Network News: Inspectors Archive  filter by category: Good Management Practices

Required Sample 2019 End of Year Update

See where your state stands in this 2019 required sample update. 

Required Sample 2019 Summer Update

See where your state stands in this 2019 required sample update. The inspections for this sample are due December 9th, 2019.

Countdown to NLC

We are incredibly excited about the opportunities ahead of us in 2019 as we find ways to engage more family forest owners in active stewardship through the American Tree Farm System (ATFS). Learn more about this year's upcoming NLC. 

Standards Highlight: Standard 5 – Fish, Wildlife, Biodiversity and Forest Health

Standards Highlight: Standard 5 – Fish, Wildlife, Biodiversity and Forest Health

The Standards require management plans to be active and adaptive. While many foresters focus on ensuring management recommendations meet this requirement, remember that all the elements of the Standards need to be reviewed routinely. Specific to Standard 5, forest health conditions change, new T&E species are listed that might impact your landowners, and these species can move!

Good Practices Highlight: Excellent State Newsletters

Two great examples of informative, engaging newsletters are the Arkansas Inspector News and Washington’s Tree Farm News.

Dr. George Kessler Receives 2018 National Leadership Award

Each year, the American Tree Farm System (ATFS) is honored to recognize an outstanding leader from the community of ATFS leaders and volunteers for their exceptional service and leadership. At the 2018 National Leadership Conference, Dr. George Kessler of South Carolina received the 2018 National Leadership Award. 

New Inspector Facilitator Materials Available Online

New Inspector Facilitator Materials Available Online

We have made some recent updates to our ATFS Inspector Training Workshop Facilitation materials that are now available online in Leaders Only. We are always interested in any feedback you may have to better provide support for all of your efforts. Please keep us posted if you would like to see any additional materials made available or changes made to existing information and we will do our best to accommodate these requests. 

Required Sample 2017 Fall Update

See where your state stands in this 2017 required sample update. The inspections for this sample are due December 8th, 2017.

Standards Highlight: Standard 1

ATFS Standard 1

When you visit Tree Farmers, please ensure that management plans are fully in conformance with the ATFS 2015-2020 Standards and all of the required resource elements are addressed

Required Sample 2017 Summer Update

See where your state stands in this 2017 required sample update. The inspections for this sample are due December 8th, 2017.

Standard 8: Forest Product Harvests and Other Activities

When conducting forestry activities, landowners must ensure that their actions and those actions taken on their behalf are in conformance with both the landowner’s objectives and the ATFS Standards. In order to safeguard landowners from liability risks and protect their assets, we encourage landowners to work with qualified natural resource professionals and contractors and review the Standards before planning management activities. If the landowner’s objectives do not specify directives as to harvest, utilization and removals, then regional norms and accepted practices are expected

Standard 5: Forest Health

Standard 5.3 - Forest Health

Indicator 5.3.1 states that the landowner should make practical efforts to promote forest health, including prevention, control or response to disturbances such as wildland fire, invasive species and other pests, pathogens or unwanted vegetation, to achieve specific management objectives.

Standards Highlight 4: Air, Water, and Soil Protection

According to the U.S. Forest Service, private forested lands are essential for about two-thirds of our drinking water. Therefore, managing land with water quality in mind is critical. Following the passage of the Clean Air Act in the 1970s, most states developed best management practices (BMPs) to help landowners safeguard water quality by controlling pollution and other threats arising from forestry activities. 

Congratulations to the 2016 Regional Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year

We are proud to present this year's four Regional Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year:

• North Central Region: Gerald and Charlotte Kann, Wisconsin
• North East Region: Eve-Cowles Family Tree Farm, Massachusetts
• Southern Region: Bobby Watkins, Mississippi
• Western Region: Lyle and Dean Defrees, Oregon

Standards Highlight: Maps

The ATFS 2015-2020 Standards require that landowners have a map, depicting significant features such as roads, water features, timber stands, special sites, and other features. During your inspection process, please verify that the Tree Farm map meets these requirements. 

Threatened and Endangered Species Update

The northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) population has been devastated by the White Nose Syndrome (WNS) throughout the eastern United States. This disease has caused a mortality rate of up to a 90-100% where present. As a result, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the northern long-eared bat as threatened and established a new rule, called the 4(d) Rule, to protect the bat population during its most vulnerable life stages in areas where the disease is present known as the White-Nose Syndrome Zone. 

Stumped Spring 2014

Answers to Inspectors’ Most Frequently Asked Questions

Q: New landowners just purchased a Tree Farm that has been in the program for 50 years. The new landowners wish to remain in the program. Can they use the old owner’s management plan, implement those recommendations and keep the Tree Farm number and 50-year status? Or do they need to start from scratch?

The Making of a Plan: More than the Sum of its Parts

Forest management plans are central to the concept of sustainable forestry. These documents encompass not only management goals and pathways for achieving them but also reflect the uniqueness of the property and the landowner, your professional expertise as a forester and the insights of the broader forestry community. The management plan has long been a core pillar of the American Tree Farm System® (ATFS) program and is a key element of the 2010–2015 ATFS Standards of Sustainability.

Stumped Fall 2013

Answers to Inspectors’ Most Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I’m doing a re-inspection with a landowner who has been in the program for years. He is very proud of his stewardship and proudly displays the Tree Farm sign. However, his management plan is about 10 years old and is probably due for an update. It is also missing a couple of the required elements for certification, including threatened and endangered species, invasive species and special sites. The landowner has committed to updating his plan next year. Should the property be decertified?

