building Rating System

GBSG - Global Brain Study Group

GBW - Green Belt Walk

GBW - Green Belt Walkway

GC - Game Commission

GC - Gateway Community/Communities

GC - Gaviota Coast (California)

GC - Global Citizenship

GC - Global Cooling

GC - Governing Council (UN)

GC - Graphics Code

GC - Grassroots Conservative

GC - Green Corps

GC - Gulf Coast (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas)

GC - Gulf Coast (Joint Venture Plan)

GCA - Geologically Complex Area

GCBO - Gulf Coast Bird Observatory

GCC - Global Climate Change

GCC - Gulf Cooperation Council

GCCC - Global Climate Change Coalition

GCD - Geographic Coordinate Database (DOI)

GCD - Global Civilian Disarmament

GCDB - Geodetic Coordinate Data Base

GCDIS - Global Change Data and Information System, also known as 'United States Global Change Research Program,' or USGCRP. "Gateway to Global Change Data and Information!" http://globalchange.gov/ 

GCE - Global Campaign for Education (UN - UNESCO) http://www.unesco.org/education/ 

GCEL - Governor's Commission on Early Learning

GCG - Global Climate Government

GCGP - General Challenge Grant Program (DOI/USFWS)

GCHQ - Government Communication Headquarters (UK)

GCI - Green Cross International

GCMI - George C. Marshall Institute

GCRIO - U.S. Global Change Research Information Office

GCRP - Global Climate Research Program

GCS - Grassroots Consulting Services

GCT - Government-Controlled Trade

GCT - Grand Canyon Trust

GD - Gallons Per Day

GDBF - Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities (1991)

GDG - Geospatial Data Gateway (USDA/NRCS)

GDMP - Growth & Development Management Plans

GDP - Gross Domestic Product (IUCN)

GE - Gateway Eastern (NAFTA Railway)

GE - Generic Equivalent

GE - Genetic Engineering

GE - Genetically Engineered

GE - Geologic Environment

GE - Global Ecology

GE - Global Economy

GE - Greenhouse Effect

GE - Guardians of the Environment

GEA - Geothermal Energy Association

GEA - Global Environmental Assessments (UNEP) http://www.globio.info/about/assessments.cfm 

GEA - Glossary of EPA Acronyms

Geary-Khamis (G-K) Method - An aggregation method in which category "international prices" (reflecting relative category values) and country PPPs (depicting relative country price levels) are estimated simultaneously from a system of linear equations. Has the properties of base-country invariance, matrix consistency and transitivity. (UN)

GEBCO - General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (a joint project of the International Hydrographic Organization and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission -- UN)

GEF - Global Environment Facility (IUCN)

GEIC - Global Environment Information Center

GEMI - Global Environmental Management Initiative

GEMS - Global Environmental Monitoring System

GEMS/AIR - Global Environmental Monitoring System/Air Quality Monitoring Programme (worldwide network for monitoring air quality in urban areas) - UN

GEN - Global Ecovillage Network (formally inaugurated at the UN Habitat Conference in Istanbul in June, 1996 as a Danish Association [but is worldwide] with three regional networks)

GEN - Global EcoVillage Network (formerly the GAIA website) http://gen.ecovillage.org/ 

Gene - The functional unit of heredity; the part of the DNA molecule that encodes a single enzyme or structural protein unit. - UNDP/WRI

Gene Bank - A facility established for the ex situ conservation of individuals (seeds), tissues, or reproductive cells of plants or animals. (See, "Species Extinctions: Causes and Consequences") - UNDP/WRI

Gene flow - The exchange of heritable traits in a population of organisms. Lack or low gene flow is considered detrimental because it does not yield a great amount of variability (gene pool) from which the population can use to overcome changing environmental conditions. - NPS Ecology and Restoration Glossary

Gene flow - The movement of genetic material among populations or within a population. - DOI/USFWS http://rcwrecovery.fws.gov/finalrecoveryplan.pdf 

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) - An agreement originally negotiated in Geneva, Switzerland in 1947 to increase international trade by reducing tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers. The agreement provides a code of conduct for international commerce and a framework for periodic multilateral negotiations on trade liberalization and expansion. The Uruguay Round Agreement (resulting from negotiations that stretched from 1986 through 1993 among over 100 nations) established the World Trade Organization (WTO) to replace the institutions created by the GATT. The WTO officially replaced the GATT institutions on January 1, 1995. The WTO administers the GATT 1947, the revisions in GATT resulting from the Uruguay Round negotiations (GATT 1994), dispute resolution among WTO member countries, and various agreements resulting from other previous multilateral trade negotiations.

General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention - The General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention meets during the General Conference of UNESCO, that is, every two years. - Glossary of World Heritage Terms

General Authorities Act of 1970 (U.S.C. 1a-1-1a-8) - By the 1970's the NPS included historical parks, recreation areas, etc. Some of these units had enabling legislation that permitted consumptive activities in that unit such as fishing, hunting, trapping, and mining. To clear up any confusion of the overall mission of the National Park Service, Congress amended the Organic Act with language that tied all units back to the purposes stated in the Organic Act of 1916. It amended the Organic Act to specify that the NPS shall include any area of land and water now or hereafter administered by the NPS for park, monument, historic, parkway, recreational, or other purposes. Thus, while each unit was to be administered according to its enabling legislation, each was also ultimately to be managed following the directives of the Organic Act. Amendment to the General Authorities Act OF 1970 (16 U.S.C. 3) - In 1976, Congress amended the 1970 General Authorities Act and authorized the NPS to promulgate and enforce regulations concerning boating and other activities on or related to waters located within areas of the National Park System including waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States (16 U.S.C. 1a-2h). Waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States include navigable waters. Under these authorities, the NPS has managed and regulated activities occurring on and in the waters of the National Park System. Before 1966, NPS regulations for boating and other water-related activities were scattered throughout Title 36 CFR. In 1966, the NPS published consolidated boating regulations known as 36 CFR part 3. The regulations provided for the enforcement of USCG regulations by NPS on "navigable waters of the United States" located within park boundaries. In addition to regulations generally applicable in all national parks, NPS has promulgated special park-specific regulations that NPS enforces on and in navigable waters within the boundaries of particular units of the NPS.

General Circulation Model (GCM) - A global, three-dimensional computer model of the climate system which can be used to simulate human-induced climate change. GCMs are highly complex and they represent the effects of such factors as reflective and absorptive properties of atmospheric water vapor, greenhouse gas concentrations, clouds, annual and daily solar heating, ocean temperatures and ice boundaries. The most recent GCMs include global representations of the atmosphere, oceans, and land surface.

General cover - Nine general cover categories are defined, based upon vegetative structure (e.g., canopy cover percentage) or substrate characteristics (e.g., barren land/artificial surfaces). They are: Crop; Herbaceous; Open canopy short woody plants; Short woody plants; Open canopy tall woody plants; Tall woody plants; Barren; Artificial and modified surfaces; Water. See also Habitat composition and Habitat configuration. - National Resources Inventory

General Forest Management Area - Forestland managed on a regeneration harvest cycle of 70-110 years. A biological legacy of six to eight green trees per acre would be retained to assure forest health. Commercial thinning would be applied where practicable and where research indicates there would be gains in timber production. (BLM)

The General Land Office of the United States (GLO) - An agency created in 1812 to take charge of "all such acts and things touching or respecting the public lands of the U.S.", which included the surveying of the public lands. On July 16, 1946, the B.L.M. was established in the Department of Interior. Under that plan, the G.L.O. was abolished and its functions were transferred to the B.L.M. The office of the U.S. Supervisor of Surveys, together with the field surveying services known as the Cadastral Engineering Service, was abolished and the functions were transferred to the Secretary of the Interior. In July of 1946, the Secretary of the Interior ordered that the functions and powers of the G.L.O., and the U.S. Supervisor of Surveys, together with the Field Surveying Service, be exercised by the Director of the B.L.M. and subject to the direction and control of the Secretary. - Cadastral Data glossary

General Land Office (GLO) Plats - The official plats of the U.S. Government Land Office. The term is often used in reference to B.L.M. plats executed after July 1946. - Cadastral Data glossary

General Mining Law of 1872 - The Mining Law of 1872 allows U.S. citizens to claim land for mining purposes in units of 20 acres as long as $100 per year is spent on the land. The law also permits U.S. citizens to convert their claim to ownership of the land for $2.50 an acre. From that simple regime numerous complications arise. First, the government must decide whether the claimant is the first discoverer of a valuable mining deposit, but the determination of first discovery and the value of the mineral deposits is difficult.

General Management Plan (GMP) - Broad decisions about the kinds of resource conditions and visitor experiences the park should provide over the long term. (DOI/NPS) 2. The official master plan for a park, approved after a period of public comment. - NPS Architecture, Fortifications, and Preservation glossary

General permit - A DA (Dept. of the Army) authorization that is issued on a nationwide or regional basis for a category or categories of activities when: (1) Those activities are substantially similar in nature and cause only minimal individual and cumulative environmental impacts; or (2) The general permit would result in avoiding unnecessary duplication of regulatory control exercised by another Federal, state, or local agency provided it has been determined that the environmental consequences of the action are individually and cumulatively minimal. (See 33 CFR § 325.2(e) and 33 CFR Part 330.) 33 CFR §§ 322.2(f) and 323.2(h).

Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) - First authorized by the Trade Act of 1974, GSP allows some 140 developing countries to ship more than 3,000 products to the United States duty free. This helps developing countries to generate foreign exchange needed to purchase import commodities. The United States and 18 other industrialized nations began GSP programs in the mid-1970s to promote the economic growth of developing nations.

Generational Land Steward - One whose main source of taxable income has been, and continues to be derived from the particular region in which they have grown, produced and lived naturally for a period of time no less than 25 years.

Generic Advertising and Promotion - The promotion of a particular commodity without reference to a specific producer, brand name, or manufacturer. Because individual producers of nearly homogeneous agricultural commodities cannot easily convince consumers to choose one egg or orange or a single cut of beef over another, they join together to use generic advertising to expand total demand for the commodity, thereby helping their own sales as well. Activities are intended to expand both domestic and export demand; examples include advertising, nutrition education, research to improve product quality and appeal, market research studies, and technical assistance. These activities are often self-funded through assessments on marketings called check-off programs.

Genetic - Of or having to do with the precise heritable traits (genes) retained by an individual. Individuals that have been geographically separated for a long time usually have slightly different genetic make-ups. - NPS Ecology and Restoration Glossary

Genetic diversity - Variation in the genetic composition of individuals within or among species; the heritable genetic variation within and among populations. (See "Genetic Diversity" and "Agriculture and Genetic Diversity".) - UNDP/WRI

Genetic drift - Random sampling of genetic resources within a population from one generation to the next. In populations of finite size, this sampling will always result in loss of variation. In population of large size, such loss may be offset by new variation arising through mutation. - DOI/USFWS http://rcwrecovery.fws.gov/finalrecoveryplan.pdf 

Genetic engineering - A scientific technique which alters the genes of an organism. Used in medicine, industry and agriculture. - UNEP Children's Glossary

Genetic Seedlings - Tree seedlings from a genetically superior seed source. The seeds are collected from trees displaying exceptional form and raised in nurseries during out-planting. The seedlings usually have faster growth rates than naturally regenerated seedlings.

Genetic stochasticity - Random changes in gene frequencies. - DOI/USFWS http://rcwrecovery.fws.gov/finalrecoveryplan.pdf 

Genetically modified - Something altered through genetic engineering. - UNEP Children's Glossary

Generic - Belonging to a large group rather than a specific person. Describing something in general, rather than a specific, way. - UNEP Children's Glossary

Genesis, soil - The mode of origin of the soil. Refers especially to the processes or soil-forming factors responsible for the formation of the solum, or true soil, from the unconsolidated parent material. - USDA

Genocide - The systematic killing of people because of their race or ethnicity. - United Nations Charter / Human Rights Glossary

Genome - All the genetic material in the chromosomes of a particular organism. USDA's research agencies have a Plant Genome Mapping Program to identify, characterize, and map the position of agriculturally important genes on the chromosomes of plants grown as crops or trees in order to better use these genes for improving the characteristics of the plant (resistance to disease, higher yields, etc.) through breeding.

Genotype - The set of genes possessed by an individual organism. - UNDP/WRI

GEO - Geothermal Education Office

GEO - Global Environmental Organization (Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy) (UN)

GEO Report - Global Environment Outlook. - UNEP Children's Glossary

Geographic Boundaries: Political boundaries defined and delineated (and occasionally demarcated) as straight lines or arcs.

Geographic Coordinates - Geodetic coordinates, state plane coordinates, rectangular survey coordinates, local coordinates. Any coordinates that relate to a specific geographical network of coordinates. Usually means geodetic coordinates. - Cadastral Data glossary

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) - Both a database designed to handle geographic dada as well as a set of computer operations that can be used to analyze the data. In a sense, GIS can be thought of as a higher order map.

Geographically Separate - Separated by more than 10 miles. An Experimental Population Area and a recovery zone boundary must be geographically separate.

Geological and physiographical formations - Geological and physiographical formations are referred to as part of the definition of natural heritage in Article 2 of the Convention (UNESCO 1972). See Natural heritage - Glossary of World Heritage Terms

Geology - The science that studies the Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the changes it has undergone or is undergoing. - BLM (DOI) Grand Escalante Staircase National Monument DEIS Glossary

Geomorphic Processes - Processes that change the form of the earth, such as volcanic activity, running water, and glacial action.

Geomorphology - The science dealing with the nature and origin of the earth's topographic features. The science that deals with the relief features of the earth's surface.

Geomorphology - A science that deals with the land and submarine relief features of the earth's surface and seeks a genetic interpretation of them; physiography. - USDA/FS

Geophysical Exploration - The use of geophysical instruments and methods to determine subsurface conditions by analyzing such properties as specific gravity, electrical conductivity, or magnetic susceptibility. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

Geospatial Data - Information that includes, but is not limited to surveys, maps, aerial photography, aerial imagery, and biological, ecological and hydrological modeling coverages. - Everglades Plan glossary

Geo-textile - Any permeable textile material used with foundations, soil, rock, or other geo-technical material as an integral part of a man-made project, structure, or system.

GEP - Good Engineering Practice

GEP - Greenbelt Education Project

GEP - Globalization of the Environment Program (UN)

GEPI - Georgia Environmental Policy Institute

Germicide - Any compound that kills disease-causing microorganisms. EPA must register germicides as pesticides.

Germplasm - The genetic material, especially its specific molecular and chemical constitution, that comprises the physical basis of the inherited qualities of an organism. - UNDP/WRI

GES - Government environmental staff

GES - Greening Earth Society

GET - Global Environmental Treaty

GF - Game and Fish

GF - Giannini Foundation

GF - Gorbachev Foundation

GF - Grassroots Fundraising

GF - Global Forum (UN)

GF - Green Fundamentalism

GFC - Gulf Fishery Council (Gulf of Mexico)

GFD - Game and Fish Department

GFDL - Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory http://www.gfdl.gov 

GFMA - General Forest Management Area

GFOA - Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada

GFP - Government-Furnished Property

GFP - Green Fire Productions

GFR - Grantee Financial Report

GFS - Government Financial Statement

GFW - Global Forest Watch

GFW - Guard Fox Watch

GFWC - General Federation of Women's Clubs

GG - Gang Green (nickname for extreme self-proclaimed 'environmentalists')

GG - Gender Groups

GG - Global Governance

GG - Global Greens

GG - Greenhouse Gas

GGBP - Greater Gila Biodiversity Project

GGBPRP - Greater Gila Biodiversity Project's Rivers Project

GGBR - Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve

GGF - George Gund Foundation

GGGRS - Geochemical, Geophysical and Geological Reconnaissance Studies

GGIIESSDCDPTA - Getting Gay Issues Included in Elementary School Staff Development Curriculum Development and the PTA

GGN - Global Greens Network

GGP - Global Government Programs

GGUP - Grading Grown-Ups Program (Lutheran Brotherhood)

GH - Possibly extinct (this is correct, although not seeming to be so)

GH - Global Heritage

GHCA - Georgia Highway Contractors Association

GHG - Greenhouse Gases

GHR - Global Heritage Ranking

GHS - Global Health Surveillance

GHV - Gross Heating Value

GI - General Infrastructure

GI - Geologic Interpretation

GI - Ghetto Illness

GI - Gold Institute

GI - Government Incentive

GI - Government Issue

GI - Green Industry

GI - Greenways Initiative

GIA - Green Industry Association

GIBA - Globally Important Bird Areas

GIBA - The American Bird Conservancy's (ABC) 500 Globally Important Bird Areas list

GICG - Green Industry Coordinating Group

GIE - Global Information Environment

GIEWS - Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture - UN/FAO

GIK -Gift In Kind

GILS - Global Information Locator Service. The goal of GILS is to make it easy for people to find information of all kinds, in all media, in all languages, and over time. The chosen strategy is to adopt and help evolve international standards for information searching. http://www.gils.net/index.html 

GIN - The Greening of Industry Network (UN)

GINEF - Global Initiative on National Environment Funds (IUCN)

GIO - Globally Important Objects

GIPSA - Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration

GIPSA - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration

GIS - Geographic Information System

GIS - Global Indexing System

GISP - Global Invasive Species Program (UN)

GISP - Global Invasive Species Programme "The Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP), is multi-faceted effort undertaken by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) -- a component of the International Council for Science (ICSU), in collaboration with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and CAB International (CABI). GISP is also a component of DIVERSITAS, an international program on biodiversity science. ..." "Of the 40 Nations represented at the meeting -- the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) Phase I Synthesis Meeting, September 18-22, 2000, held in Cape Town, South Africa -- 14 representatives from developing countries were financially supported through an Environmental Diplomacy Fund (EDF) grant from the U.S. Department of State to SCOPE (on behalf of GISP)." http://www.cabi-bioscience.ch/wwwgisp/  GISP Online Tool Kit (a MUST-BOOKMARK) - Some [very important and vast] reference sources on IPM (Integrated Pest Management): http://www.cabi-bioscience.ch/wwwgisp/gtc5b3.htm 

GISP - Government Information Sharing Project

GIWA - Global International Waters Assessment

GK - Gatekeeper

GK - Geologic Knowledge

GKRCA - Greater Kankakee River Conservation Area

GJS - The Global Judges Symposium (UNEP)

GL - Genetic Linkage

GLA - Gross Leasable Area

Glacial drift (geology) - Pulverized and other rock material transported by glacial ice and then deposited. Also the sorted and unsorted material deposited by streams flowing from glaciers. - USDA

Glacial outwash (geology) - Gravel, sand and silt, commonly stratified, deposited by glacial meltwater. - USDA

Glaciofluvial deposits (geology) - Material moved by glaciers and subsequently sorted and deposited by streams flowing from the melting ice. The deposits are stratified and occur as kames, eskers, deltas, and outwash plains. - USDA

Glasnost - Means openness. It was part of the Soviet Union's attempt to modernize communism under General Secretary Mikhail Gorbechev.

