Glossary
Glossary of Terms
- Waste Rock
- Non-ore rock that is extracted to gain access to ore. It contains no ore metals or contains ore metals at levels below the economic cutoff value and must be removed to recover the ore.
- Waters of the U.S.
- A jurisdictional term from Section 404 of the Clean Water Act referring to water bodies such as lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds with defined bed and bank, the use, degradation, or destruction of which could affect interstate or foreign commerce.
- Watershed
- The entire land area that contributes water to a drainage or stream.
- Wetlands
- Areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at the timing, frequency, and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted to saturated soil conditions.
- Wildfire
- Any fire on wildlands that was not intentionally set for management purposes and confined to a predetermined area.
- Wind Rose
- Any one of a class of diagrams designed to illustrate the distribution of wind direction experienced at a given location over a given period of time. Wind roses may also give information concerning distribution of wind speed, stability, or other meteorological parameters.
- Withdrawal
- An action that restricts the use of public land and segregates it from the operation of some or all of the public land and mineral law. Withdrawals also are used to transfer jurisdiction of management of public lands to other federal agencies.
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