Glossary
This glossary provides FIA and
related definitions and was drawn primarily from Miles et al. (2000).
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Note: Terms in italics have been
added by the MFRIC for clarification.
AVERAGE
ANNUAL MORTALITY OF GROWING STOCK: The average cubic
foot volume of sound wood in growing-stock trees that died in
one year. Average annual mortality is reported for a period of
several years (1977 to 1990 in this report).
AVERAGE ANNUAL MORTALITY
OF SAWTIMBER: The average board foot volume of sound
wood in sawtimber trees that died in one year. Average annual
mortality is reported for a period of several years (1977 to
1990 in this report).
AVERAGE ANNUAL REMOVALS
FROM GROWING STOCK: The average net growing-stock volume
in growing-stock trees removed annually for roundwood forest
products, in addition to the volume of logging residues and the
volume of other removals. Average annual removals of growing
stock are reported for a period of several years (1977 to 1989
in this report) and are based on information obtained from remeasurement
plots.
AVERAGE ANNUAL REMOVALS
FROM SAWTIMBER: The average net board foot sawtimber
volume of live sawtimber trees removed annually for roundwood
forest products, in addition to the volume of logging residues
and the volume of other removals. Average annual removals of
sawtimber are reported for a period of several years (1977 to
1989 in this report) and are based on information obtained from
remeasurement plots.
AVERAGE NET ANNUAL GROWTH
OF GROWING STOCK: The annual change in cubic foot volume
of sound wood in live sawtimber and poletimber trees and the
total volume of trees entering these classes through ingrowth,
less volume losses resulting from natural causes.
AVERAGE NET ANNUAL GROWTH
OF SAWTIMBER: The annual change in the volume of live
sawtimber trees and the total volume of trees reaching sawtimber
size, less volume losses resulting from natural causes.
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BASAL
AREA: Tree area in square feet of the cross section
at breast height of a single tree. When the basal areas of all
trees in a stand are summed, the result is usually expressed
as square feet of basal area per acre.
BIOMASS: The
aboveground volume of all live trees (including bark but excluding
foliage) reported in green tons. Biomass has four components:
Bole:
Biomass of a tree from 1 foot above the ground to a 4-inch top
outside bark.
Tops and limbs: Total
biomass of a tree from a 1-foot stump minus the bole.
1- to 5-inch trees:
Total aboveground biomass of a tree from 1 to 5 inches in d.b.h.
Stump:
Biomass of a tree 5 inches d.b.h. and larger from the ground
to a height of 1 foot.
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COMMERCIAL
SPECIES: Tree species presently or prospectively suitable
for industrial wood products. (Note: Excludes species of typically
small size, poor form, or inferior quality, such as hophornbeam,
osage-orange, and redbud.)
CORD: One standard
cord is 128 cubic feet of stacked wood, including bark and air
space. Cubic feet can be converted to standard cords by dividing
by 79.
CORPORATE: Lands
owned by a private corporation not in the business of operating
primary wood-using plants.
COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL
LAND: Land owned by counties and local public agencies
or municipalities, or land leased to these governmental units
for 50 years or more.
CROPLAND: Land
under cultivation within the last 24 months; including cropland
harvested, crop failures, cultivated summer fallow, idle cropland
used only for pasture, orchards, and land in soil improvement crops,
but excluding land cultivated in developing improved pasture.
CULL: Portions
of a tree that are unusable for industrial wood products because
of rot, form, missing, or dead material, or other defect.
CURRENT ANNUAL GROWTH
OF GROWING STOCK: The annual change in the volume of
live sawtimber trees and the total volume of trees reaching sawtimber
size, less volume losses resulting from natural causes. Current
growth is based on an estimate of the current annual increment
of each growing stock tree in the inventory, and is reported
for a single year - 1989 in this report.
CURRENT ANNUAL REMOVALS
FROM GROWING STOCK: The current net growing-stock volume
in growing-stock trees removed annually for roundwood forest
products, in addition to the volume in logging residues and the
volume in other removals. Current annual removals of growing
stock are reported for a single year (1988 in this report) and
are based on a survey of primary wood processing mills to determine
removals for products, and on information from remeasurement
plots to determine removals due to land use change.