GLB - Great Lakes Basin

GLC - Government Law Center (at Albany Law School in New York)

GLCTSA - Global Land Cover Test Site Activity (UN)

Gleaning - Collecting un-harvested crops from fields or obtaining unused agricultural products from farmers, processors, or retailers, usually for distribution to food banks and charitable feeding organizations.

Gley - Layer of mineral soil developed under conditions of poor drainage (poor aeration), resulting in reduction of iron and other elements and in gray colors and mottles (blobs of variously colored soils).

Gleyed - Soils with bluish, greenish, or grayish colors resulting from saturation. Indicates a hydric soil.

GLF - Gaia Liberation Front (a link on the VHEMT Links page) Geophilus joins the millions who have achieved the awareness that Earth will be better off when we are gone. He founded the GLF and states: "Our mission is the total liberation of the Earth, which can be accomplished only through the extinction of the Humans as a species."

GLFT - Great Lakes Fisheries Trust

GLERL - Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory

GLGWMC - Glacial Lake Grantsburg Wildlife Management Complex (Wisconsin)

GLIS - Geographic and Land Information Society

GLMT - Grazing Land Mechanical Treatment

GLNP - Great Lakes National Program http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/index.html 

GLNPO - Great Lakes National Program Office http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/about.html 

GLO - General Land Office

Global Biodiversity Assessment - A publication of the United Nations Environment Program that seeks to analyze the present knowledge and understanding of biodiversity and the nature of our interactions with it.

Global Commons - The Global Commons are legally defined as "resource domains to which all states have legal access." This includes the high seas, atmosphere, and space. In more general contexts this definition is expanded to include domains that do not fall within the jurisdiction of any one government, and therefore includes such diverse resources as Antarctica, mineral reserves straddling national boundaries, migratory wildlife, and fish stocks. Historically the resources of the Global Commons have remained outside management and property regimes because of the technical inability of humans to significantly exploit them and because of their geo-physical properties. This is no longer the case. Mankind has already caused the extinction of many species of migratory wildlife species such as the passenger pigeon and the Atlantic gray whale, and has depleted the stocks of many others to the point where their very existence is in jeopardy.

Global Economy - The emerging international economy characterized by free trade in goods and services, unrestricted capital flows and weakened powers to control domestic economies. (UNESCO)

Global Strategy - A conceptual framework devised to ensure the representativeness and credibility of the World Heritage List. The Global Strategy was adopted by the World Heritage Committee at its eighteenth session in 1994 (UNESCO 13 October 1994). The Global Strategy was originally devised with particular reference to cultural heritage. In March 1996 a group of experts meeting in the Parc National de la Vanoise, France, affirmed the application of the Global Strategy for natural heritage (UNESCO 15 April 1996). The World Heritage Bureau and Committee will consider the substance of the report of the group of experts at their twentieth sessions in 1996. The regional and thematic meetings held on the subject of cultural landscapes of outstanding universal value (See for example, von Droste et al 1995, von Droste et al 1995: Annexes 11 to VI and UNESCO 21 April 1996) and meetings on authenticity (Larson and Marstein 1994, Larson 1995 and Inter-American Symposium on Authenticity, March 1996) are all important contributions to the aims of the Global Strategy. The first subregional meeting on the Global Strategy was held in Harare, Zimbabwe from 11 to 13 October 1995 (UNESCO 31 January 1996: 53-54). - Glossary of World Heritage Terms

Global Strategy for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention - See Global Strategy - Glossary of World Heritage Terms

Global Warming - Global warming results from a build-up of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; it has been identified by scientists as a major threat to the global environment. (UNESCO) (Authors note: A theory?)

Globalization - A relatively new word that is commonly used to describe the ongoing, multidimensional process of worldwide change. It describes the idea that the world is becoming a single global market. It describes the idea that time and space have been shrunk as a result of modern telecommunications technologies which allow almost instantaneous communication between people almost anywhere on the planet. It describes the idea that cultures are blending and mixing and where cultural icons and values from dominant Northern cultures are being adopted in the South, while at the same time unique ethnic differences are being strengthened and local identities are being exerted. It describes that idea that the planet as a whole, rather than individual continents or landscapes, is considered as 'our home' and that some human activities can have a negative effect on people and environments far from their source or have an negative effect on the planet as a whole. (UNESCO)

GLOBE - Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment (UN)

GLOBIO - Foundation for Global Biodiversity Education for Children http://www.globio.org/ 

GLOBIO - Global Methodology for Mapping Human Impacts on the Biosphere. GLOBIO uses buffer zones from infrastructure to assess the human impact on the natural environment, and to display it in maps. http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/relatedlinks/Others.asp  GLOBIO was initiated to provide an inexpensive, simple scientifically based communication tool for mapping, at large scale, the likelihood of human impacts on the biosphere resulting from increasing growth in resource utilization. http://www.globio.info/about/  GLOBIO is intended to bring scientific evidence on human impacts into a format suitable for policymaking. GLOBIO's mission is to present a simple visual overview of the cumulative impacts of increasing resource demands on man and the environment, in support of UNEP's mandate of harmonizing global environmental assessments. The GLOBIO project is a partnership between a network of organizations and programmes, including the major global environmental assessment programmes. The project is coordinated through a global secretariat, consisting of Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) and UNEP's Global Resource Information Database (GRID-Arendal), World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and Division for Early Warning and Assessment (UNEP-DEWA). GLOBIO is an initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme http://www.globio.info/ 

GLONASS - Global Navigation Satellite System (European GPS)

GLPF - Great Lakes Protection Fund

GLRBEP - Great Lakes Regional Biomass Energy Program

GLS - Generational Land Stewards (resource providers)

GLS - Great Lakes Shoreline

GLSEN - Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network

GLTI - Grazing Lands Technology Institute

GLWI - Great Lakes Water Institute

GLWQA - Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

GM - Genetic Modification

GM - Genetically Modified

GM - Global Market

GM - Global Marketplace

GM - Global Movement

GM - Growth Management

GMA - Georgia Mining Association

GMA - Global Management Authority

GMA - Growth Management Act

GMBA - The Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (UN)

GMC - Global Marine Conservation

GMCC - Global Monitoring for Climate Change

GMDA - Groundwater Management Districts Association

GMEF - Global Ministerial Environment Forum (UN)

GMEN - Grazing Management for Eastern Nebraska

GMFMC - Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council

GML - General Mining Law (1872)

GMM - GCDB (Geographic Coordinate Data Base) Measurement Management

GMNSS - Global Maritime Distress and Safety System

GMP - General Management Plan

GMP - Geomorphic Provinces

GMP - Global Mineral Policy

GMT - Great Midwest Flood (1993)

GMT - Greenwich Mean Time

GMW - Geology and Mineral Wealth

GMWEA - Green Mountain Water & Environment Association http://www.gmwea.org/ 

GNC - Global Nitrogen Cycle

Gneiss - Coarse-grained, banded metamorphic rock in which minerals are arranged in darker and lighter layers. (NPS)

GNET - The Global Network of the Environment

GNIS - USGS Geographic Names Information System http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/default.asp 

GNP - Gross National Product (IUCN)

GNP Per Capita - The dollar value of a country's final output of goods and services in a year (its GNP), divided by its population. It reflects the average income of a country's citizens. Knowing a country's GNP per capita is a good first step toward understanding the country's economic strengths and needs. (UNESCO)

GNP Per Capita Growth Rate - The change in GNP per capita over a period, expressed as a percentage of GNP per capita at the start of the period. (UNESCO)

GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite System (European GPS)

GO - Governmental Organization

GO - The Great Outdoors

Go / No-Go Indicator - A level of measurement that shows whether an object's dimension is within certain limits, and can allow a decision as to whether to change, terminate or continue an activity or project. - Everglades Plan glossary

GOA - Globally Oriented Agenda

GOA - Gun Owners of America

Goal - A broad statement of a desired outcome. Goals are usually not quantifiable and may not have established time frames for achievement. - BLM

Goals - Descriptive statements of desired future conditions.

Goals-Objective-Strategies (GOS) Model - A model of the goals, objectives, and strategies developed by the COI (Community Of Interest) Development Team. It is generated from an effort to identify barriers, boundaries, and opportunities and provides the primary input to the charter development process. - GWOB

GOBFW - Great Old Broads For Wilderness (Escalante, Utah)

GOCO - The Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund

The "God Squad" - A Cabinet-level panel that can grant exemptions to Endangered Species Act mandates.

