Families & forests
A newsletter for Arkansas Tree FarmerS
Standards of Sustainability essential to Tree Farm’s success T
he Standards of Sustainability are an integral part of the American Tree Farm System (ATFS). Beginning in 2010, ATFS became endorsed as a recognized certification system and the standards became the guidelines that all Tree Farmers must follow to remain as a certified forest. Every five years, the Standards undergo a review process and the changes are put into place the following year. The 20152020 Standards of Sustainability are available online at www. treefarmsystem.org/standardsreview. The first Standard—perhaps the most imporantone—addresses the management plan. No longer should a management plan be a book
that sits on the shelf, left to collect dust. It should be an active and adaptive plan that can be changed as landowners’ goals and ideas change. Landowners are now encouraged to be a part of writing their own plan and add hand-written notes, contracts or anything else that is important in putting their plan into place. In fact, ATFS has helped develop a website that allows landowners to create or update a management plan at mylandplan.org. With the management plan being so important, this is the first stop when the Tree Farm Inspector inspects/re-inspects your Tree Farm. If the management plan does not adequately address your property
SUMMER 2015
THE TREE FARM PROGRAM...
is administered by the Arkansas Forestry Association and its Tree Farm Committee. Learn more at arkforests.org. and the latest Standards, then you may not be eligible to be certified under the Tree Farm program. If a management plan does not meet the current requirements, the inspector may give you time to get your management plan updated or if the Tree Farmer does not wish to make the necessary changes then the Tree Farm will be decertified. If you have questions about your management plan you can contact Arkansas Tree Farm Program Administrator Jennifer Lambert Johnson at (501) 374-2441 or jjohnson@arkforests.org for more information.
State’s Voice, State’s Choice decides program’s future By Caroll Guffey Immediate Past Chairman Arkansas Tree Farm Committee
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easons are changing and so is the American Tree Farm System (ATFS)— or Tree Farm Program. When it began, Tree Farm was a recognition system that honored woodland owners and held to a loose set of principles. Today, the program has changed to a certificationoriented scheme in which woodland owners must meet a set of stringent Standards (see article above). As part of this transition, participating program states have been audited to ensure that Tree Farm properties meet the Standards. This allows the forests and their products to be considered “certified”—meaning that the trees and forest products can be labeled and sold as sustainably grown. Certified Arkansas Tree Farms can compete nationally and globally. Historically, ATFS has provided financial support to help states administer the program and provide incentives for the volunteer Tree Farm Inspectors. At this time, ATFS is proposing a major program change. It is called the State’s Voice, State’s Choice. Starting in
2019, states will be required to send $7,000 to ATFS to keep their status as a “certification” program. This amount will be in addition to the Arkansas Forestry Association’s (AFA) internal costs of administering the program, incentives for volunteer Tree Farm Inspectors and expenses realized for required third-party audits. These costs will far exceed the $7,000 we will have to send to ATFS. At the end of 2015, Tree Farmparticipating states will have to choose one of three directions for their program: 1. Retain the “certification” option, cover all program costs and send $7,000 to ATFS; 2. Become a “recognition” program and cover the program administration costs; or 3. Drop out of the program. In Arkansas, we have discussed these options with public and private partners that have been integral in making ours one of the best programs in the country. Now, we are asking for input from you— our valued Tree Farmers. We should not go into this decision lightly and there is no easy answer. If we keep any level of the Tree Farm Program in Arkansas, it will cost money that we have not been required to pay in the
past. Everyone involved in a future Tree Farm Program will have to have some “skin in the game”—one way of saying that to be called a certified Tree Farmer, you will have to pay for that designation. What that cost will be will be determined by what level Tree Farm Program we keep in Arkansas. Your ideas are critical. Following are highlights of the timeline: • At the end of 2015, we must select a program option. • In 2019, we must send funds to ATFS to maintain a “certification” program. • If we select the “certification” option, the Arkansas program must also cover state-level program administration, inspection and audit expenses. • If we opt for the “recognition” program, we will still have to fund administration and inspection costs. • The funding decision are a small part of the equation, but we want your opinions to help chart the future course of the Arkansas Tree Farm program. Please call Jennifer Lambert Johnson at AFA at (501) 374-2441 for more information or to provide input.