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

Reclamation: A management activity with the purpose of returning the landscape to productive use and/or an acceptable, naturally appearing visual condition, but not necessarily returning to preexisting conditions. (BLM); The process of restoring the surface environment to acceptable pre-existing conditions. (NPS)
Record of Decision (ROD): A document separate from, but associated with an environmental impact statement (EIS) that publicly and officially discloses the responsible agency’s decision on the EIS alternative to be implemented. (NPS)
Reflective: Capable of physically reflecting light or sound. (NPS)
Reflectivity: The fraction of radiant energy that is reflected from a surface. (NPS)
Regularity: Term used to describe texture. The degree of uniformity. (NPS)
Rehabilitation: A management alternative and/or practice that improves the resource condition of a landscape to a desired scenic quality that is to some degree of its former state. (BLM, USFS)
Renewable energy: Energy derived from resources that are regenerative or that cannot be depleted. Renewable energy resources include wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and moving water. (NPS)
Resource Management Plan: A written plan that addresses the existing resources of an area and provides future objectives, goals, and management direction. (BLM, NPS)
Restoration: Management actions with the purpose of returning a landscape to its preexisting condition before change was imposed by anthropogenic causes or natural forces. (BLM)
Retention: A visual management objective which, in general, means that human activities that affect landscape character are not evident to the casual observer. (BLM)
Revegetation: The process of replanting on disturbed land. This may be a natural process produced by plant colonization and succession, or an artificial (human-made), accelerated process designed to replace vegetation that has been damaged, destroyed, or removed due to wildfire, mining, flood, development, or other causes. (NPS)
Rockform: A significant composition of mineral matter constituting the Earth's crust. One of the attributes or features that make up part of the Earth's surface, such as a mountain, cliff, peak, bluff, valley wall, or bedrock. (USFS)
Rural (landscape character type): In the NPS Visual Resource Inventory, rural landscapes consist primarily of isolated non-farm houses, or small settlements with low populations, often located away from larger cities, suburbs, and towns. (NPS, USFS)