GOFCRP - Government-Owned Farm-stored Commodity Reserve Programs

GOGO - Government Owned, Government Operated

GONT - Grey Owl Nature Trust

Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) - Standards published in the Code of Federal Regulations and used by the Food and Drug Administration to ensure the quality of marketed products and that products are produced under sanitary conditions. Any FDA-regulated product can be designated adulterated if the manufacturing methods or facilities for processing do not conform with GMPs. GMPs are developed through a consultative process between the FDA and the affected industry.

Good Samaritan Laws - With respect to food and agriculture programs, these laws are designed to encourage the donation of food and grocery products to nonprofit organizations serving the needy by minimizing the risks of legal actions against donors and distributors of the foods. The Model Good Samaritan Food Donation Act was amended and revised in 1996 and renamed the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act (P.L. 104-210) in memory of the late Congressman who sponsored and championed Good Samaritan laws. It excludes from civil or criminal liability a person or nonprofit food organization that, in good faith, donates or distributes donated foods for food relief. Protection does not apply to an injury or death resulting from gross neglect or intentional misconduct and does not supersede state or local health regulations.

Good Title - Generally, a title free from substantial restrictions or limitations; however, not necessarily one perfect of record. The term is synonymous with clear title, good and marketable title, and good and merchantable title. - Cadastral Data glossary

Goods and Services - Things that are produced by a country's economy. Examples of goods include food, clothing, machines, and new roads. Examples of services include those of doctors, teachers, merchants, tourist agents, construction workers, and government officials. (WB-UN)

GOOS - The Global Ocean Observing System http://ioc.unesco.org/goos/ 

GOP - Grand Old Party

GORP - Great Outdoor Recreation Pages

GOS - General Operating Support

GOS - Goals, Objectives and Strategies (DOI)

Government - Regional cooperating groupings of governments for matters falling within their areas of competence. - IUCN

Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GFCE) - The SNA concept of "government", which includes public expenditures on education, health and similar categories. The ICP uses a different approach. (UN)

Government land - Any tract, or interest therein, in which the surface estate is owned by the United States and administered by the BIA, not including tribal land which has been reserved for administrative purposes. - DOI-BIA Glossary

Government Lots - Lots established, measured, and computed by the U.S. Government's survey of the public lands. The term is often used synonymously with "fractal lots" or "lots" (1/4 sections irregularly shaped and more, or less than 40 acres). Some government lots are regular in shape and are 40 acres in area. - Cadastral Data glossary

The Government Performance and Results Act - This act seeks to make the federal government more accountable to the American people by requiring all federal agencies to conduct strategic planning and performance measurement -- in other words, to set results-oriented goals, then report on progress in achieving those goals. When the National Park Service began working to comply with Government Performance and Results Act in 1995, it determined to adopt a top-down/bottom-up approach in which every individual park adopted a six-year strategic plan and annual performance plans consistent with their agency-wide counterparts. Each park then records results in annual performance reports that are rolled up into the agency's annual report. These plans and reports tier off the more comprehensive and longer-term general management plans and are prepared as part of basic park operations. http://www.npca.org/take_action/park_planning/expert/laws.asp 

Government Survey (U.S. Rectangular Land Survey) - In 1785 the U.S. Congress authorized the first land survey of the United States. It specified that surveyed townships were to be 6 miles square. The townships are surveyed from an east-west base line and from north-south principal meridians. Townships are laid off from these base lines and meridians. To identify the townships, each is given an identification in which it was referred to by its relation to the base line and meridian. Horizontal tiers of townships are laid off north and south from the base line and numbered consecutively. Vertical columns of townships called ranges are laid off to the east and west of the principal meridians and numbered accordingly. The townships can be identified by listing the township tier number and the range number, such as township 2 north, range 2 west. Each township is usually divided into 36 sections, each approximately one mile square and divided into 36 sections, each approximately one mile square and containing approximately 640 acres. This may vary considerably at rivers or where base lines or meridians converge, etc., but generally holds true. - Cadastral Data glossary

GOW - Great Outdoors Week

GP - General Partner

GP - Global Perspective

GP - Government Policy

GP - Grant Program

GP - Grazing Permit (DOI-FS)

GP - GreenPeace

GP - Greenways Prioritization

GP - Greenways Project

GP - Grid Pattern

GPA - Give Power Away (to build trust)

GPA - Global People's Assembly (UN)

GPA - Gold Prospectors Association

GPAC - Great Plains Agricultural Council

GP&P - Global Pacific & Partners

GPC - Game and Parks Commission

GPC - Government Policy Consultants

GPF - General Purpose Foundation

GPF - Global Policy Forum (UN)

GPNPCG - General Purpose Non-Profit Citizen's Group

GPO - General Plan Ordinance

GPO - Government Printing Office

GPP - Green Power Purchase

GPP - Growth Policies Plan

GPR - Grazing Permit Retirement

GPRA - Government Performance and Results Act (DOI)

GPS - Global Positioning Satellite

GPS - Global Positioning System

GPS - Government Policy Solutions

GPSC - Global Population Stabilization Campaign

GPST - Global Positioning Satellite Technology

GR - Glacial Relic

GR - Global Reach

GR - Global Resource

GR - Global Responsibility

GR - Global Revenue

GR - Group Rights (replaces individual rights)

GRACE - Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, a global environmental group

Grace Period - See Grant Element. - Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) Glossary

Graded stripcropping - Growing crops in strips that grade toward a protected waterway. - USDA

Grades and Standards - The segregation, or classification, of agricultural commodities into groupings that share common characteristics. Grades provide a common 'trading language,' or common reference, so that buyers and sellers can more easily determine the quality (and therefore value) of those commodities. Two USDA agencies--the Agricultural Marketing Service and Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration--serve as objective sources for this information. These agencies develop common grades and standards and conduct inspection and grading services for most food and farm products, and industry pays for most of the cost through user fees.

Grading - Altering a land surface by cutting, filling and/or smoothing to meet a designated form and function. - NPS Ecology and Restoration Glossary

Grading Certificates - A formal document setting forth the quality of a commodity as determined by authorized inspectors or graders.

Grain and seed crops - Seed-producing annuals used by wildlife. Examples are corn, sorghum, wheat, oats, barley, millet, buckwheat, cowpeas, soybeans, and sunflowers. The major soil properties that affect the growth of grain and seed crops are depth of the root zone, texture of the surface layer, available water capacity, wetness, slope, surface stoniness, and flood hazard. Soil temperature and soil moisture are also considerations. - USDA

Graminoid - All grasses and grasslike plants, including sedges and rushes.

Grandfather, To - To exempt groups or individuals from provisions of laws or regulations on the basis of preexisting conditions. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

Grandfathering - In zoning, grandfathering is the continuance by right established in law to continue with a non-conforming use after the passage of a zoning plan. (The earlier meaning of grandfather clause was to restrict the right to vote to those who could read and write, owned property of an assessed value over $100, or had gainful employment for one year prior unless prevented by disability or were in the military, and who were of good character, to understand the duties of citizenship). Contrary to popular impressions about zoning, the courts have rejected the establishment of grandfathering of non-conforming uses as a constitutional right. - Zoning (Case Law) Glossary

Granger Cases - Five cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1877. The Supreme Court ruled that within their own boundaries states could regulate property affecting the public interest. These rulings of the court led to state regulation of many industries. After the Civil War, Midwestern farmers faced rising transportation and storage costs and declining profits. The farmers formed clubs called Granges, through which they appealed to the states to regulate the railroads and storehouses. Some states with large farm populations, such as Illinois and Wisconsin, passed acts setting maximum transportation and grain storage rates. Owners of railroads and grain elevators denounced the laws as interference with interstate commerce (trade between states), and violation of property rights. In Munn v. Illinois, the most important Granger case, the Supreme Court upheld the Illinois law. The court ruled that property, which affected the community at large "must submit to be controlled by the public for the common good."

Granger-Thye Act of 1950 - P.L. 81-478 (April 24, 1950) established a new direction for some aspects of National Forest System management; authorized the use of grazing fee receipts for rangeland improvement; authorized the Forest Service to issue grazing permits for terms up to 10 years; authorized to the Forest Service to participate in funding cooperative forestry and rangeland resource improvements; established grazing advisory boards; and, authorized the Forest Service to assist with work on private forestlands.

Granite - Light-colored, coarse-grained igneous rock. (NPS Rare Plant glossary)

Granivory - The loss of seeds due to consumption by another organism. Syn: predation - NPS Ecology and Restoration Glossary

Granodiorite - Granular intrusive quartz igneous rock, intermediate between granite and diorite; a quartzose diorite. (NPS)

Grant/granting - The process of the BIA or the Indian landowner agreeing or consenting to a permit. - DOI-BIA Glossary 2. The transfer of real property by deed. - Cadastral Data glossary

Grants - Transfers made in cash, goods or services for which no repayment is required. - Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) Glossary

Grant Element - Reflects the financial terms of a commitment: interest rate, MATURITY (q.v.) and grace period (interval to first repayment of capital). It measures the concessionality of a loan, in the form of the present value of an interest rate below the market rate over the life of a loan. Conventionally the market rate is taken as 10 per cent in DAC statistics. Thus, the GRANT ELEMENT is nil for a loan carrying an interest rate of 10 per cent; it is 100 per cent for a grant; and it lies between these two limits for a soft loan. If the face value of a loan is multiplied by its GRANT ELEMENT, the result is referred to as the grant equivalent of that loan. (cf. CONCESSIONALITY LEVEL.) (Note: the GRANT ELEMENT concept is not applied to the market-based lending operations of the multilateral development banks.) - Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) Glossary

Grant Like Flow - A transaction in which the donor country retains formal title to repayment but has expressed its intention in the commitment to hold the proceeds of repayment in the borrowing country. - Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) Glossary

Grantee - The person to whom a grant is made; the one who acquires property. - Cadastral Data glossary

Grantor - The person by whom a grant is made; the one who transfers the property. - Cadastral Data glossary

Grants Payable - Unpaid amount of grants or awards that an organization plans to pay other organizations or individuals.

