Purpose: This glossary explains words used in The Long Return’s community reports, source notes, and correction process.
How to use it: read the plain meaning first, then open the relevant report or tool for its sources, date, and limits.
Checking a report
Answerability
Plainly: a claim or decision has to answer to evidence, affected people, limits, correction, and consequences.
Used when coherence alone is not enough. A story can sound orderly and still fail the people it affects.
The Institute Audit standard
Plainly: the maintained, versioned way the Institute checks whether a public release is supported, bounded, protected, usable, and correctable.
Terms used in Reports
Project Watch
Plainly: a report tracking a proposed, rumored, or active project that may affect land, water, power, health, services, or community life.
Policy Watch
Plainly: a public plan, docket, law, meeting, agency decision, or government process that people may need to understand or respond to.
Reported by community members — needs checking
Plainly: something has been shared through community channels, but it still needs confirmation from an official source or public record.
Official record + interpretation
Plainly: the report relies on official documents, but also includes Christopher Knorr’s reading of what those documents mean.
Condition report
Plainly: a public-facing note about real conditions affecting people — land, water, fire, health, money, services, infrastructure, or governance.
Source-confidence label
Plainly: a visible note telling readers how strong the source is — official record, public source, community-relayed, policy watch, resource guide, or interpretation.
Update log
Plainly: a short record of what changed in a report, when it changed, and why.
Burden shift
Plainly: when a project advertises broad benefits but pushes the local costs onto land, water, power, health, culture, families, or communities.
Conditions Index
Plainly: a reader map that sorts reports by what kind of condition is affected — land, water, health, services, money, infrastructure, governance, or public planning.
Community Question Brief
Plainly: a short report for issues that are not settled yet but need better questions, documents, or verification.
Public-interest reporting
Plainly: sharing careful public information so people can understand an issue, ask better questions, and reduce harm.
Private information
Plainly: information about a person, family, health matter, legal matter, or relation that should not be repeated publicly without a strong reason and proper consent.
A holding shelf for ongoing concerns that may become future reports once there are public sources, official records, safe materials, or clearer questions.
A careful way to track public plans, agency actions, meeting notices, infrastructure proposals, and future decisions that may affect Pit River and surrounding communities.
A short public note that asks what needs to be clarified without claiming more than the evidence supports.
Current Watch List
Plainly: a public index of ongoing reports, issue desks, and update triggers, without turning unverified concern into fact.
Reporting workflow
Plainly: the path from concern to source label, plain summary, public questions, action step, and update log.
Reader routing
Plainly: helping different readers enter the site through the page that fits what they need.