Best Management Practices for Water Quality

For most foresters, working with water features and implementing forestry best management practices (BMPs) are natural and routine parts of business in the woods. Working with landowners on water quality begins with management plan development and continues with implementing management activities over time.

Stumped Summer 2013

Answers to Inspectors’ Most Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I am helping a landowner prepare for a timber sale. In developing the contracts with loggers, are there any insurance considerations or other contractor requirements under the American Tree Farm System® (ATFS) Standards?

Stumped Spring 2013

Answers to Inspectors’ Most Frequently Asked Questions

Q: One of my landowner clients owns a small family business and conducts frequent annual harvests. Is this ownership considered nonindustrial? Is American Tree Farm System® certification right for them?

Taking Advantage of Online Natural Heritage Databases

As an ATFS Inspecting Forester, you work closely with landowners to help them learn about their woods and sustainable forestry, while achieving their stewardship goals. Tree Farmers are ambassadors for good forestry,which includes managing for some unique and less understood resources, such as imperiled species, special sites or high- conservation-value forests.

Stumped Summer 2012

Answers to Inspectors’ Most Frequently Asked Questions

Q: One of my clients owns several scattered parcels in a county; can I certify them all as a single Tree Farm?

Stumped Spring 2011

Answers to Inspectors’ Most Frequently Asked Questions

Q:Can I conduct a phone interview for a required inspection?

Q:As an inspector, what sort of evidence should I look for to see if the Tree Farmer has met the Standards’ indicators?

Q: One of my clients has a Tree Farm of more than 10,000 acres. How can I keep them in the Tree Farm program even though all Tree Farms over 10,000 acres are no longer eligible for the State Tree Farm Program?

Q:My training as an inspector expired. How can I take update my training?

ATFS Continues to Provide New Tools for You and Your Landowners

There are many different types of planning documents that a landowner could use to guide their forest management. The common goal of these plans is to help the landowner (and the operators they work with) achieve their objectives. There are 4.4 million landowners that own 10 or more acres of woods and they have a variety of reasons for owning their woodlands. But all landowners can benefit from having a plan for their property. Whatever type of planning document is used, the goal should be to make it useful and meaningful for the landowner.

Follow the Chain!

Wood harvested from Tree Farm Certified lands is recognized as certified fiber by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification systems (PEFC). Mills across the country are interested in tracking certified fiber which includes Tree Farm wood. American Tree Farm System Certification can be a marketing point for your clients’ wood. When you are working with landowners to prepare for a harvest, be sure to follow these best practices.

Good Management Practice Spring 2011

The Standards checklist on the  new 004 form includes all of the 2010–2015 Standards. By following these Standards, Tree Farmers are the best ambassadors for well-managed private forests because they take their forest heritage seriously and are committed to keeping their forests healthy, productive, and enjoyable. Next to each Standard are check boxes labeled “yes,” “no” and “n/a” (not applicable).

Stumped Spring 2011

Answers to Inspectors’ Most Frequently Asked Questions

Q:What does it mean for a management plan to “address” resources elements such as forest health, soil, water, wood and fiber production, threatened and endangered species, special sites, invasive species, integrated pest management and high conservation value forests?

Q:As an inspector, what sort of evidence should I look for to see if the Tree Farmer has met the Standards’ indicators?

Q:How can I get information from Tree Farm on a more regular basis?

Q:What are high conservation value forests and how can Tree Farmers tell if they have one on their property?

Q:How can a Tree Farmer “consider” integrated pest management in their management to control pest, pathogens, and unwanted vegetation?

Good Management Practice Winter 2010

Many Tree Farmers keep a folder of all documents related to their Tree Farm for safe keeping, making documentation collection for third-party certification audits and Tree Farm inspections easier. During your inspections and Tree Farmer interviews be sure to ask where the management plan is kept, if they have harvest plans or contracts for forest operations, and if they have any documents related to cost-share programs, pesticides, prescribed burns or special sites. 

Spotlight: Special Sites

The updated Inspector Training highlights the need for all Tree Farmers to research whether or not they have special sites on their forestland. As an inspector, you can advise landowners of their options to meet this Standards’ requirement.

Spotlight: Updating Landowners to the New Standards of Sustainability

Beginning January 1, 2011, all Tree Farm inspections (initial, required sample inspections, and optional five-year inspections) must be conducted using the 2010-2015 Standards. Below are some case studies to help you explain to landowners how to implement the new Standards on their lands now so that they are ready for 2011. 

Spotlight: Updating Management Plans

We have been asked recently by several inspectors, “How should management plans be updated to ensure that they are still eligible under the Tree Farm program?” A forest management plan is only as useful as it is current, but what does it mean to have a management plan that is “active, adaptive, and embodies the owner’s current objectives?”

Good Management Practice Fall 2009

Encourage landowners to make informal notes in the management plan each year with updates on operations undertaken and completed and notes on the health of their forest.

Spotlight: Forest Management Plans

As we move into the summer, and inspections pick up, we want to highlight the importance of forest management plans and clarify any confusion around the ATFS requirements. All landowners enrolled in the Tree Farm program must have a written management plan. Inspectors are asked to review this plan as part of an initial or reinspection visit and ensure the plan components meet ATFS management plan requirements as outlined in the AFF Standards (Standard 3: Commitment to Practicing Sustainable Forestry).

New Tree Farm Sign Available!

New Tree Farm Sign Available! 

By now you may have seen or heard about the new ‘Certified Family Forest’ sign that has been made available for distribution.