Grass or Grassed Waterway - A natural or constructed watercourse or outlet that is shaped or graded and planted with suitable vegetation for the purpose of dispersing runoff without causing erosion. A generally broad and shallow depression planted with erosion-resistant grasses, which is used to convey surface waters off of or across cropland.

Grasses and legumes - Domestic perennial grasses and herbaceous legumes that are planted for wildlife food and cover. Examples are fescue, bluegrass, lovegrass, switchgrass, bromegrass, timothy, orchardgrass, clover, alfalfa, trefoil, and crownvetch. Major soil properties that affect the growth of grasses and legumes are depth of the root zone, texture of the surface layer, available water capacity, wetness, surface stoniness, flood hazard, and slope. Soil temperature and soil moisture are also considerations. - USDA

Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) - A program designed to protect prairie lands through the purchase of 10-year, 15-year, 20-year, 30-year and permanent easements.

Grassland Vegetation Structure - Vegetation structure, as used, refers to the vertical structure of vegetation types dominated by grasses, sedges and forbs and where shrubs are absent or a minor component. The vertical structure of grassland vegetation, in combination with other vegetation characteristics, influences the diversity of plants and animals that occurs across grassland landscapes. The visual obstruction method (Robel et al. 1970) has been selected for monitoring and analyzing vertical vegetation structure. Visual obstruction readings (VOR) are commonly used to measure vertical structure (Robel et al. 1970, Sousa 1987, Duebbert and Lokemoen 1977, Grosz and Kirby 1986, Manske et al. 1988, Mattise et al. 1981, Sedivec et al. 1995) and represent the height that vegetation totally (100%) screens a calibrated pole when viewed from a standard height (39 inches) and distance (156 inches). The pole used by the Forest Service is modified from that described by Robel et al. (1970) and is painted with alternating 1-inch gray and white bands. Robel et al. used a pole graduated in half decimeters, and the narrower 1-inch graduations on the modified pole provide a finer level of resolution to detect changes in grassland structure. VORs are taken from 4 directions around stations systematically located every 10 paces along a linear paced transect. In steep (>15% slope) topography, readings are taken at each station from 2 directions on the contour. The number of the last band partially or totally visible is recorded as the VOR, and mean VOR is calculated for each station and transect. The number of stations per transect and the number of transects per unit area is predetermined based on variability observed during initial sampling and a desired level of precision (1/2 inch) and confidence (80%). Transect locations are random and commonly stratified by sites with similar levels of potential productivity. Sampling is random across the entire unit or within a relatively contiguous block. (USDA-FS)

Grasslands - Lands on which the vegetation is dominated by grasses, grasslike plants, or forbs. Non-forest land is classed as grassland if herbaceous vegetation constitutes at least 80 percent of the canopy cover, excluding tress. Lands that are not now grasslands but were originally or could become grasslands through natural succession may be classified as potential natural grasslands.

Grassroots - The lowest level of political activity or action; the voters or citizens themselves; the people who are most directly effected by public policy decisions. (UNESCO)

Grassroots [organizations or movements] - People or society at a local level, rather than at the center of major political activity. - UNDP/WRI

Gravel - Rounded sedimentary particles >2 mm in diameter. - NPS Ecology and Restoration Glossary

Gravelly soil material - Material that is 15 to 50 percent, by volume, rounded or angular rock fragments, not prominently flattened, up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) in diameter. - USDA

Gravitational Potential - The amount of work an infinitesimal amount of pure free water can do at the site of the soil solution as a result of the force of gravity.

Gravity/convection ventilation - Ventilation using natural convection or air movement caused by differential pressure and air temperature. - NPS Architecture, Fortifications, and Preservation glossary

Gray economy (shadow economy) - Consists of business activities that are not accounted for by official statistics. It includes illegal activities (or the so-called black market) and activities that are in themselves legal but go unreported or under-reported for purposes of tax evasion. - World Bank Glossary

Gray Infrastructure - The capital assets conventionally referred to as Infrastructure, including roads, sewers and schools.

Grazing - Consumption of native forage from rangelands or pastures by livestock or wildlife.

Grazing Allotment - An area where one or more livestock operators graze their livestock. An allotment generally consists of federal land but may include parcels of private or state-owned land.

Grazing Allotment Directories - Direction under which all grazing allotments are categorized for management purposes into three groups. The overall objectives are: M-maintain the current resource conditions; I-improve the current resource conditions; and C-custodial manage the existing resource values. - BLM (DOI) Grand Escalante Staircase National Monument DEIS Glossary

Grazing capacity - The maximum sustainable number of livestock that may be grazed on a defined area and within a defined period, usually expressed in an Animal Unit Month (AUM). - DOI-BIA Glossary

Grazing Distribution - Dispersion of livestock grazing within a management unit or area. - BLM

Grazing District - An administrative unit of BLM-managed rangelands established by the Secretary of the Interior under Section 3 of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934.

Grazing Fee - A charge, usually on a monthly basis, for grazing a specific kind of livestock. For federal lands, the grazing fee is based on a formula found in the Public Rangelands Improvement Act (PRIA). The federal grazing fee is equal to a base fee of [$1.23 x the Forage Value Index (FVI)] + [the Beef Price Index (BPI)] - [the Prices Paid Index (PPI)] ö [100] and is charged per animal unit month.

Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) - A program started by USDA under its discretionary authority in 1991 and then specifically authorized by the FAIR Act of 1996 to provide increased technical and educational assistance to conserve and enhance private grazing lands. More than 60% of these grazing lands are considered to have serious environmental problems that could lessen their productive capacity if corrective actions are not taken. The FAIR Act of 1996 authorizes funding at $20 million the first year, increasing to $60 million in the third year.

Grazing Permit/License/Lease - Official written permission to graze a specific number, kind, and class of livestock for a specified time period on defined federal rangeland.

Grazing Permit - 2. An authorization that allows grazing on public lands. Permits specify class of livestock on a designated area during specified seasons each year. Permits are of two types: preference (10 year) and temporary nonrenewable (1 year). - BLM (DOI) Grand Escalante Staircase National Monument DEIS Glossary

Grazing Permit Value - BLM allocated animal unit months may be transferred from one operator to another. The dollar value given by one operator (buyer) to induce a present permit holder (seller) to transfer his permit is known as the "permit value" of an animal unit month. This "permit value" may have a significant bearing on the rancher's capital value. - BLM (DOI) Grand Escalante Staircase National Monument DEIS Glossary

Grazing Preference - The status of qualified holders of grazing permits acquired by grant, prior use, or purchase, that entitles them to special consideration over applicants who have not acquired preference.

Grazing Preference - The total number of AUMS of livestock grazing on public lands apportioned and attached to base property owned or controlled by a permittee or lessee. Active preference combined with suspended non-use make up total grazing preference. - BLM

Grazing Privilege - The benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person or company beyond the common advantage of other citizens to graze livestock on federal lands. Privilege may be created by permit, license, lease, or agreement.

Grazing rental payment - The total of the grazing rental rate multiplied by the number of AUMs or acres in the permit. - DOI-BIA Glossary

Grazing rental rate - The amount you must pay for an AUM or acre based on the fair annual rental. - DOI-BIA Glossary

Grazing Season - On U.S. federal lands, an established period for which grazing permits are issued.

Grazing Season - (1) On public [federal] land, an established period for which grazing permits are issued. (2) The time interval when animals are allowed to utilize a certain area. - USDA DEIS Upper & Lower East Fork Cattle and Horse Allotment Management Plans glossary (Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Sawtooth National Forest, Custer County, Idaho

Grazing System - Systematic sequence of grazing use and non-use of land area to meet multiple use goals by improving the quality and amount of vegetation.

