CALIFORNIA RPF UPDATED EVALUATION TEST QUESTIONS
AND SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔11) List three (3) main sources of genetic diversity in forests? - ✔✔Natural selection,
mutation, genetic drift
✔✔12) What determines the extent of genetic impacts of forest management? - ✔✔The
phenotypic variation of a tree species. Some trees have very similar growth
characteristics across a wide variety of genotypes and instead growth rates are more
attributed to the environment. Some trees species have widely varying growth
characteristics based on genotype.
✔✔13) According to the FPRs and PRC, what is watercourse? - ✔✔Any well-defined
channel with distinguishable bed and bank showing evidence of having contained
flowing water indicated by deposit of rock, sand, gravel, or soil, including but not limited
to, Streams as defined in PRC 4528(f). Watercourse also includes manmade
Watercourses.
✔✔14) List three (3) potential impacts of water drafting on aquatic species. -
✔✔Mechanical take of aquatic organisms from improper pump equipment
Increased sedimentation of the water
Loss of habitat if overdrafting
Change in water temperature
✔✔15) List three (3) common mitigation measures to reduce sediment leaving water
drafting site approaches and entering watercourses? - ✔✔Rock armor the road surface
Use erosion control measures like hay bales/ wattles between drafting truck and draft
site
Place water drafting sites where there won't be a steep climb to draft site
✔✔16) What is the Fish and Game Code definition of "Fish"? - ✔✔Any wild fish,
mollusk, crustacean, amphibian, invertebrate or part, ovum spawn of those animals
✔✔17) List three (3) common mitigation measures (other than paving) that are
commonly used to reduce the potential adverse effects of road dust. - ✔✔Water the
road surfaces
Chemical application to increase soil cohesion of road surface
Decrease road travel speed
✔✔18) What are three (3) uses of site indexes in forestry? - ✔✔Planning for maximum
sustained yield, deciding species composition when planting.
Predicting growth rates
Comparing
,✔✔19) Many forest management decision models (usually computer software aided)
are commonly utilized to support forest management decisions. Briefly describe the
most common method: Linear programming. - ✔✔
✔✔20) Briefly describe the basic decision-making process used in forest management
planning. - ✔✔The practical application of biological, physical, quantitative, managerial,
economic, social and policy principles to the regeneration, management, utilization and
conservation of forests to meet specified goals and objectives while maintaining the
productivity of the forest. Determine objectives, research alternatives, compare results,
choose the best alternative, implement alternative, track outcome, use result to inform
the next set of decision
✔✔21) What is forest succession? - ✔✔The gradual cyclical replacement of one
dominating plant type for another starting from bare ground and progressing to a climax
forest and the restarting of the cycle based on a natural or anthropogenic disturbance
✔✔22) How is biological diversity described or measured? - ✔✔Measured as the range
in variation among species, between species and of ecosystems
✔✔23) List two (2) anthropogenic disturbance-recovery regimes that have affected
western forests in the USA. - ✔✔Fire suppression
Change in species composition with planting and selective harvesting
✔✔24) List four (4) general abiotic characteristics used to describe a forest stand. -
✔✔Slope, aspect, climate, elevation, soil type
✔✔25) Why is it not sufficient to manage for biological diversity at the stand level alone?
- ✔✔Because the cumulative impacts of management decisions across multiple stands
can have an effect that is greater than the sum of the parts and because the habitat
encompassed by a stand is not sufficient in itself to provide the needs for wild plant and
animal populations.
✔✔26) Explain what a significant existing or potentially significant erosion site is. -
✔✔Significant means soil erosion that is currently, or, as determined based upon visible
physical conditions, may be in the future, discharged to Watercourses or lakes in
quantities that violate Water Quality Requirements or result in significant individual or
cumulative adverse Impacts to the beneficial uses of water. One indicator of a
Significant Sediment Discharge is a visible increase in turbidity CALIFORNIA FOREST
PRACTICE RULES 21 to receiving Class I, II, III, or IV waters
✔✔27) Explain what a Significant Sediment Discharge is. - ✔✔A significant amount of
sediment that has a negative effect on an aquatic ecosystem
,✔✔28) What are silvics? - ✔✔The study of the life history and general characteristics of
forest trees and stands with particular reference to environmental factors as basis for
the practice of silviculture.