CURRENT ANNUAL REMOVALS
FROM SAWTIMBER: The current net board foot sawtimber
volume of live sawtimber trees removed annually for roundwood
forest products, in addition to the volume in logging residues,
and the volume in other removals. Current annual removals of
sawtimber are reported for a single year (1988 in this report)
and are based on a survey of primary wood processing mills to
determine removals for products and on information from remeasurement
plots to determine removals due to land use change.
DIAMETER
CLASS: A classification of trees based on diameter outside
bark, measured at breast height (d.b.h.) 4.5 feet above the ground.
Two-inch diameter classes are commonly used in Forest Inventory
and Analysis, with the even inch the approximate midpoint for
a class. For example, the 6-inch class includes trees 5.0 through
6.9 inches d.b.h.
DIAMETER AT BREAST HEIGHT (d.b.h.):
The outside bark diameter at 4.5 feet (1.37 m) above the forest
floor on the uphill side of the tree. For determining breast height,
the forest floor includes the duff layer that may be present, but
does not include unincorporated woody debris that may rise above
the ground line.
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FARM:
Any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were
produced and sold during the year.
FARMER-OWNED LAND:
See Individual private land.
FOREST INDUSTRY LAND:
Land owned by companies or individuals that operate a primary wood-using
plant.
FOREST LAND:
Land at least 16.7 percent stocked by forest trees of any size,
or formerly having had such tree cover, and not currently developed
for nonforest use. (Note: Stocking is measured by comparing specified
standards with basal area and/or number of trees, age or size,
and spacing.) The minimum area for classification of forest land
is 1 acre. Roadside, streamside, and shelterbelt strips of timber
must have a crown width of at least 120 feet to qualify as forest
land. Unimproved roads and trails, streams, or other bodies of
water or clearings in forest areas shall be classed as forest if
less than 120 feet wide. See Tree, Land, Timberland, Reserved
forest land, Other forest land, Stocking,
and Water.
FOREST TYPE:
A classification of forest land based on the species forming a
plurality of live tree stocking. Major forest types in the state
are:
Jack pine:
Forests in which jack pine comprises a plurality of the stocking.
(Common associates include eastern white pine, red pine, aspen,
birch, and maple.)
Red pine:
Forests in which red pine comprises a plurality of the stocking.
(Common associates include eastern white pine, jack pine, aspen,
birch, and maples.)
White pine:
Forests in which eastern white pine comprises a plurality of
the stocking. (Common associates include red pine, jack pine,
aspen, birch, and maple.)
Balsam fir:
Forests in which balsam fir and white spruce comprise a plurality
of stocking with balsam fir the most common. (Common associates
include aspen, maple, birch, northern white-cedar, and tamarack.)
White spruce:
Forests in which white spruce and balsam fir comprise a plurality
of the stocking with white spruce the most common. (Common associates
include aspen, maple, birch, northern white-cedar, and tamarack.)
Black spruce:
Forests in which swamp conifers comprise a plurality of the stocking
with black spruce the most common. (Common associates include
tamarack and northern white-cedar.
Northern white-cedar:
Forests in which swamp conifers comprise a plurality of the stocking
with northern white-cedar the most common. (Common associates
include tamarack and black spruce.)
Tamarack:
Forests in which swamp conifers comprise a plurality of the stocking
with tamarack the most common. (Common associates include black
spruce and northern white-cedar.)
Oak-hickory:
Forests in which northern red oak, white oak, bur oak, or hickories,
singly or in combination, comprise a plurality of the stocking.
(Common associates include jack pin, elm, and maple.)
Elm-ash-soft maple:
Forests in which lowland elm, ash, red maple, silver maple, and
cottonwood, singly or in combination, comprise a plurality of
the stocking. (Common associates include birches, spruce, and
balsam fir.)
Maple-basswood:
Forests in which sugar maple, basswood, yellow birch, upland
American elm, and red maple, singly or in combination, comprise
a plurality of the stocking. (Common associates include white
pine, elm, and basswood.)