Grazing System - A specialization of grazing management, which defines the periods of grazing and non-grazing. Grazing system should consist of at least the following: the number of pastures; number of herds; length of grazing period; length of non-grazing periods for any given unit in the system. Exampled are Deferred Rotation and Rest Rotation. - USDA DEIS Upper & Lower East Fork Cattle and Horse Allotment Management Plans glossary (Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Sawtooth National Forest, Custer County, Idaho

GRC - Geothermal Resources Council

GRC - Global Resource Center

The Great Lakes Charter (1985) - The governors of the eight Great Lakes states and the premiers of Ontario and Quebec signed the Great Lakes Charter in 1985 to respond to growing interest in diverting water from the Great Lakes to arid regions of the United States. The charter discourages new proposals to divert Great Lakes water, but it has no enforcement provisions. - Great Lakes glossary

Great Lakes Commission (GLC) - Eight states -- Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- formed the commission in 1955 to help them manage the Great Lakes. The commission provides the states with research, advice and advocacy on issues of development, use and protection of water and land resources in the Great Lakes basin. The Argus II Bldg., 400 Fourth St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103-4816, 734-665-9135 - Great Lakes glossary

Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) - The United States and Canada established the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in 1955 through the Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries. The commission's main responsibilities are (1) to advise the two governments on fisheries issues of common concern, and (2) to control sea lamprey in the Great Lakes. The commission runs its programs through contracts with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The commission also advises the two governments on problems associated with nonindigenous species, such as the zebra mussel and the ruffe. 2100 Commonwealth Blvd., Suite 100, Ann Arbor, MI 48105-1563, 734-662-3209 - Great Lakes glossary

Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission - The commission represents 11 Chippewa tribes that have retained their treaty rights to hunt and fish on Lake Superior and certain inland waters in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The commission provides biological assessment of waters and fisheries; program planning related to fisheries and water pollution; hatchery and fish management programs, and law enforcement. It is funded by Congress through the Bureau of Indian affairs. P.O. Box 9, Odanah, WI 54861, 715-682-6619 - Great Lakes glossary

Great Lakes Toxic Substances Control Agreement (1986) - The governors of the Great Lakes states signed this agreement in 1986, pledging to cooperate in the study, management and monitoring of toxic pollutants in the Great Lakes and their effects. The agreement supports an "ecosystem management approach" for the Great Lakes and asks for more federal involvement in controlling toxic pollution (note the listing for the MISA strategy in Canada). - Great Lakes glossary

Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (1972) - The U.S.-Canadian Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement describes the objectives of the two countries for restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin. The agreement calls for joint initiatives in research, pollution control, problem identification and monitoring. It was signed in 1972 and modified in 1978. The revised accord introduced two concepts -- the "ecosystem approach" and "mass balance" -- to Great Lakes management. In 1987, another amendment called for development and implementation of Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) to restore beneficial uses in 43 Areas of Concern -- areas of the Great Lakes that suffer serious problems with water quality. - Great Lakes glossary

Great Plains Conservation Program (GPCP) - This program, initiated in 1957, provided cost share and technical assistance to apply conservation on entire farms in 10 Great Plains states from the Dakotas and Montana to Texas and New Mexico. Contracts were limited to $35,000. At the end of 1995, over 6,800 farms in 558 counties with 20 million acres were participating. It was replaced by the Environmental Quality Incentives Program in the FAIR Act of 1996.

Greater Everglades Ecosystem - An area consisting of the lands and waters within the boundary of the South Florida Water Management District, including the built environment, the Everglades, the Florida Keys and the contiguous near shore coastal waters of South Florida (also shown under South Florida Ecosystem). - EvergladesPlan glossary

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem - In 1980 a report by biologist John Craighead put the size of the "greater Yellowstone ecosystem" at five million acres. In 1991 the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee, a joint Park Service-Forest Service body, expanded it to almost 12 million acres, and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, an environmental group, puts its size at 18 million acres.

GREEN - Global Rivers Environmental Education Network

GREEN - GrassRoots Environmental Effectiveness Network

Green Box - Domestic or trade policies that are deemed to be minimally trade distorting and that are excluded from reduction commitments in the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. Examples are domestic policies dealing with inspection and grading, environmental and conservation programs, disaster relief, crop insurance, domestic food assistance, and direct payments not linked to production. Trade measures or policies such as export market promotion (but not export subsidies or foreign food aid) are also exempt.

Green box policies - An expression that developed during the GATT trade negotiations using a traffic light analogy to rank policies. The green box describes domestic support policies that are not subject to reduction commitments under the Agreement on Agriculture. These policies are assumed to affect trade minimally, and include support such as research, extension, food security stocks, disaster payments, and structural adjustment programs. - USDA-Economic Research Service Farm and Commodity Policy Glossary of Policy Terms

Green Infrastructure - See Green Space.

Green Infrastructure - The natural resources and systems including trees, streams and open space, which form part of the foundation for community development.

Green logging - The logging of timber that is still alive. - Bioenergy Glossary

Green manure crop (agronomy) - A soil-improving crop grown to be plowed under in an early stage of maturity or soon after maturity. - USDA

Green Network - (The European Conservation Institute's research network) The interrelationship of patches, corridors and the matrix to create a network for biodiversity conservation.

Green Patrimony - Patrimony has burst from its judicial definition where it denoted a family inheritance to embody a national concern with heritage and how to preserve it. When we add the adjective "green" to patrimony, the notion becomes highly politicized: the country's green properties, from farm lands to the public parks, engage individual and group concerns for national identity. (UN)

Green Revolution - A different form of agriculture than America is familiar with. Modern technology has not yet had a significant impact on African agriculture. In many poor regions of the world the green revolution has significantly increased agricultural output. The green revolution is a series of technological discoveries that created high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat. Where these crops are grown food production has increased significantly. The primary food crops in Africa are maize (corn), sorghum, and millet in drier areas and root crops like yams and cassava, as well as plantains, in wetter areas. (UN)

Green Space (Green Infrastructure) - Refers to the integrated network of watersheds, airsheds, woodlands, wildlife habitats, greenways, parks, working farms, ranches, forests, urban trees and parkways, and other open spaces that when incorporated into local and regional plans, policies, and practices provide vital services that sustain and ensure the quality of life (From Executive Summary of Green Infrastructure Training Program Work Session, National Conservation Training Center, WV, August 4-5, 1999). http://www2.srs.fs.fed.us/strategicplan/view_and_submit_comment.asp?ID=52 

Green Tree Retention - A stand management practice in which live trees as well as snags and large down wood, are left as biological legacies within harvest units to provide habitat components over the next management cycle. (BLM)

Greenbelt - An open area ringing a developed area, used as a buffer between land uses, to mark the edge of a developed area or to reserve land for the long-term future. It may be cultivated or maintained in a natural state.

Greenfields - Raw land that requires infrastructure before it can be developed.

Greenhouse Effect - The hypothesized warming of the Earth's atmosphere as a result of increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap infrared radiation emitted from the earth's surface. While the increase in such gases is well documented, the effect on climate remains debatable. Estimates of the temperature effect range from zero to an increase of several degrees average global temperature by 2050; changes in temperature would affect rainfall patterns. Significant climate change would inevitably affect agricultural practices. 2. A natural effect that traps heat in the atmosphere (troposphere) near the Earth's surface. Some of the heat flowing back toward space from Earth's surface is absorbed by water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and several other gases in the lower atmosphere and then radiated back towards the Earth's surface. If atmospheric concentrations of these gases rise and are not removed by other natural processes, the average temperature of the lower atmosphere will gradually increase. This natural effect is enhanced by emissions from human activities and is considered a major and pressing global environmental concern. (UNESCO)

Greenhouse Gases - Gases in Earth's lower atmosphere (troposphere) that cause the greenhouse effect. Examples are carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, ozone, methane, water vapor, and nitrous oxide. (UNESCO)

Greenpeace - An international NGO which campaigns on environmental issues. - UNEP Children's Glossary

Green ton - 2,000 pounds of undried biomass material. Moisture content must be specified if green tons are used as a measure of fuel energy. - Bioenergy Glossary Greenway - 1. A linear open space established along either a natural corridor, such as riverfront, stream valley, or ridgeline, or overland along a rail road right of way converted to recreational use, a canal, a scenic road, or other route. 2. Any natural or landscaped passage. 3. An open space connector linking parks, nature reserves, cultural features, or historic sites with each other and with populated areas. 4. Locally, certain strip or linear parks designated as a parkway or greenbelt. Other equivalent terms to greenway: Greenbelt, Parkway, Greenlink 2. A corridor composed of natural vegetation. Greenways can be used to create connected networks of open space that include traditional parks and natural areas. - Smart Growth Green Development Glossary

Greenway - Uninterrupted corridor of vegetation which may or may not include public access for recreation. A region-wide linear corridor of permanently preserved public and private land linking the State's urban, suburban and rural areas. Parts of Greenways are established as scenic and recreational open space, but parts are also set aside for farming, wildlife habitat and other non-recreational uses. Trails often coincide with Greenways, but parts of Greenways may not permit through public access and not all Trails are part of regional systems. A Greenbelt may function as part of a Greenway or vice versa.

GRH - Guaranteed Ride Home

GRHA - Great Rivers Habitat Alliance http://www.grha.net  [Excerpt from 'background' http://www.grha.net/background.htm] GRHA addresses issues affecting wetland habitat and promotes sensible use of flood plains in the confluence region of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers. The organization seeks to save our natural flood plain and rural agricultural heritage. GRHA strives in influencing public officials to make changes in their policies and legislation that is affecting the regional flood plain development. Since its establishment, GRHA has made contacts with regional influential politicians and officials and begun an awareness campaign to inform the general public about flood plain developments and new levee construction efforts that typically closely follow new flood plain developments. These awareness campaigns are the initial tools intended to raise attention about the importance of saving flood plains as natural water storage areas, instead of converting it into building sites for new, larger, strip malls and shopping centers. One of GRHA's future goals is to acquire one or more conservation easements within the regional flood plain during 2001. The ultimate preservation goal is to 'protect' 60,000 to 100,000 acres of land through easement acquisition and land purchases through federal, state, and private funding sources. The organization will continue making contacts with influential people addressing issues of concern.

