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Items starting with M

Matrix

The least fragmented, most continuous pattern element of a landscape; the vegetation type that is most continuous over a landscape.

Mature Timber

Trees that have attained full development height and are in full seed production.

MBF

Thousand Board Feet (See board feet.)

Mean Annual Increment of Growth

The total increase in size or volume of individual trees. Or, it can refer to the increase in size and volume of a stand of trees at a particular age, divided by that age in years.

Mechanical pre-treatment

Preparing a forest or shrubland for prescribed burning by using machinery such as bulldozers and rubber tire skidders to create a fuel bed where a prescribed fire can be ignited without undue risk of the fire escaping or killing the dominant trees on the site.

Mechanical transport

Any device for moving people or material in or over land, water, or air, having moving parts, that provides a mechanical advantage to the user, and that is powered by a living or nonliving power source. This includes, but is not limited to, sailboats, hang gliders, parachutes, bicycles, game carriers, carts, and wagons. It does not include wheelchairs when used as necessary medical appliances. It also does not include skis, snowshoes, rafts, canoes, sleds, travois, or similar primitive devices without moving parts.

Median

A value in an ordered set of quantities below and above which falls an equal number of quantities.

MFP

Management Framework Plan

Micro Climate

The climate of a small site. It may differ from the climate at large of the area due to aspect tree cover (or the absence of tree cover), or exposure to winds.

Middleground

A term used the management of visual resources or scenery. It refers to the visible terrain beyond the foreground where individual trees are still visible but do not stand out distinctly from the stand.