Aspen:
Forests in which quaking aspen or bigtooth aspen, singly or in
combination, comprise a plurality of the stocking. (Common associates
include balsam poplar, balsam fir, and paper birch.)
Paper birch:
Forests in which paper birch comprises a plurality of the stocking.
(Common associates include maple, aspen, and balsam fir.)
Balsam poplar:
Forests in which balsam poplar comprises a plurality of the stocking.
(Common associates include aspen, elm, and ash.)
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GROWING-STOCK
TREE: A live tree of commercial species that meets specified
standards of size, quality, and merchantability. (Note: Excludes
rough, rotten, and dead trees.)
GROWING-STOCK VOLUME:
Net volume in cubic feet of growing-stock trees 5.0 inches d.b.h.
and over, from 1 foot above the ground to a minimum 4.0-inch top
diameter outside bark of the central stem, or to the point where
the central stem breaks into limbs.
HARD HARDWOODS:
Hardwood species with an average specific gravity greater than
0.50, such as oaks, hard maple, hickories, and ash.
HARDWOODS: Dicotyledonous
trees, usually broad-leaved and deciduous. (See Soft
hardwoods and Hard hardwoods.)
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IMPROVED
PASTURE: Land currently improved for grazing by cultivating,
seeding, irrigating, or clearing trees or brush and less than
16.7 percent stocked with trees.
INDIAN LAND:
Land held in trust by the United States for tribes or individually
Indians.
INDIVIDUAL
PRIVATE LAND: Privately owned land excluding land owned
by forest industry. This class includes the Farmer class and
the Miscellaneous private class.
INDUSTRIAL WOOD:
All roundwood products except residential fuelwood.
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LAND:
(a) Bureau of the Census. Dry land and
land temporarily or partly covered by water such as marshes, swamps,
and river flood plains (omitting tidal flats below mean high tide);
streams, sloughs, estuaries, and canals less than one-eighth of
a stature mile wide; and lakes, reservoirs, and ponds less than
40 acres in area.
(b) Forest Inventory and Analyses. Dry land and land
temporarily or partly covered by water such as marshes, swamps, and river flood
plans (omitting tidal flats below mean high tide); minimum width of streams,
sloughs, estuaries, and canals is 120 feet and minimum size of lakes, reservoirs,
and ponds is 1 acre.
LIVE TREES:
Growing-stock, rough, and rotten trees 1.0 inch d.b.h. and larger.
LOG GRADE: A
log classification based on external characteristics as indicators
of quality or values.
LOGGING RESIDUE:
The unused portions of trees cut or killed by logging.
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MARSH:
Nonforest land that characteristically supports low, generally
herbaceous or shrubby vegetation, and that is intermittently covered
with water.
MERCHANTABLE:
Refers to a pulpwood or saw-log section that meets pulpwood or
saw-log specifications, respectively.
MISCELLANEOUS FEDERAL
LAND: Federal land other than National Forest and land
administered by the Bureau of Land Management or Bureau of Indian
Affairs.
MISCELLANEOUS PRIVATE
LAND: See Individual private land.
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NATIONAL
FOREST LAND: Federal land that has been legally designated
as National Forest or purchase units, and other land administered
by the USDA Forest Service.
NET VOLUME:
Gross volume less deductions for rot, sweep, or other defect affecting
use for timber products.
NONCOMMERCIAL SPECIES:
Tree species of typically small size, poor form, or inferior quality
that normally do not develop into trees suitable for industrial
wood products.
NONFOREST LAND:
Land that has never supported forests, and land formerly forested
where use for timber management is precluded by development for
other uses. (Note: Includes areas used for crops, improved pasture,
residential areas, city parks, improved roads of any width and
adjoining clearings, powerline clearings of any width, and 1- to
40-acre areas of water classified by the Bureau of the Census as
land. If intermingled in forest areas, unimproved roads and nonforest
strips must be more than 120 feet wide and more than 1 acre in
area to quality as nonforest land.)