GRI - Global Reporting Initiative

GRI - The Global Reporting Initiative (CERES)

GRID - Global Resource Information Database (UNEP)

GRIP - Geographically Referenced Information Program

GRIP - Greenland Ice Core Project

GRIP - Gila Resources Information Project (headquartered in Silver City, NM) http://www.gilaresources.info/ 

GRIS - Global Reporting Initiative Standards

Grizzly - In mining, a device for the coarse screening of bulk materials. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

GRLHF - Global ReLeaf Heritage Forests

GRM - Government Risk Management

GRNMS - Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary (off the coast of Georgia)

Gross domestic investment rate - All the outlays made to replace and increase a country's physical capital, plus changes in inventories of goods, expressed as a percentage of GDP. Gross domestic investment, along with foreign direct investment, is critical for economic growth and economic development. - World Bank Glossary

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - Gross domestic product is a measure of the total production and consumption of goods and services in the United States. The Bureau of Economic Analysis constructs two complementary measures of GDP, one based on income and one based on expenditures. It is measured on the product side by adding up the labor, capital, and tax costs of producing the output. On the expenditure side, GDP is measured by adding up expenditures by households, businesses, government and net foreign purchases. Theoretically, these two measures should be equal. However, due to problems collecting data, there is often a discrepancy between the two measures. The GDP price deflator is used to convert output measured at current prices into constant-dollar GDP.

Gross domestic saving rate - Gross domestic product (GDP) minus consumption by government and the private sector, expressed as a percentage of GDP. A high gross domestic saving rate usually indicates a country's high potential to invest. - World Bank Glossary

Gross enrollment ratio - The number of students enrolled at a certain level of education as a percentage of the population of the age group that officially corresponds to that level. Can be above 100 percent if some enrolled students are older or younger than the age group that officially corresponds to that level of education. - World Bank Glossary

Gross Growth - Annual increase in volume of trees 5.0 inches d.b.h. and larger in the absence of cutting and mortality. Gross growth includes survivor growth, ingrowth, growth on ingrowth, growth on removals before removal, and growth on mortality before death. - USDA/FS

Gross primary school enrollment ratio - The ratio of primary school enrollment to the number of primary school-aged children (usually children 6-11). The gross secondary school enrollment ratio is calculated in the same way, except that the corresponding age group is 12-17. For the gross tertiary education enrollment ratio, calculations are based on the number of young people in the five-year age group following the secondary school leaving age. Gross enrollment ratios can be higher than 100 percent because some students are younger or older than the corresponding age group. - World Bank Glossary

Gross National Product (GNP) - The value (in U.S. dollars) of a country's final output of goods and services in a year. The value of GNP can be calculated by adding up the amount of money spent on a country's final output of goods and services, or by totaling the income of all citizens of a country including the income from factors of production used abroad. (WB-UN) 2. The total market value in current dollars of all goods and services produced by an economy for final use during a year. Usually measured in U.S. dollars for international comparisons. (UNESCO)

Gross Regional Product (GRP) - A measure of total income in a given area. The GRP includes employee compensation, property income, and proprietary income plus indirect business taxes. The GRP is equal to total value added and is the local or regional equivalent of the national measure of economic growth, the Gross Domestic Product. - USDA/FS

Gross State Product (GSP) - The sum of the gross outputs of each of a state's industries minus intermediate goods and services purchased from other industries or imported. See INTERMEDIATE GOODS AND SERVICES. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

Gross Yarding - Removal of all woody material of specified size from a logging unit to a landing. (BLM)

Ground Cover - The percentage of material, other than bare ground, covering the land surface. Ground cover may include live and standing vegetation, litter, gravel, cobble, stones, boulders, and bedrock.

Ground Fire - A fire that burns along the forest floor and does not affect trees with thick bark or high crowns.

Groundfish - Broadly, fish that are caught on or near the sea floor. However, NMFS sometimes uses the term in a narrower sense ... www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/fus/fus97/glossary.pdf - NMFS/DOI

Groundwater - Water that is underneath the earth's surface and is entirely saturated. Water that sinks into the soil and is stored in slowing flowing and slowly renewed underground reservoirs called aquifers. Groundwater is extensively used in many parts of the world but global supplies are being depleted and polluted at alarming rates. The decline in quantity and quality of groundwater is linked to deforestation, over-exploitation of groundwater supplies, improper use of agricultural chemicals, and leachate from landfill dumping. (UNESCO)

Groundwater Level - The water level in a well, which is a measure of the hydraulic head in the aquifer system. - Everglades Plan glossary

Ground-water outflow - That part of the discharge from a drainage basin that occurs through the ground water. The term "underflow" is often used to describe the ground-water outflow that takes place in valley alluvium (instead of the surface channel) and thus is not measured at a gaging station. - USGS

Groundwater Pumping - The quantity of water extracted from groundwater storage. - Everglades Plan glossary

Ground-water runoff - That part of the runoff which has passed into the ground, has become ground water, and has been discharged into a stream channel as spring or seepage water. See also Base runoff and Direct runoff. - USGS

Groundwater Seepage - The groundwater flow in response to a hydraulic gradient. - Everglades Plan glossary

Groundwater Table - The upper surface of the zone of saturation, except where the surface is formed by an impermeable body. - Everglades Plan glossary

Ground Water - The supply of fresh water under the earth's surface in an aquifer or in the soil. All subsurface water that fills the pores, voids, fractures, and other spaces between soil particles and in rock strata in the saturated zone of geologic formations.

Ground Water Discharge Point - A place where ground water flows out from an aquifer and into a surface water body.

Ground Water Hydrology - The subdivision of the science of hydrology that deals with the occurrence, movement, and quality of water beneath the Earth's surface.

Group - The social unit in red-cockaded woodpeckers, consisting of a breeding pair with one or more helpers, a breeding pair with one or more helpers, a breeding pair without helpers, or a solitary male. - DOI/USFWS http://rcwrecovery.fws.gov/finalrecoveryplan.pdf 

Group of 5 - The Group of 5 consists of the major industrial countries whose currencies constitute the SDR: France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. - WB

Group of 7 - The Group of 7 consists of the major industrial countries whose heads of state or government meet annually at economic summits. The members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. - WB

Group of 10 - Under the IMF's General Arrangements to Borrow, established in 1962, 10 industrial members of the IMF (Switzerland joined in the spring of 1984, but the Group retains its numerical designation) stand ready to lend their currencies to the IMF up to specified amounts when supplementary resources are needed. The finance ministers of Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the U.S. comprise the Group. - WB

Group of 24 - A group of finance ministers from 24 developing country members of the Bank and Fund. The African, Asian, and Latin American and Caribbean country groupings in the Group of 77 (see below) chose eight representatives each to the G-24. Formed in 1972, the G-24 meets at regular intervals, usually in conjunction with Bank/Fund ministerial meetings, to determine the developing countries' positions for these meetings and related matters. The Group of 24 is the organ of the Group of 77 charged with formulating positions on developmental and monetary issues. The Group's members are: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Iran, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, [Yugoslavia] and Zaire. - WB

Group of 30 - An informal private group of leading international bankers, businessmen, economists, and financial officials from developed and developing countries, organized in early 1979 by Johannes Witteveen, who retired as Managing Director of the IMF in 1977. It meets two to three times each year to discuss solutions to the world's economic problems and issues reports and recommendations based on its discussions. - WB

Group of 77 - A grouping of developing countries, formed in 1967, whose numerical designation has persisted, although its membership has increased to 132 countries. The group functions as a caucus as well as the negotiating arm of the developing countries, particularly in United Nations forum on international development. - WB

Groups of buildings - Groups of buildings are referred to as part of the definition of cultural heritage in Article 1 of the Convention (UNESCO 1972). See Cultural heritage - Glossary of World Heritage Terms

Groups of urban buildings - The World Heritage Committee has adopted guidelines concerning the inclusion of groups of urban buildings in the World Heritage List (UNESCO February 1996: 8-10, Paragraphs 26-34). Paragraph 27 of the Operational Guidelines refers to groups of urban buildings as falling into three main categories - the towns which are no longer inhabited but which provide unchanged archaeological evidence of the past, historic towns which are still inhabited (inhabited historic towns) and new towns of the twentieth century (UNESCO February 1996: 8). Groups of urban buildings are not specifically referred to in the Convention. See Inhabited historic towns - Glossary of World Heritage Terms

Group Selection - An uneven-aged silvicultural harvest system in which all trees in a small group are removed for regeneration purposes. The size of the group is small enough in area that all subsequent regeneration will be influenced by the surrounding uncut stand. Cuts are generally 0.25 - 2.0 acres in size.

Group Selection - A method of tree harvest in which trees are removed periodically in small groups. This silvicultural treatment results in small openings that form mosaics of age class groups in the forest.

