Slash and burn describes the process of clearing forested areas of vegetation and burning to provide cropland or rangeland. Terracing is the process by which a hill is converted into large "steps" of land, which are easier to farm. Intensive agriculture describes the large-scale, systematic production of food for distribution to heavily populated areas. Desertification, as the name suggests, involves land degradation in which an already dry area becomes increasingly dry, usually resulting in a decrease in biodiversity.

The correct response is old growth forest. This refers specifically to a forest that has never been cut, or has been around for over a hundred years. Another term would be Virgin Forest. The term native forest just means that they forest contains natural vegetation to the ecosystem - it doesn't refer to whether the forest has been cut or not. Agroforest is the combination of agriculture and forest lands. Second growth forest is the regrowth of a forest after being cut down.

Strip cutting - a strip is clear cut, leaving a corridor narrow enough to allow regeneration within a shorter period of time.

Shelterwood cutting - removing all mature trees in a few cuttings over a period of ten years.

Selective cutting - removing only mature trees individually or in small groups.

subdividing rangeland and rotating where the herds of cattle graze allows for grasslands to regenerate naturally and prevents excessive disturbance of the soil while also maximizing the number of cattle that can graze in a certain area. 

In regions of the U.S. that have insufficient rainfall for growing crops (Eastern Colorado, West Texas, etc.), the land is often utilized for grazing livestock. Dry grassland ecosystems are best used for grazing because tilling the soil for cultivation creates a heightened risk for wind-carried soil erosion, as was demonstrated by the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

A rangeland is an biome categorized by native, grassy plants on which wild and/or domestic animals feed. It can be a desert shrubland, a tundra, a grassland, or another biome, as long as it is not barren.

Annual grasses with shallow root systems not only provide little structural integrity to the organic and topsoil layers of the soil, but are also very desirable to grazing livestock such as cattle. Cattle generally prefer annual grasses to shrubs and semi-woody bunchgrasses, which—when combined with strong seasonal gusts—can put a rangeland at serious risk of wind erosion and loss of topsoil. Woody shrubs and bunchgrasses typically have deeper or further-extending root systems and provide more structural integrity for the soil, which prevents further erosion. 

Manure from livestock containing E. coli can potentially contaminate a local watershed. Limiting access to watersheds by livestock will prevent direct contamination by feces, while establishing man-made watering holes will allow continued access to drinking water for livestock. Maintaining a healthy riparian plant community also abates water contamination, because high-density riparian plant communities can prevent leaching of contaminants into the waterway. 

"Reserves," by definition, refers to the determined quantity of a mineral resource that is economically feasible to recover. Mineral deposits consist of mineral-rich ores that are easy to extract, but there are also poorer-quality ores that are more difficult to extract that are often left behind since they are not profitable to extract.

Placer mining is when metals and minerals are extracted from river sediments, which describes the "panning" method employed by Western settlers.