(a) Nonforest land without trees: Nonforest land
with no live trees present.
(b) Nonforest land with trees: Nonforest land with
one or more trees per acre at least 5 inches d.b.h.
NONSTOCKED LAND:
Forest land less than 16.7 percent stocked with all live trees.
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OTHER
FOREST LAND: Forest land not capable of producing 20
cubic feet per acre per year or industrial wood crops under natural
conditions and not associated with urban or rural development.
Many of these sites contain tree species that are not currently
utilized for industrial wood production or trees of poor form,
small size, or inferior quality that are unfit for industrial
products. Unproductivity may be the result of adverse site conditions
such as sterile soil, dry climate, poor drainage, high elevation,
and rockiness. This land is not withdrawn from timber utilization.
OTHER REMOVALS:
Growing-stock trees removed but not utilized for products, or trees
left standing but "removed" from the timberland classification
by land use change. Examples are removals from cultural operations
such as timber stand improvement work, land clearing, and changes
in land use.
OWNERSHIP SIZE CLASS:
The amount of timberland owned by one owner, regardless of the
number of parcels.
OWNERSHIP TENURE:
The length of time a property has been held by the owner.
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PASTURE:
Land presently used for grazing or under cultivation to develop
grazing.
PHYSIOGRAPHIC CLASS:
A measure of soil and water conditions that affect tree growth
on a site. The physiographic classes are:
Xeric sites:
Very dry soils where excessive drainage seriously limits both
growth and species occurrence. Examples: sandy jack pine plains.
Xeromesic sites:
Moderately dry soils where excessive drainage limits growth and
species occurrence to some extent. Example: dry oak ridge.
Mesic sites:
Deep, well-drained soils. Growth and species occurrence are limited
only by climate. Example: well-drained terraces of loamy soil.
Hydromesic sites:
Moderately wet soils where insufficient drainage or infrequent
flooding limits growth and species occurrence to some extent.
Example: moderately drained bottomland hardwood sites.
Hydric sites:
Very wet sites where excess water seriously limits both growth
and species occurrence. Example: frequently flooded river bottoms
and black spruce swamps.
PLANT BYPRODUCTS:
Plant residues used for products such as mulch, pulp chips, and
fuelwood.
PLANT RESIDUES:
Wood and bark materials generated at manufacturing plants during
production of other products.
PLANTATION:
An artificially reforested area sufficiently productive to qualify
as timberland. The planted species is not necessarily predominant.
Christmas tree plantations, which are considered reserved forest
land, are not included.
POLETIMBER STAND:
See Stand-size class.
POLETIMBER TREE:
A tree of commercial species at least 5.0 inches d.b.h. but small
than sawtimber size.
POTENTIAL PRODUCTIVITY
CLASS: A classification of forest lands in terms of
inherent capacity to grow crops of industrial wood. The class
identifies the potential growth in merchantable cubic feet/acre/year
at culmination of mean annual increment of fully stocked natural
stands.
REMOVALS:
Trees removed but not utilized for products, or trees left standing
but "removed" from the timberland classification by land
use change. Examples are removals from cultural operations such
as timber stand improvement work, land clearing, and changes in
land use. Importantly, removals include both harvest and losses
due to changes in land use.
RESERVED
FOREST LAND: Forest land withdrawn from timber utilization
through statute, administrative regulation, designation, or exclusive
use for Christmas tree production, as indicated by annual shearing.
ROTTEN TREE:
A tree that does not meet regional merchantability standards because
of excessive unsound cull. May include noncommercial tree species.
ROUGH TREE:
A tree that does not meet regional merchantability standards because
of excessive sound cull. May include noncommercial tree species.
ROUNDWOOD PRODUCTS:
Logs, bolts, or other round sections (including chips from roundwood)
cut from trees for industrial or consumer uses. (Note: Includes
saw logs, veneer logs, and bolts; cooperage logs and bolts; pulpwood;
fuelwood; pilings; poles; posts; hewn ties; mine timbers; and various
other round, split, or hewn products.
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SALVABLE
DEAD TREE: A standing or down dead tree considered merchantable
by regional standards.
