E

	Ecological balance: a state of dynamic equilibrium within a community of organisms in which genetic, species and ecosystem diversity remain relatively stable, subject to gradual changes through natural succession.
	Ecological classification: an approach to categorizing and delineating, at different levels of resolution, areas of land and water having similar characteristic combinations of the physical environment (such as climate, geomorphic processes, geology, soil and hydrologic function), biological communities (plants, animals, microorganisms and potential natural communities) and the human dimension (such as social, economic, cultural and infrastructure).
	Ecological health: both the occurrence of certain attributes that are deemed to be present in a healthy, sustainable resource, and the absence of conditions that result from known stresses or problems affecting the resource.
	Ecological integrity: the quality of a natural unmanaged or managed ecosystem in which the natural ecological processes are sustained, with genetic, species and ecosystem diversity assured for the future.

Ecological reserve: areas of Crown land which have the potential to satisfy one or more of the following criteria:

areas suitable for scientific research and educational purposes associated with studies in productivity and other aspects of the natural environment;
areas which are representative of natural ecosystems;
areas in which rare or endangered native plants or animals may be preserved in their natural habitat; and
areas that contain unique geological phenomena.

	Ecological units: areas of land with similar biological, geological, and climatic environments.
	Ecologically suitable species: coniferous or deciduous tree species that are naturally adapted to a site's environmental conditions, including the variability in these conditions that may occur over time.
	Economically operable: forest stands for which log prices exceed harvesting costs, including profit and return to capital.
	Ecoregion classification: the ecoregion classification system is used to stratify B.C.’s terrestrial and marine ecosystem complexity into discrete geographical units at five different levels. The two highest levels, Ecodomains and Ecodivisions, are very broad and place B.C. globally. The three lowest levels, Ecoprovinces, Ecoregions and Ecosections, are progressively more detailed, narrow in scope and relate segments of the province to one another. They describe areas of similar climate, physiography, oceanography, hydrology, vegetation and wildlife potential.
	Ecosystem: a functional unit consisting of all the living organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) in a given area, and all the non-living physical and chemical factors of their environment, linked together through nutrient cycling and energy flow. An ecosystem can be of any size-a log, pond, field, forest, or the earth's biosphere-but it always functions as a whole unit. Ecosystems are commonly described according to the major type of vegetation, for example, forest ecosystem, old-growth ecosystem, or range ecosystem.
	Ecosystem integrity: the soundness or wholeness of the processes and organisms composing the ecosystem.
	Ecosystem management: the use of an ecological approach to achieve productive resource management by blending social, physical, economic and biological needs and values to provide healthy ecosystems.
	Ecosystem productivity: the ability of an ecosystem to produce, grow or yield products - whether trees, shrubs or other organisms.
	Ecotone: a transition area between two adjacent ecological communities usually exhibiting competition between organisms common to both.
	Edatope: refers to a specific combination of soil moisture regime and soil nutrient regime.
	Edge: the outer band of a patch that has an environment significantly different from the interior of the patch.
	Edge/area ratio: length of forest edge per cutblock area.
	Edge effect: habitat conditions (such as degree of humidity and exposure to light or wind) created at or near the more-or-less well-defined boundary between ecosystems, as, for example, between open areas and adjacent forest.
	Element: an identifiable component, process or condition of an ecosystem.
	End haul: to move excavated material from one section of the road to another or to a disposal site, during road construction or modification.
	Endangered species: see Threatened or endangered species.
	Endemic species: a species whose natural occurrence is confined to a certain region and whose distribution is relatively limited.
	Entrainment: mobilization, by flowing water, of sediment or organic debris from the bed or banks of a stream channel.
	Entrenched: a legislative requirement which previously may only have been required by contract or policy.
	Environmental rehabilitation: measures undertaken to remedy environmental damage done to the land.
	Environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs): areas requiring special management attention to protect important scenic values, fish and wildlife resources, historical and cultural values, and other natural systems or processes. ESAs for forestry include potentially fragile, unstable soils that may deteriorate unacceptably after forest harvesting, and areas of high value to non-timber resources such as fisheries, wildlife, water, and recreation.
	Even-aged: a forest stand or forest type in which relatively small (10-20 year) age differences exist between individual trees. Even-aged stands are often the result of fire, or a harvesting method such as clearcutting or the shelterwood method.
	Even-aged silvicultural system: a silvicultural system that is designed to regenerate and maintain an even-aged stand. Clearcutting, seed tree, and shelterwood are even-aged systems.
	Even-aged stand: a stand of trees consisting of one or two age classes. Even-aged stands are often the result of fire, or a harvesting method such as clearcutting or shelterwood.
	Even flow: in harvest scheduling, the requirement that the harvest level in each period be equal to the harvest level in the preceding period.
	Evergreen: never entirely without green foliage, leaves persisting until a new set has appeared.
	Excavated trail: a constructed trail that has a width greater than 1.5 m and a mineral soil cutbank height greater than 30 cm.
	Extension services: assistance provided to woodland operators. May include help with the preparation of forest management plans, cutting permits, marking trees for selective cutting, and guidance in carrying out slash disposal, site preparation, planting, etc.
	Existing visual condition: the present level of landscape alteration caused by resource development activities and expressed in terms of the visual quality objective categories.