ACE - Adult Community Education.
ADCARE - 7th Day Adventist Emergency Care program.
ADD - Attention Deficit Disorder.
ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
Agenda 21/Local Agenda 21 - a long term strategic plan for achieving sustainability in the 21st Century. It incorporates economic development, employment, environmental protection and social justice concerns at the local government/community level. Originated from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
Ambient - surrounding conditions not influenced by the characteristic being investigated.
Aquifer - rock or sediment in a geological formation capable of being permeated so that it can transmit and store water (groundwater).
ATSIC - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.
ATSIHP - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Program.
Biodiversity - different plants, animals and micro-organisms, the genes they contain and the ecosystems they form.
Bioregion - based on broad landscape patterns that reflect the major structural geologies and climate as well as major changes in floristic and faunistic assemblages.
BSES - Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations.
Capping - placement of an impermeable layer over a landfill to prevent water entering.
CBD - Central Business District.
CCS - Commercial Cane Sugar.
Composting - the use of a compost bin to dispose of putrescible waste.
Conservation Park - protected areas managed to conserve and present the area's cultural and natural resources and their values, provide for the permanent conservation of the area's natural condition to the greatest possible extent, and end to ensure that any commercial use of the area's natural resources, including fishing and grazing is ecologically sustainable.
CSIRO - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
DNR - Department of Natural Resources (now NRM - Department of Natural Resources and Mines).
DPI - Department of Primary Industries.
Ecological Sustainable Development (ESD) - "Using, conserving and enhancing the community's resources so that ecological processes, on which life depends, are maintained, and the total quality of life, now and in the future, can be increased".
Ecosystem - a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit.
Effluent - discharge or emission of a waste product.
Endemic - native to a particular area and found (naturally) nowhere else.
EPA - Environmental Protection Agency.
FNQROC - Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils.
Good Quality Agricultural Land - defined in the planning scheme as land which is capable of sustainable use for agriculture with a reasonable level of inputs and without causing degradation of land or other natural resources.
Green cane harvesting and trash blanketing - harvesting method involving harvesting of ratoon crops, with a trash blanket left to input nutrients into the soil.
GBRMPA -Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Groundwater - water occurring below the ground surface.
Hydrological - dealing with water on the land or under the Earth's Crust, its properties, laws and geographic distribution.
Instream Allowances - a volume of water allowed to pass through the catchment without being extracted from the stream for consumptive purposes.
Integrated Environmental Management System (IEMS) - a management system required when a single authority applies to undertake multiple activities at multiple locations.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) - The integrated use of all possible methods to control pests eg chemical, biological, mechanical, etc.
JRCMA - Johnstone River Catchment Management Association.
JSC - Johnstone Shire Council.
JSRIT - Johnstone Shire River Improvement Trust.
Leachate - water that has passed through soil and that contains soluble material removed from that soil. With reference to landfill sites, the soluble nutrients and pollutants that filtrate out of these sites.
Local Law - legislation covering activities within the local government area.
LOTE - language other than English.
Macro-invertebrates - animals without backbones, visible to the naked eye.
MARCS - Markets Art Recreation Community Sport (Park).
MGB - Mobile Garbage Bin.
Morphology - form of things.
Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) - a Commonwealth Government fund, sourced from the partial sale of Telstra.
Nature Refuge - protected areas managed to conserve the area's significant natural resources, provide for the controlled use of the area's natural resources, and to provide for the interests of land-holders to be taken into account.
Natural Resources - the natural and physical features of an area including the air, water, soil, wildlife, and minerals in their unaltered state.
Non-point sources of pollution - source of pollution from a broad area or many small sources.
PCYC - Police Citizens Youth Club.
Permeability - the level to which water will pass through a material layer.
Point Sources of Pollution - source of pollution that can be pinpointed
PCQ - Ports Corporation of Queensland.
Potential Acid Sulphate Soils/Acid Sulphate Soils (PASS/ASS) - pyritic soils which if left undisturbed or waterlogged, do not cause any detrimental effects of the adjacent aquatic or terrestrial systems. However, if the soil becomes oxygenated it generates sulphuric acid, thus becoming an acid sulphate soil.
Q100 immunity - areas expected to be inundated by floodwaters once every 100 years.
QFVG - Queensland Fruit and Vegetable Growers.
QHTN - Queensland Heritage Trails Network.
Rare Species - a plant or animal whose population is represented by a relatively large population in a restricted range or a smaller population thinly spread over a wider range.
Ratoon Crops - cane crops which are harvested green and left to regenerate as the following year's crop.
Regional Ecosystems - an integrated entity within a bioregion derived from landscape pattern, geology and landform, and vegetation,
Remediation - improvement/remedy of a site.
Remnant - a surviving trace.
Resources Reserve - protected areas managed to recognise, and protect the area's cultural and natural resources, provide for the controlled use of the area's natural resources, and to ensure that the area is maintained predominantly in its natural condition.
Riparian - relating to the bank of a river or other water body.
Sedimentation - deposition or accumulation of sediment.
Septic systems - sewage system in which sewage is stored in a tank and disintegrated through bacterial activity.
SOCOG - Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.
SPK - Hmong housing co-operative based in Cairns
Stormwater - uncontaminated runoff resulting from rainfall event(s).
SRDC - Sugar Research Development Corporation.
Threatened Species - a plant or animals that is endangered, vulnerable or presumed extinct.
TNQIT - Tropical North Queensland Institute of TAFE.
Vermiculture - cultivation of worms to dispose of wet waste and other items.
VET - Vocational Education and Training.
Waste Transfer Station - a garbage accepting facility where different types of garbage can be sorted and disposed of in the appropriate manner.
Watertable - the upper limit of the portion of ground saturated with water.
Wetlands - areas of permanent or periodic/intermittent inundation, whether natural or artificial, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed 6 metres.
WTWHA - Wet Tropics World Heritage Area