✔✔29) What is silviculture? - ✔✔The art and science of controlling the establishment,
growth, composition, health and quality of forests and woodlands to meet the diverse
needs and values of landowners and society on a sustainable basis.
✔✔30) List three (3) common post-fire management activities. - ✔✔Salvage logging
Repair or replace drainage structures
Planting
Installing temporary erosion control measures such as waddles
✔✔31) Following wildfire, what type of damage on residual live trees can rapidly be
assessed in the field to predict future delayed mortality? - ✔✔Percent of lives crown,
DBH, cambium destroyed
✔✔32) As used in Mensuration, what is Stratified Random Sampling? - ✔✔A sample
drawn from a stratified population consisting of a random sample from each stratum and
permitting the sampling fraction to vary by stratum to improve efficiency of sampling,
obtain separate estimates for strata, or improve the precision of the population estimate.
✔✔33) As used in Forest genetics and tree improvement, what is a Clone? - ✔✔A tree
that was created through asexual reproduction that is an exact genetic copy of the
parent tree
✔✔34) What is CFIP? - ✔✔California forest improvement program provides grants for
forest improvement to private landowners who own between 20-5000 acres.
✔✔35) In Forest Management (Genetics), what is a Character (trait)? - ✔✔A distinctive
and measurable characteristic of one organism that is a result of that organism's
phenotype
✔✔36) In Forest Ecology, what is ex situ conservation? - ✔✔Ex situ means off site
conservation. Can be used to mitigate impacts that cannot be reasonable avoided for a
project.
✔✔37) In Forest Management (Genetics), what is Heritability? - ✔✔The proportion of
variability of a character due to heredity, the remainder being due to environmental
factors
✔✔38) In Forest Management (Genetics), what is Mutation? - ✔✔A heritable change in
the genetic constitution often recognized as a sudden deviation from the ancestral
phenotype.
, ✔✔39) What is photosynthesis? - ✔✔the manufacture of organic compounds,
particularly carbohydrates, in the chlorophyll cells of plants from carbon dioxide, water,
and enzymes in the presence of light as the energy source
✔✔40) What is evapotranspiration? - ✔✔The conversion of water, whether surface
water, soil moisture (both by evaporation), or within plants (by transpiration) into water
vapor that is released to the atmosphere.
✔✔41) What is cellulose? - ✔✔An organic compound that is a structural part of a plant
cell walls. cellulose is the principal chemical constituent of the cell secondary walls of
higher plants and occurs (often with other components such as Iignins, hemicelluloses,
waxes, and gums) mainly as long, hollow chains called fibers -see isotropic
✔✔42) What is phloem of a tree, and how does it function? - ✔✔A layer of cells just
inside the bark of plants that conducts food from the leaves to the stem and roots.
✔✔43) As used in Forest Ecology, what is a Permanent Wilting Point? - ✔✔point the
amount of water in a soil below which insignificant plant water uptake occurs -note
permanent wilting point is generally regarded as the point at which soil matric potential
is -1.5 MPa or -15 bars -see available water
✔✔44) What is Science? - ✔✔The systematic study of the structure and behavior of the
physical world through observation and experimentation
✔✔45) What is a tree? - ✔✔A woody perennial plant, typically large and with a well-
defined stem or stems carrying a more or less definite crown.
✔✔46) What is lignin? - ✔✔complex , high-molecular-weight poly- mer built on
phenylpropane units, that occurs between individual cells and within cell walls, is
intimately associated with cellulose, and serves to impart rigidity to the cell -
✔✔47) What is a climax forest? - ✔✔An ecological community that represents the
culminating stage of a natural forest succession for its locality, i.e., for its environment
✔✔48) What is a saprophyte? - ✔✔an organism that lives on dead organic matter and
gains its nutrition from this substrate
✔✔49) Define the term "agroforestry". - ✔✔agroforestry a land-use system that involves
delib erate retention, introduction, or mixture of trees or other woody perennials in crop
and animal pro duction systems to take advantage of economic or ecological
interactions among the components
✔✔50) What is forest duff? - ✔✔the partially decomposed organic material of the forest
floor beneath the litter of freshly fallen twigs, needles, and leaves -see litter
AND SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔11) List three (3) main sources of genetic diversity in forests? - ✔✔Natural selection,
mutation, genetic drift
✔✔12) What determines the extent of genetic impacts of forest management? - ✔✔The
phenotypic variation of a tree species. Some trees have very similar growth
characteristics across a wide variety of genotypes and instead growth rates are more
attributed to the environment. Some trees species have widely varying growth
characteristics based on genotype.
