In your travels, you have probably seen the easily recognizable “Tree Farm” sign on white posts along the roadsides of woodlands or on the gable ends of farm buildings or sugarhouses. It’s an icon, that green-and-white, diamond-shaped sign, with the words “Tree Farm” in the center surrounded by “Wood, Water, Wildlife and Recreation.”
What does that sign mean to you when you see it posted on your neighbor’s woodlot? To some, an image is conjured up of long rows of perfectly shaped Christmas trees or sprawling acreages of pine plantations covering once-productive farmlands. Actually, neither is an accurate representation of the “average” Tree Farmer.
The American Tree Farm System began in 1941 as a way to introduce local forest landowners to good forest management and stewardship practices. You had to own 10 acres or more and make at least a good faith commitment to practice sound forestry to be in the program. Official Tree Farm inspectors reviewed enrolled properties every five years for recertification, but performance standards were not well defined and few landowners were decertified, except in the case of death or the sale of the property to a disinterested party.
I have been a Tree Farm Inspector for over 30 years and have inspected hundreds of farms, and I cannot remember decertifying a single property for any other reason besides sale or death. I never really pushed the program on my landowner contacts because, to me, Tree Farm seemed like a “feel good” program with only minimal tangible benefits.
Don’t get me wrong: most Tree Farmers over the years have done a fantastic job of managing their forests. But until recently, I’ve thought that the credibility and accountability of this program has been less than exemplary. The program has been administered largely on a volunteer basis both at the national and local levels, with most of the administrative funding coming from donations from the pulpwood industry. It’s hard to administer a large, fully credible program on a shoestring budget with volunteers running the program and inspecting the properties.
Now we enter the “new age” of the Tree Farm Program, while we’re also entering the new age of selling wood products in a global economy. Time Warner, the largest purchaser of paper products in the world, and Home Depot are but a couple of the larger buyers of wood products that are now requiring that all of their wood come from “certified sustainable” forests. Locally, we are just beginning to see purchasers of logs and pulpwood asking for proof of certification before buying wood. It is early in the transition process of across-the-board, certified wood requirements, but I am confident that within only a few years, if your woodlot is not certified, you will be at a distinct disadvantage for selling your wood products.
A number of international forest-certification systems have developed standards that validate and certify the management practices of forest landowners as being “sustainable.” Individual landowners can have their woodlots certified by one of these organizations by contacting a representative who will review the landowner’s practices and compare the forest management plan against the certifying organization’s standards. There is almost always an initial fee for this intensive review and certification process, and continued certification usually requires the payment of an annual fee.
The other choice for small landowners is to become part of a “group certification” effort. With group certification, intensive compliance and inspection standards are adopted by the group, to which all members must adhere. The standards usually require detailed forest management plans that are updated at regular intervals and prescribe sustainable forestry practices for fiber production, protection of water quality, and consideration of wildlife habitat. Periodic site inspections by certified inspectors help insure that the overall program standards are being met. In addition, a statistical sampling and inspection procedure conducted by a “third party” lends verification and credibility to the certification system. All members in good standing become certified under this group certification scenario.
This is where the Tree Farm Program will be this summer. All Tree Farmers will become part of a group certification program within an organization called PEFC (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification). This will bring some 65,000 forest properties nationwide into a certification system.
A huge infusion of funds (from the settlement of the softwood lumber dispute with Canada) into the American Tree Farm System, national sponsor of the Tree Farm Program, is paying for the staffing and support requirements of an organization poised to take Tree Farmers solidly into the future. This is not your daddy’s Tree Farm Program. There will be Tree Farmers who will have to bring their management up to stricter standards in order to continue. And quality programs cost money, so we should expect fees.
For all those of you who are not Tree Farmers and are presently enrolled in your state’s Current Use program, your forestry plans may already meet the new Tree Farm standards. Certification requirements for selling wood products are coming. Be ready! If there was ever a time when being a Tree Farmer had benefits, it is now. Contact your county service forester or consulting forester to find out how to become a new member.