SAPLING: A live
tree 1.0 to 5.0 inches d.b.h.
SAPLING-SEEDLING STAND:
See Stand-size class.
SAW LOG: A log
meeting minimum standards of diameter, length, and defect, including
logs at least 8 feet long, sound and straight and with a minimum
diameter outside bark (d.o.b.) for softwoods of 7.0 inches (9.0
inches for hardwoods) or other combinations of size and defect
specified by regional standards.
SAW-LOG PORTION:
That part of the bole of sawtimber trees between the stump and
the saw-log top.
SAW-LOG TOP:
The point on the bole of sawtimber trees above which a saw log
cannot be produced. The minimum saw-log top is 7.0 inches d.o.b.
for softwoods and 9.0 inches d.o.b. for hardwoods.
SAWTIMBER STAND:
See Stand-size class.
SAWTIMBER TREE:
A tree of commercial species containing at least a 12-foot saw
log or two noncontiguous saw logs 8 feet or longer, and meeting
regional specifications for freedom from defect. Softwoods must
be at least 9.0 inches d.b.h. Hardwoods must be at least 11.0 inches
d.b.h.
SAWTIMBER VOLUME:
Net volume of the saw-log portion of live sawtimber in board feet,
International 1/4-inch rule (unless specified otherwise) from stump
to a minimum 7 inches top diameter outside bark (d.o.b.) for softwoods
and a minimum 9 inches top d.o.b. for hardwoods.
SEEDLING: A
live tree less than 1.0 inch d.b.h. that is expected to survive.
Only softwood seedlings more than 6 inches tall and hardwood seedlings
more than 1 foot tall are counted.
SHORT-LOG (ROUGH TREE):
Sawtimber-size trees of commercial species that contain at least
one merchantable 8- to 11-foot saw log but not a 12-foot saw log.
SHRUB: A woody,
perennial plant differing from a perennial herb in its persistent
and woody stem(s), and less definitely from a tree in its lower
stature and/or the general absence of a well-defined main stem.
For our purposes, shrubs were separated somewhat arbitrarily into
tall and low shrubs as follows:
Tall shrubs:
Shrubs normally taller than 1.6 to 3.2 feet (0.5 to 1.0 meters)
Low shrubs:
Shrubs normally shorter than 1.6 to 3.2 feet. (Woody perennial
vines, such as grape, were included with the low shrubs.)
SHRUB AND TREE SEEDLING
BIOMASS: The total above-ground weight of trees less
than 1.0 inch in diameter and all shrubs.
SITE INDEX:
An expression of forest site quality based on the height of a free-growing
dominant or codominant tree of a representative species in the
forest type at age 50.
SOFT
HARDWOODS: Hardwood species with an average specific
gravity less than 0.50 such as cottonwood, red maple, basswood,
and willow.
SOFTWOODS: Coniferous
trees, usually evergreen, having needles or scale-like leaves.
STAND: A group
of trees on a minimum of 1 acre of forest land that is stocked
by forest tree of any size.
STAND-AGE CLASS:
A classification based on age of the main stand. Main stand refers
to trees of the dominant forest type and stand-size class.
STAND-SIZE
CLASS: A classification of stocked (see Stocking)
forest land based on the size class of live trees on the area;
that is, sawtimber, poletimber, or seedlings and saplings.
Sawtimber stands:
Stands with half or more of live tree stocking in sawtimber or
poletimber trees, and with sawtimber stocking at least equal to
poletimber stocking.
Poletimber stands:
Stands with half or more live tree stocking in poletimber and/or
sawtimber trees, and with poletimber stocking exceeding that
of sawtimber.
Sapling-seedling
stands: Stands with more than half of the live
tree stocking in saplings and/or seedlings.
STATE LAND:
Land owned by the State of Minnesota or leased to it for 50 years
or more.