✔✔13) According to the FPRs and PRC, what is watercourse? - ✔✔Any well-defined
channel with distinguishable bed and bank showing evidence of having contained
flowing water indicated by deposit of rock, sand, gravel, or soil, including but not limited
to, Streams as defined in PRC 4528(f). Watercourse also includes manmade
Watercourses.
✔✔14) List three (3) potential impacts of water drafting on aquatic species. -
✔✔Mechanical take of aquatic organisms from improper pump equipment
Increased sedimentation of the water
Loss of habitat if overdrafting
Change in water temperature
✔✔15) List three (3) common mitigation measures to reduce sediment leaving water
drafting site approaches and entering watercourses? - ✔✔Rock armor the road surface
Use erosion control measures like hay bales/ wattles between drafting truck and draft
site
Place water drafting sites where there won't be a steep climb to draft site
✔✔16) What is the Fish and Game Code definition of "Fish"? - ✔✔Any wild fish,
mollusk, crustacean, amphibian, invertebrate or part, ovum spawn of those animals
✔✔17) List three (3) common mitigation measures (other than paving) that are
commonly used to reduce the potential adverse effects of road dust. - ✔✔Water the
road surfaces
Chemical application to increase soil cohesion of road surface
Decrease road travel speed
✔✔18) What are three (3) uses of site indexes in forestry? - ✔✔Planning for maximum
sustained yield, deciding species composition when planting.
Predicting growth rates
Comparing
,✔✔19) Many forest management decision models (usually computer software aided)
are commonly utilized to support forest management decisions. Briefly describe the
most common method: Linear programming. - ✔✔
✔✔20) Briefly describe the basic decision-making process used in forest management
planning. - ✔✔The practical application of biological, physical, quantitative, managerial,
economic, social and policy principles to the regeneration, management, utilization and
conservation of forests to meet specified goals and objectives while maintaining the
productivity of the forest. Determine objectives, research alternatives, compare results,
choose the best alternative, implement alternative, track outcome, use result to inform
the next set of decision
✔✔21) What is forest succession? - ✔✔The gradual cyclical replacement of one
dominating plant type for another starting from bare ground and progressing to a climax
forest and the restarting of the cycle based on a natural or anthropogenic disturbance
✔✔22) How is biological diversity described or measured? - ✔✔Measured as the range
in variation among species, between species and of ecosystems
✔✔23) List two (2) anthropogenic disturbance-recovery regimes that have affected
western forests in the USA. - ✔✔Fire suppression
Change in species composition with planting and selective harvesting
✔✔24) List four (4) general abiotic characteristics used to describe a forest stand. -
✔✔Slope, aspect, climate, elevation, soil type
✔✔25) Why is it not sufficient to manage for biological diversity at the stand level alone?
- ✔✔Because the cumulative impacts of management decisions across multiple stands
can have an effect that is greater than the sum of the parts and because the habitat
encompassed by a stand is not sufficient in itself to provide the needs for wild plant and
animal populations.
✔✔26) Explain what a significant existing or potentially significant erosion site is. -
✔✔Significant means soil erosion that is currently, or, as determined based upon visible
physical conditions, may be in the future, discharged to Watercourses or lakes in
quantities that violate Water Quality Requirements or result in significant individual or
cumulative adverse Impacts to the beneficial uses of water. One indicator of a
Significant Sediment Discharge is a visible increase in turbidity CALIFORNIA FOREST
PRACTICE RULES 21 to receiving Class I, II, III, or IV waters
✔✔27) Explain what a Significant Sediment Discharge is. - ✔✔A significant amount of
sediment that has a negative effect on an aquatic ecosystem
,✔✔28) What are silvics? - ✔✔The study of the life history and general characteristics of
forest trees and stands with particular reference to environmental factors as basis for
the practice of silviculture.