Grouping/De-grouping - In a hierarchical or tree structure classification, categories are grouped ranging from broad to detailed levels for each set. The categories within each set can be grouped (aggregated) or de-grouped (disaggregated). For example, a multi level hierarchical classification would be structured such that the sum of the detail of each level equates to the level above. In this way, observations can be taken at the level of detail of interest of particular purposes. Observations at the lower levels can be summed to provide observations at more aggregated levels (grouped) and, with appropriate manipulations, observations at higher levels can be inferred at lower levels (de-grouped). (UN)

Growing Season - That part of the year when temperatures and moisture are favorable for vegetation growth. The time period, usually measured in days, between the last freeze in the spring and the first frost in the fall. Varies for crops as different plants have different freezing thresholds. It also is an important component in defining wetland areas.

Growth Management - The conscious public effort to restrain, accommodate or induce development in any geographic setting and at any governmental level. Growth management systems provide a means for government to establish comprehensive goals and objectives designed to address the problems of growth through an integrated system of administrative, financial and regulatory programs.

Growth Media - See REPLACEMENT GROWTH MEDIA. - BLM Surface Mgmt. Regs.

Growth Pole - An urban center with certain attributes that if augmented by a measure of investment support, will stimulate regional economic development in its hinterland.

Growth Rate - The change (increase, decrease, or no change) in an indicator over a period of time, expressed as a percentage of the indicator at the start of the period. Growth rates contain several sets of information. The first is whether there is any change at all; the second is what direction the change is going in (increasing or decreasing); and the third is how rapidly that change is occurring. For example, if a country's GNP growth rate for a particular year is more or less than zero, there has been a change in the amount of goods and services produced in that year. If the GNP growth rate is positive, the country is producing more goods and services at the end of the year than at the beginning. If the GNP growth rate is negative, the country is producing fewer goods and services than at the beginning of the year. Note that a change in GNP growth rate from 2% in one year to 1% the next year does not mean that the total production of goods and services has decreased. As long as the growth rate is positive, the GNP is growing. The only time the production of goods and services has actually decreased is when the GNP growth rate is negative. (WB-UN)

Growth/removals Ratio - A ratio obtained by dividing volume of timber growth by volume of timber removals during a particular time period, usually 1 year. - USDA/FS

Growing season - The period and/or number of days between the last freeze in the spring and the first frost in the fall for the freeze threshold temperature of the crop or other designated temperature threshold. - National Resources Inventory

GRP - Grassland Reserve Program

GRP - Gross Regional Product

gr/SCF - Grains of pollutant per standard cubic foot of gas. A measure of dust particles in a gas stream following standard DEQ methods. - Bioenergy Glossary

GRV - Great Rift Valley (A geological fault system of SW Asia and E Africa extending 3,000 miles from N Syria to central Mozambique. The northernmost extension runs S through Syria and Lebanon, the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea, and the Gulf of Aqaba. It continues into the trough of the Red Sea and at the southern end branches into the Gulf of Aden, where it continues as part of the Mid-Oceanic Ridge of the Indian Ocean. The main section of the valley in Africa continues from the Red Sea SW across Ethiopia and S across Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi to the lower Zambezi River valley in Mozambique. Many small lakes in Ethiopia and several long narrow lakes, notably lakes Turkana and Nyasa, lie on its course. Just N of Lake Nyasa there is a western branch, which runs north, chiefly along the eastern border of Congo (Kinshasa); this branch is marked by a chain of lakes, including lakes Tanganyika, Kivu, Edward, and Albert (Mobutu). Lake Victoria does not lie in the Great Rift Valley but between its main and western branches. The Great Rift Valley ranges in elevation from 1,300 ft below sea level (the Dead Sea) to 6,000 ft above sea level in S Kenya. Erosion has concealed some sections, but in places, notably in Kenya, there are sheer cliffs several thousand feet high.

GS - General Scale (one of two USFWS pay scales)

GS - Genetic Seedling

GS - Geographic System

GS - Global Society (Club Of Rome)

GS - Goal Setting

GS - God Squad (Endangered Species Committee)

GS - Green Shield

GS - Group Selection

GS - Growing Season

GS - Grow Smarter

GSA - Gay Straight Alliance

GSA - General Services Administration

GSA - The Geological Society of America

GSA - Global Services Agreement

GSA - Governors' Schools and Academies

GSD - Global Shoreline Database

GSENM - Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (DOI/BLM) http://www.ut.blm.gov/monument/ 

GSES - the GlobeScan Expert Survey

GSF - General Service Foundation

GSF - Genoa Social Forum

GSN - Geological Society of Nevada

GSP - The 'Goal Setting Process' (to 'develop measurable goals')

GSP - Goals Setting Process

GSP - Gross state product

GSR - Global Socialist Revolution

GSS - Grade Stabilization Structure

GST - The Global Support Team, now known as the SUT - Sustainable Use Team. (UN/IUCN) "The UCN Sustainable Use Team was a two-member team that acted as SUSG's secretariat. Based in the UCN Multilateral Office in Washington, D.C., U.S.A., the team comprised Ruth Barreto (Coordinator) and David Beamont (Administration and Communications). Effective 1 January 2001, the IUCN Social Policy Programme, IUCN Economics Programme, and the secretariat component of the Sustainable Use Initiative (i.e., the Global Support Team) were merged to form a new Socio-Economics Group. One year later this Group had been disbanded. In March 2003 this Team was shut down due to budgetary constraints." http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/susg/suteam.html 

GT - Generic Term

GT - Genetic Testing

GT - Geographic Trends

GT - Global Tax

GT - Government Theory

The G10 Countries - See Group of 10

GTOS - Global Terrestrial Observing System (UN)

GTP - Green Tag Product

GTS - Geologic Time Scale

GTSC - Grow The Social Consciousness

G2000 - Groundwater 2000

GTZ - German Agency for Technical Cooperation

Guidelines - Actions or management practices that may be used to achieve desired outcomes, sometimes expressed as best management practices. Guidelines may be identified during the land use planning process, but they are not considered a land use plan decision unless the plan specifies that they are mandatory. Guidelines for grazing administration must conform to 43 CFR 4180.2. - BLM See Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention - Glossary of World Heritage Terms

Guidelines - Refer to the directions or principles used in the development, building, maintenance and application of classifications. Guidelines are not necessarily mandatory, but are provided as an aid to interpretation and use of classifications. (UN)

Guidelines for Use - An aggregation of the experiences that each jurisdiction has with implementing the application schemas within a C of I (Community Of Interest). - GWOB

Guild - A group of organisms that share a common food resource. - UNDP/WRI

Gully - large eroded channels.

Gully - A miniature valley with steep sides cut by running water and through which water ordinarily runs only after rainfall. The distinction between a gully and a rill is one of depth. A gully generally is an obstacle to farm machinery and is too deep to be obliterated by ordinary tillage; a rill is of lesser depth and can be smoothed over by ordinary tillage. - USDA

Gully Erosion - Also called ephemeral gully erosion, this process occurs when water flows in small channels and larger swales that are routinely destroyed by tillage or along field edges. Most gully erosion occurs on highly erodible soils, where there is little or no crop residue cover, or where crop harvest disturbs the soil. Gully erosion is not accounted for in the universal soil loss equation. In a few states it amounts to more than half of all erosion, but more typically 30% to 60% of soil is lost through sheet erosion and rill erosion.

GUNYDC - The Governor's United Nations Youth Day Conference

GUP - Greenstructure and Urban Planning http://www.map21ltd.com/COSTC11/biblio.htm 

Guttation - The loss of water in liquid form from the uninjured leaf or stem of the plant, principally through water stomata. (Lee, 1949, p. 260.) - USGS

GVC - Great Valley Center (California)

GVLT - The Goleta Valley Land Trust http://www.lta.org/findlandtrust/CA2.htm#Goleta_Valley_Land_Trust 

GW - Gateway

GW - Gateway Western (NAFTA Railway)

GW - Global Warming

GW - Global Witness

GW - Grassed Waterway

GW - Green Watch

GW - Green Works! a project of Project Learning Tree

GWA - Gallatin Wildlife Association

GWA - Gender and Water Alliance http://waterandgenderalliance.org 

GWC - Green-Watch.Com

GWM - Groundwater Monitoring

GWOB - Government Without Boundaries http://www.gwob.gov/ 

GWPC - Ground Water Protection Council http://www.gwpc.org  "Dedicated to protecting the nation's ground water." "The Ground Water Protection Council is a national association of state ground water and underground injection control agencies whose mission is to promote the protection and conservation of ground water resources for all beneficial uses, recognizing ground water as a critical component of the ecosystem. The Ground Water Protection Council provides a forum for stakeholder communication and research in order to improve governments' role in the protection and conservation of ground water." One of their Links pages: http://www.gwpc.org/WatrLinks.htm 

GWPP - Global Warming Petition Project

GWPP - The Global Water Policy Project (Amherst, Massachusetts)

GWR - Groundwater Replenishment

GWS - Geospatial Waterbody System

GWS - Gulf War Syndrome

GWTF - Groundwater Task Force

GX - Extinct

GYACD - Greater Yellowstone Association of Conservation Districts

GYC - Greater Yellowstone Coalition

Gypsiferous - Bearing gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate). (NPS)

Gypsum - A common soft evaporite mineral (alabaster, selenite, satin spar) used to make plaster of Paris. - BLM (DOI) Grand Escalante Staircase National Monument DEIS Glossary

GZ - Greenways Zoning

GZ - Growth Zones

GZO - Greenways Zoning Overlay

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