Visual Resources Glossary

Select a letter from the list below to view glossary terms and acronyms/abbreviations. The agency abbreviation following the definition indicates the definition source.

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V W

Panoramic (view type): A “wide open” view of a broad expanse of the landscape, where at least part of the view is unobstructed to the horizon. (NPS)
Partial retention: A visual management objective which, in general, means that human activities that affect landscape character may be evident but must remain subordinate to the characteristic landscape as viewed by the casual observer. (BLM)
Pastoral (landscape character type): Landscapes that are predominantly grassland or shrub/scrub open rangeland. They may have natural or planted pastures or may appear as extensive natural/natural appearing areas with typically widely spaced, limited development. (NPS, USFS)
Permanent impacts: Impacts resulting from construction activities lasting for 2 or more years, the built project, or the operations and maintenance associated with the built project. (FHWA)
Photomontage: A still image of a highly realistic 3D model of a proposed facility superimposed onto a photograph of the existing landscape. (NPS)
Physiographic province: An extensive portion of the landscape normally encompassing many hundreds of square miles, which portrays similar qualities of soil, rock, slope, and vegetation of the same geomorphic origin. (BLM)
Plume: A visible discharge of vapor and/or particulate matter from a given point of origin, for example, water vapor from a cooling tower at a power plant. (NPS)
Potentially Affected Viewshed (PAV): The delineated limits of a landscape used to conduct a visual impact analysis that is associated with a proposed action. The PAV is normally determined by conducting a viewshed spatial analysis (see viewshed analysis) that produces a viewshed map (see viewshed map). (BLM)
Primary view direction: The direction in which the viewer sees the majority of the landscape in view. (NPS)
Project region: The 30-mile radius surrounding a project corridor. (FHWA)
Project vicinity: The 0.5-mile offset surrounding a project corridor. (FHWA)
Protected visual resources: Components of the natural, cultural, or project environments that are capable of being seen and that are protected under local, state, or federal plans or policies. There are instances where there is an overwhelming community interest in the preservation of the aesthetic qualities of visual resources that although they are not officially protected by local, state, or federal plans or policies, they still warrant protection. (FHWA)
Public lands: “Any land and interest in land owned by the United States within the several States and administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Land Management, without regard to how the United States acquired ownership, except– (1) lands located on the Outer Continental Shelf; and (2) lands held for the benefit of Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos” (43 U.S.C. 1702). (BLM)