✔✔29) What is silviculture? - ✔✔The art and science of controlling the establishment,
growth, composition, health and quality of forests and woodlands to meet the diverse
needs and values of landowners and society on a sustainable basis.
✔✔30) List three (3) common post-fire management activities. - ✔✔Salvage logging
Repair or replace drainage structures
Planting
Installing temporary erosion control measures such as waddles
✔✔31) Following wildfire, what type of damage on residual live trees can rapidly be
assessed in the field to predict future delayed mortality? - ✔✔Percent of lives crown,
DBH, cambium destroyed
✔✔32) As used in Mensuration, what is Stratified Random Sampling? - ✔✔A sample
drawn from a stratified population consisting of a random sample from each stratum and
permitting the sampling fraction to vary by stratum to improve efficiency of sampling,
obtain separate estimates for strata, or improve the precision of the population estimate.
✔✔33) As used in Forest genetics and tree improvement, what is a Clone? - ✔✔A tree
that was created through asexual reproduction that is an exact genetic copy of the
parent tree
✔✔34) What is CFIP? - ✔✔California forest improvement program provides grants for
forest improvement to private landowners who own between 20-5000 acres.
✔✔35) In Forest Management (Genetics), what is a Character (trait)? - ✔✔A distinctive
and measurable characteristic of one organism that is a result of that organism's
phenotype
✔✔36) In Forest Ecology, what is ex situ conservation? - ✔✔Ex situ means off site
conservation. Can be used to mitigate impacts that cannot be reasonable avoided for a
project.
✔✔37) In Forest Management (Genetics), what is Heritability? - ✔✔The proportion of
variability of a character due to heredity, the remainder being due to environmental
factors
✔✔38) In Forest Management (Genetics), what is Mutation? - ✔✔A heritable change in
the genetic constitution often recognized as a sudden deviation from the ancestral
phenotype.
, ✔✔39) What is photosynthesis? - ✔✔the manufacture of organic compounds,
particularly carbohydrates, in the chlorophyll cells of plants from carbon dioxide, water,
and enzymes in the presence of light as the energy source
✔✔40) What is evapotranspiration? - ✔✔The conversion of water, whether surface
water, soil moisture (both by evaporation), or within plants (by transpiration) into water
vapor that is released to the atmosphere.
✔✔41) What is cellulose? - ✔✔An organic compound that is a structural part of a plant
cell walls. cellulose is the principal chemical constituent of the cell secondary walls of
higher plants and occurs (often with other components such as Iignins, hemicelluloses,
waxes, and gums) mainly as long, hollow chains called fibers -see isotropic
✔✔42) What is phloem of a tree, and how does it function? - ✔✔A layer of cells just
inside the bark of plants that conducts food from the leaves to the stem and roots.
✔✔43) As used in Forest Ecology, what is a Permanent Wilting Point? - ✔✔point the
amount of water in a soil below which insignificant plant water uptake occurs -note
permanent wilting point is generally regarded as the point at which soil matric potential
is -1.5 MPa or -15 bars -see available water
✔✔44) What is Science? - ✔✔The systematic study of the structure and behavior of the
physical world through observation and experimentation
✔✔45) What is a tree? - ✔✔A woody perennial plant, typically large and with a well-
defined stem or stems carrying a more or less definite crown.
✔✔46) What is lignin? - ✔✔complex , high-molecular-weight poly- mer built on
phenylpropane units, that occurs between individual cells and within cell walls, is
intimately associated with cellulose, and serves to impart rigidity to the cell -
✔✔47) What is a climax forest? - ✔✔An ecological community that represents the
culminating stage of a natural forest succession for its locality, i.e., for its environment
✔✔48) What is a saprophyte? - ✔✔an organism that lives on dead organic matter and
gains its nutrition from this substrate
✔✔49) Define the term "agroforestry". - ✔✔agroforestry a land-use system that involves
delib erate retention, introduction, or mixture of trees or other woody perennials in crop
and animal pro duction systems to take advantage of economic or ecological
interactions among the components
✔✔50) What is forest duff? - ✔✔the partially decomposed organic material of the forest
floor beneath the litter of freshly fallen twigs, needles, and leaves -see litter
