VOCABULARY - C
Cambium - a layer of living cells, between the bark and hardwood, that each year produces additional wood and bark cells. This layer is responsible for the diameter growth of a tree.
Carbohydrate - a form of sugar energy plants create during photosynthesis.
Carbon Sequestering - a process whereby trees and other plants remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and through photosynthesis, turn it into plant material.
Carnivore - an organism whose primary food
source is tissue from other organisms.
Cellulose - the substance making up the cells walls
of plants; wood fiber used in paper manufacturing.
Central Sands - the bed of extinct Glacial Lake
Wisconsin, and associated uplands. This region includes extensive
natural and restored marshes, sedge meadows, lowland hardwoods, and
conifer bogs, as well as commercial cranberry operations, irrigated
cropland and pasture, and large tracts of pine and oak forest,
aspen, and pine plantations in the south western and south central
part of the state.
Chain - unit used to measure distance; one chain
equals 66 feet.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) - a
Depression-era government program for unemployed men that performed
projects that improved our forests and parks.
Clearcut - an area where all trees have been
harvested at the same time.
Clearcutting - a management technique in which all
of the trees in an area are cut at the same time. This technique is
sometimes used to cultivate shade-intolerant tree species.
Climate - the long-term weather pattern of an area,
including temperature, precipitation, and wind.
Climatic Zones - regions of different temperature
and moisture conditions.
Climax Forest - a forest community that
represents the final stage of natural forest succession for its
environment.
Co-dominant - trees with crowns at the same height
as other trees around them. They receive full light from above but
little from the sides.
Commercial Forestland - forestland capable of
producing a specified amount of industrial-grade wood under natural
stand conditions. It is not allocated to non-timber uses.
Community - a group of plants and animals
interacting with one another in a given area.
Competition - the struggle between plants or
animals for limited resources necessary for survival (food, water,
shelter, space) in a given area.
Compound Leaf - a type of leaf that has one stem
and many smaller leaflets that grow from it.
Coniferous - a tree that bears cones and has
needles. Also called evergreens.
Coniferous Forest - a type of forest with mostly
cone-bearing trees.
Conservation - the management of a renewable
resource for the long-term.
Conserve - to use or manage a certain type of tree
or type of forest in a sustainable manner.
Consumer - an organism unable to produce its own
food energy. Consumers get their food energy by eating producers or
other consumers.
Cord - a stack of wood measuring 128 cubic feet.
The standard measures of a cord are 4' by 4' by 8'.
Crosscut Saw - a saw designed to cut across the
grain of wood; what lumberjacks used in the 1800s and early 1900s to
saw trees down.
Crown - the part of a tree with live branches and
leaves.
Crown Layer - the upper layer of a forest ecosystem
containing the tallest, dominant trees.
Cruiser - the person who estimates the amount of
wood in a forest before it is cut.
Cubic Foot - unit of volume measure equal to 12" x
12" x 12".
Cultural Value - the worth of a forest in terms of
the way a person was raised to believe in it.
Cutover - land that has been logged. This term is
often used as the cutover, which refers to northern Wisconsin after
it was heavily logged during the period from the 1850s to the 1920s.