STOCKING:
The degree of occupancy of land by live trees, measured by basal
area and/or the number of trees in a stand by size or age and spacing,
compared to the basal area and/or number of trees required to fully
utilize the growth potential of the land; that is, the stocking
standard. A stocking percent of 100 indicates full utilization
of the site and is equivalent to 80 square feet of basal area per
acre in trees 5.0 inches d.b.h. and larger. In a stand of trees
less than 5 inches d.b.h., a stocking percent of 100 would indicate
that the present number of trees is sufficient to produce 80 square
feet of basal area per acre when the trees reach 5 inches d.b.h.
Stands are grouped into the following
stocking classes:
Overstocked stands:
Stands in which stocking of live trees is 133 percent or more.
Fully stocked stands:
Stands in which stocking of live trees is from 100.0 to 132.9
percent.
Medium stocked
stands: Stands in which stocking of live trees
is from 60.0 to 99.9 percent.
Poorly stocked
stands: Stands in which stocking of
live trees is from 16.7 to 59.9 percent.
Nonstocked areas:
Timberland on which stocking of live trees is less than 16.7
percent.
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TIMBER
PRODUCTS OUTPUT: All timber products cut from roundwood
and byproducts of wood manufacturing plants. Roundwood products
include logs, bolts, or other round sections cut from growing-stock
trees, cull trees, salvable dead trees, trees on nonforest land,
noncommercial species, sapling-size trees, and limbwood. Byproducts
from primary manufacturing plants include slabs, edging, trimmings,
miscuts, sawdust, shavings, veneer cores and clippings, and screenings
or pulpmills that are used as pulpwood chips or other products.
TIMBERLAND:
Forest land that is producing or capable of producing in excess
of 20 cubic feet per acre per year or industrial wood crops under
natural conditions, that is not withdrawn from timber utilization,
and that is not associated with urban or rural development. Currently
inaccessible and inoperable areas are included.
TREE:
A woody plant usually having one or more perennial stems, a more
or less definitely formed crown of foliage, and a height of at
least 12 feet at maturity.
TREE BIOMASS:
The total aboveground weight (including the bark but excluding
the foliage) of all trees from 1 to 5 inches in d.b.h. and the
total aboveground weight (including the bark but excluding the
foliage) from a 1-foot stump for trees more than 5 inches in diameter.
TREE GRADE:
A tree classification based on external characteristics as indicators
of quality or value, used for hardwood species.
TREE SIZE CLASS:
A classification of trees based on diameter at breast height, including
sawtimber trees, poletimber trees, saplings, and seedlings.
UPPER
STEM PORTION: That part of the bole of sawtimber trees
above the saw-log top to a minimum top diameter of 4.0 inches
outside bark or to the point where the central stem breaks into
limbs.
URBAN AND OTHER AREAS:
Areas within the legal boundaries of cities and towns; suburban
areas developed for residential, industrial, or recreational purposes,
schoolyards, cemeteries, roads; railroads, airports, beaches, powerlines,
and other rights-of-way, or other nonforest land not included in
any other specified land use class.
URBAN FOREST LAND:
Land that would otherwise meet the criteria for timberland, but
is in an urban-suburban area surrounded by commercial, industrial,
or residential development and not likely to be managed for the
production of industrial wood products on a continuing basis. Wood
removed would be for land clearing, fuelwood, or esthetic purposes.
Such forest land may be associated with industrial parks, golf
course perimeters, airport buffer strips, and public urban parks
that qualify as forest land.
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WATER:
(a) Bureau of the Census: Permanent inland water surfaces, such
as lakes, reservoirs, and ponds at least 40 acres in area; and
streams, sloughs, estuaries, and canals at least one-eighth of
a statute mile wide.
(b) Noncensus: Permanent inland water surfaces, such as lakes, reservoirs,
and ponds from 1 to 39.9 acres in area; and streams, sloughs, estuaries, and
canals from 120 feet to one-eighth of a statute mile wide.
WOODED PASTURE:
Improved pasture with more than 16.7 percent stocking in live trees,
but less than 25 percent stocking in growing-stock trees. Area
is currently improved for grazing or there is other evidence of
grazing.
WOODED STRIP:
An acre or more of natural continuous forest land that would otherwise
meet survey standards for timberland except that it is less than
120 feet wide.
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