Standard 1: Ensuring Sustainable Forests

The American Forest Foundation's (AFF) Standards of Sustainability promote the growing of renewable forest resources on private lands while protecting environmental benefits and increasing public understanding of all benefits of productive forestry.

Performance Measure 1.1

Qualified forest owners must comply with AFF's Standards of Sustainability. American Tree Farm System (ATFS)'s volunteer network of accredited, qualified natural resource managers will conduct field verification of landowner conformance.

Indicators 1.1.1

An accredited Tree Farm Inspector must inspect qualified properties to assure conformance with AFF's standards of sustainability.

Indicator 1.1.2

Tree Farm inspectors will audit certified properties every five years. Properties that fail to meet AFF's standards and guidelines will be decertified. [Landowners may seek review of decertification decisions through ATFS's formal dispute resolution process.]

Standard 2: Compliance With Laws

Forest management complies with all relevant federal, state and local regulations and ordinances.

Performance Measure 2.1

Forest owners must comply with all relevant federal, state, county, and municipal laws and regulations.

Indicator 2.1.1

Landowner affirms that he/she complies with all relevant laws and regulations, and that he/she will correct conditions that led to adverse regulatory actions, if any.

Indicator 2.1.2

Landowner obtains advice from forestry consultants, public agency natural resource managers, or contractors who are trained in, and familiar with, applicable laws, regulations and published Best Management Practices for forestry.

Standard 3: Commitment to Practicing Sustainable Forestry

Forest owners demonstrate their commitment to sustainability by developing and implementing a long-term forest management plan.

Performance Measure 3.1

Forest owners must have a written forest management plan consistent with the scale of forestry operations of the property.

Indicator 3.1.1

Management plans include: title page; type of ownership (e.g., fee simple, limited partnership, etc.); owners goals appropriate to the management objectives; tract map noting stands and conditions, important features including special sites, and management recommendations that address wood and fiber production, wildlife habitat, owner-designated fish, wildlife and plant species if desired, environmental quality, and, if present and desired by the landowner, recreational opportunities.

Indicator 3.1.2

Management plan is active, adaptive, and embodies the owners' current objectives, remains appropriate for the land certified, and reflects the current state of knowledge about forestry and natural resource management.

Performance Measure 3.2

Forest owners assure management activities are conducted in accordance with the management plan.

Indicator 3.2.1

On-site visit, interviews, and records confirm management activities are being conducted in accordance with the plan.

Standard 4: Reforestation

Forest owners provide timely restocking of desirable species of trees, compatible with regional ecosystems on harvested areas and idle areas where tree-growing is the land use objective.

Performance Measure 4.1

Land must be reforested with natural seeding, sprouting, direct seeding, or reforestation with tree seedlings.

Indicator 4.1.1

Harvested forest land must achieve satisfactory stocking levels reflecting the forest owner's management objectives, within five years after harvest, or within a time interval as specified by applicable regulation, whichever is shorter.

Standard 5: Air, Water and Soil Protection

Forestry practices maintain or enhance the environment, including air, water, soil, and site quality.

Performance Measure 5.1

Forest owners must adhere to State Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) and comply with all relevant forest practices act(s) and ordinances.

Indicator 5.1.1:

Landowner affirms that he/she complies with all relevant laws and regulations, and that he/she will remedy or has remedied any conditions that led to adverse regulatory actions, if any.

Indicator 5.1.2:

Landowner must minimize disturbances within riparian zones.

Indicator 5.1.3

On-site visit confirms that landowner is conducting management activities in accordance with BMPs and all relevant forest practices act[s] and ordinances.

Performance Measure 5.2

Application of forest chemicals must not exceed the levels necessary to achieve specific management objectives.

Indicator 5.2.1

Chemicals are applied only when necessary to meet specific management objectives.

Indicator 5.2.2

Management plans consider integrated pest management as a preferred means of controlling insect pests, pathogens, and vegetative competition.

Indicator 5.2.3

Chemicals are applied in accordance with EPA-approved labels and meet or exceed all human health and environmental safety requirements on the label, and in local, state, and federal law.

Performance Measure 5.3

Where prescribed fire is used, the forest owner must plan appropriately for its application.

Indicator 5.3.1

Landowner affirms that if and when prescribed fire is used, it is conducted in accordance with the owner's management plan and with state and local laws and regulations.

Indicator 5.3.2

On-site visit confirms prescribed fires, if used, were conducted in accordance with the management plan and applicable laws and regulations.

Standard 6: Fish, Wildlife and Biodiversity

Forest management activities contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and maintain or enhance habitat for native fish, wildlife, and plant species, with emphasis on natural plant and animal communities and rare plants and animals.

Performance Measure 6.1

Landowners are encouraged to confer with their local natural resource agencies, state natural resource heritage programs, or other knowledgeable sources about rare species or species of concern that occur on their property.

