W. Va. Code R. § 110-1H-3

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024

Section 110-1H-3 - Definitions

As used in this rule and unless the context clearly requires a different meaning, the following terms shall have the meaning ascribed in this section.

3.1. "Capitalization rate" means the rate used to convert an estimate of income into an estimate of present value. Details of the procedure for determining the capitalization rate are found in Section 12 of this rule.

3.2. "Certified managed timberland plan" means the managed timberland plan that is certified by the landowner when the landowner certifies that the property is maintained as managed timberland.

3.3. "Cost" means a component of management costs and property taxes.

3.4. "dbh" means the diameter of trees at breast height, which is 4.5' above ground level.

3.5. "Division of Forestry" means the West Virginia Bureau of Commerce, Division of Forestry.

3.6. "Farm wood lot" means that portion of a farm in timber but may not include land used primarily for the growing of timber for commercial purposes except that Christmas trees, or nursery stock and woodland products, such as nuts or fruits harvested for human consumption, shall be considered farm products and not timber products.

3.7. "Harvest income per acre" means the expected after tax revenue and accrued interest for each harvesting interval. Interest is assumed to accrue at the rate of return from the period of harvest to the end of the 80 year rotation cycle.

3.8. "MBF" means thousand board feet.

3.9. "Management cost" means the cost determined tri-annually by the Tax Commissioner to be the average annual cost of maintaining and protecting a producing forest. Maintenance costs may include costs of inventory, boundary survey, security, maps, and any other items as can be shown to have been necessary. Protection may include costs of protection against forest fires; harmful insect and tree diseases; costs of repair and replacement resulting from damages reported to appropriate police agencies, including all-terrain vehicles (ATV's) and other vehicular damages, and costs of replacing and replanting forest production and/or plantations destroyed or injured by deer or other wild animals whose populations exceed the maximum carrying capacity of the site. Management costs shall be determined as an average for the entire State or by regions, by Managed Timberlands Productivity Grades or by parcel acreage and shall be deducted from gross annual income per acre to obtain net annual income per acre.

3.10. "Managed Timberland" means surface real property, except farm woodlots, of not less than ten contiguous acres which is devoted primarily to forest use and which, in consideration of their size, has sufficient numbers of commercially valuable species of trees to constitute at least forty percent normal stocking of forest trees which are well distributed over the growing site, and that it is managed pursuant to a plan as defined in subsection 3.11 and appendix 2 of this rule.

3.11. "Managed Timberland Plan" means the planned timberland management program that conforms to the following standards established by the Division of Forestry in the plan:

3.11.1. Includes the owner's multipurpose objectives for the property;

3.11.2. Provides for the land:

3.11.2.a. to remain in at least 40% or greater forest cover of well distributed commercially important trees,

3.11.2.b. to produce continuous crops of timber according to the site's productivity, and,

3.11.2.c. to be monitored for and action taken against threats from injurious agencies;

3.11.3. Ensures that harvesting will be done in a manner that assures regeneration of the landowner's preferred species; and

3.11.4. Assures sustainability of forest resources and compliance with the Logging Sediment control Act, W. Va. Code '19-1B-1 et seq.

3.12. "Managed Timberland Productivity Grades" means timberland classified as Grade 1 (excellent to very good), Grade 2 (good to fair), or Grade 3 (poor), according to the table in Appendix 4 of this rule.

3.13. "Owner of surface less timber" means any person who owns an interest in the surface where the timber rights have been sold to someone else.

3.14. "Owner of Timber" means any person who owns an interest in timber, including a lessor or sublessor and an owner of a contract right to cut timber. The owner of timber must have a right to cut timber for sale on his, her or its own account for use in his, hers, or its trade or business in order to have property rights that are subject to ad valorem property taxes.

3.15. "Site Index" means a method of measuring the productivity of a site to grow trees. It is the height that average dominant and co-dominant trees will attain at a given age. For ad valorem property tax purposes, it is the height of upland oaks at fifty (50) years of age.

3.16. "Soil Productivity Data" means those site index data derived from the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO). These data are digital representations of county soil surveys which are mapped at 1 inch = 2,000 feet.

3.16.1. In those counties where SSURGO data are not yet available, the best available information shall be used.

3.16.1.a. For Pocahontas County, the article by G.R. Trimble, Jr., AAn Equation for Predicting Oak Site Index Without Measuring Soil Depth@, Journal of Forestry, 62:325-327, shall be used.

3.16.1.b. For Wetzel, Doddridge, Braxton, Clay and Gilmer Counties, the article by L.R. Auchmoody and H. Clay Smith, AOak Soil-Site Relationships in Northern West Virginia@, (USDA Forest Service Research Paper NE 434, 1979) shall be used.

3.16.1.c. For Wayne, Lincoln, Boone, Logan, Mingo and McDowell Counties, unpublished results of research at West Virginia University (1983) shall be used.

3.16.1.d. For Webster county, the rates of 48% for Grade 1, 34% for Grade 2 and 18% for Grade 3 shall be used for all certified managed timberland parcels.

3.16.1.e. For all counties not listed in the foregoing paragraphs 3.16.1.a through 3.16.1.d of this rule, the primary source of information shall be maps created by the Soil Survey, published by United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service.

3.17. "Stumpage Price" means the market value of standing trees (on the stump) prior to felling and removal, and is expressed in dollars per unit of volume (MBF or cords). For appraisal purposes, real stumpage price will be adjusted to real price increases over various harvest periods during the 80 year rotation cycle. The real price increase shall be determined from the projected saw timber and pulpwood prices described in the most recent United States Forest Service Bulletin R.P.A. Timber Assessment Update and shall be calculated by the Tax Commissioner from reports based upon 16 inch (dbh) logs as prepared by the Division of Forestry and other available sources. A five-year weighted moving average shall be computed in order to minimize the effects of short-term fluctuations. Stumpage prices shall be computed for each stumpage price region in order to reflect regional differences in markets, topography, and accessibility.

3.18. "Stumpage Price Region" means a geographical region of the State, usually consisting of several counties, in which conditions of the timber, timber markets, topography, and accessibility are sufficiently similar to result in similar stumpage prices at any given time. The counties involved in each stumpage price region have been identified by the Division of Forestry and are found in Appendix 3 of this rule.

3.19. "Timber" means trees of any marketable species, whether planted or of natural growth, standing or down, located on public or privately owned land, which are suitable for commercial or industrial use.

3.20. "Timberland (Woodland/Wasteland)" means any surface real property, except farm woodlots of not less than ten contiguous acres, which is primarily in forest and which has, in consideration of their size, sufficient numbers of commercially-valuable species of trees to constitute at least forty percent (40%) normal stocking of forest trees, as shown Appendix 2 of this rule, which are well distributed over the growing site. Additionally, land that has been recently harvested of merchantable timber and is growing into or being planted as a new forest may be classified as timberland.

W. Va. Code R. § 110-1H-3