Indicator 6.1.l

Where practical, management plans consider and address opportunities to protect rare species and special habitat features.

Performance Measure 6.2

Forest management activities must maintain or enhance habitat for owner's designated fish, wildlife, and plant species as identified in the management plan

Indicator 6.2.1

Forest management activities must maintain or improve habitat for owner's target game and non-game fish and wildlife species.

Standard 7: Forest Aesthetics

Forest management practices minimize negative visual impacts of forest activities.

Performance Measure 7.1

Landowners must manage their forest with concern for visual impacts, in a manner consistent with size and scale of their forestry operations.

Indicator 7.1.1

On tracts of significant visual exposure, management plans and forest operations may include: roadside buffers, access entry "dog-legs," limited harvests in certain areas, and adaptation of other visual management techniques.

Standard 8: Protect Special Sites

Special sites are managed in a way that recognizes their unique characteristics.

Performance Measure 8.1

Forest management practices must recognize historical, biological, archaeological, cultural, and geological sites of special interest.

Indicator 8.1.1

Management plan and forest operations identify and manage for special sites in a manner consistent with forest owner's objectives, the unique features of the site, and the size and scale of the property.

Standard 9: Wood Fiber Harvest and Other Operations

Wood fiber harvests and other forest operations are conducted in accordance with the management plan and with sensitivity to other forest values (e.g., water quality, regeneration, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, special sites, etc.).

Performance Measure 9.1

Landowners must comply with the management plan described in Standard Three (3).

Performance Measure 9.2

Landowners must adhere to all national, state, and local laws and regulations applicable to forest management when conducting forest operations.

Indicator 9.2.1

In selecting contractors, landowners seek loggers, foresters, and other forest management contractors who have completed recommended training and education programs offered in their respective states.

Indicator 9.2.2

Loggers and contractors conducting wood fiber harvests and other forest management operations carry required Workers Compensation and general liability insurance.

Glossary of Terms

accreditation A procedure by which an authoritative body gives formal recognition that a body or person is competent to carry out specific tasks (EN45020)

accreditation body A body that conducts and administers an accreditation system and grants accreditation (EN45020)

accredited natural resource manager A natural resource professional who has completed ATFS's required training for certifying forested properties and is eligible to inspect properties on behalf of ATFS.

adaptive management A dynamic approach to forest management in which the effects of treatments and decisions are continually monitored and used to modify management on a continuing basis to ensure that objectives are being met (SAF)

adverse regulatory actions Warnings or citations issued by law enforcement or regulatory bodies.

best management practice(s) (BMP) A practice or usually a combination of practices that are determined by a state or a designated planning agency to be the most effective and practicable means (including technological, economic, and institutional considerations) of controlling point and nonpoint source pollutants at levels compatible with environmental quality goals (SAF)

biodiversity The variety and abundance of life forms, processes, functions, and structures of plants, animals, and other living organisms, including the relative complexity of species, communities, gene pools, and ecosystems at spatial scales that range from local through regional to global (SAF)

desirable species Those species of trees designated in the landowners' management plan and not known to cause negative impacts on the local environment

indicator A qualitative or quantitative parameter which can be assessed in relation to a performance measure

integrated pest management The maintenance of destructive agents, including insects at tolerable levels, by planned use of a variety of preventative, suppressive, or regulatory tactics and strategies that are ecologically and economically efficient and socially acceptable (SAF)

management plan A working instrument that guides actions and that changes in response to feedback and changed conditions, goals, objectives, and policies (SAF)

performance measure Requirement against which conformity assessment is made

qualified forest owner An individual, business, or other legal entity owning ten contiguous acres or more of forest land not associated in any manner with a forest products manufacturing facility

qualified property A forested property of 10 or more contiguous acres and not associated in any manner with a forest products manufacturing facility

qualified natural resource manager A natural resource professional with at least a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry or a related resource management curriculum from a program accredited by the Society of American Foresters (SAF), or a 2-year forestry technician degree from an SAF-recognized program, or anyone professionally practicing forestry and meeting minimum educational requirements set by ATFS.

rare species A plant or animal or community that is very vulnerable to extinction or elimination

special sites Those areas offering unique archaeological, cultural, ecological, or historical value

standard A document established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines, or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context (EN45020)

sustainability The capacity of forests, ranging from stands to ecoregions, to maintain their health, productivity, diversity, and overall integrity, in the long run, in the context of human activity (SAF)

sustainable forest management The practice of meeting the forest resource needs and values of the present without compromising the similar capability of future generations (SAF) note - AFF's Standards of Sustainability reflect criteria of sustainability based on the Montreal Process, 1993

target species Designated species of plants and animals specially managed for by the landowner