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Dr. George Kessler Receives 2018
National Leadership Award
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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. Dr. Kessler has been serving Tree Farmers for
more than 45 years at the state, regional and national levels,
and he is a leader in conservation education for both children
and adults. Dr. Kessler was nominated by Dr. Walt McPhail (former
National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year), and his acceptance
speech was a highlight of the conference for many attendees.
Congratulations, Dr. Kessler, and thank you for your dedicated
service to forest landowners and the American Tree Farm System.
Register
for the First Quarter Webinar for State Leaders
On
Wednesday March 28 at noon eastern, members of the ATFS staff
will host the 2018 First Quarter Webinar for ATFS State Leaders.
These regularly scheduled webinars provide timely updates on current
issues and events as well as an opportunity for you to interact
virtually with your fellow leaders across the country. All are
welcome to join. Register today for the webinar on 3/28.
Once registered, you will receive an e-mail with your unique
log-in link to join. We look forward to your participation!
Introducing
Jasmine Slater
My name is
Jasmine Slater, your new ATFS Program Coordinator! My background
includes urban forest management in NYC, with a Masters in Forest
Conservation from the University of Toronto. I have traveled the
world to study forest landscapes and to understand discourse
surrounding forest management within an array of cultures. I am
excited to be a part of the ATFS team and the AFF community, and
I am looking forward to working with you.
Please
join us in welcoming Jasmine to the ATFS Team. Jasmine will serve
as the main contact for all programmatic and operational needs
for ATFS, including requests and questions from state committee
leaders, landowners and inspectors. She can be reached at jslater@forestfoundation.org or
202-751-2446. Visit our website to learn more about all of the ATFS Staff.
Seeking
Landowner Stories
We are
on the hunt for landowners with stories to tell. We need their
stories to help the policymakers and partners who we work with
better understand the barriers landowners face and the support
they need to manage forests successfully. Please download and complete our story-gathering
worksheet and forward it to Erin Miller.
The House
Agriculture Committee was expected to release its first drafts of
a new Farm Bill last week; however, disagreements over the
process and levels have made it increasingly unlikely that the
bill will arrive before the Easter recess. Once released, expect
an update of the bill with information on where our priorities
stand, as well as what you can do to get involved in the advocacy
process. Update your newsletter preferences
to sign up for AFF’s Policy & Advocacy Updates.
EPA
Wood/Lumber Procurement Policy
Last
week, AFF met with the EPA regarding remedying the agency's Wood
and Lumber procurement policy. While it's been listed as
"under review" since 2016, as it first appeared, the
policy made wood certified by the American Tree Farm System
(ATFS) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) ineligible
for federal procurement. AFF is working closely with Members of
Congress and the EPA to ensure future guidance defers to the
USDA's Congressionally-established BioPreferred
program in matters of wood and lumber procurement.
Q: If an
inspector has become inactive, how can he/she be reactivated?
A: If an
inspector has been trained to the 2015-2020 Standards, but has
since become inactive, he/she should complete the online
refresher to reactivate his/her status and begin performing
inspections again. Online training is available under each
Inspector’s account at www.atfsdatabase.org.
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Leadership Updates
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We
would like to thank all volunteers and leaders who
contributed to the state annual reports this year. These
reports are very important to us, and we very much appreciate
the time and effort that you all put in to completing these
reports. Annual funding checks are being processed this week
and should be received by committee check receivers in the
next 2-3 weeks.
No
Harassment Policy Training Webinar Recording
Last
month, Mary Davis, Sr. Management Consultant of impactHR, LLC, presented a webinar
training on AFF’s No Harassment Policy. In addition
to a recording of this webinar, impactHR,
LLC developed training resources related to the No Harassment
Policy for the state committees’ use. These materials are
available for future use under Inspector Training Workshop
Materials in the Leaders Only section of the website.
Update
to ATFS User Manual
The
ATFS database user manual has been updated to reflect the
various database upgrades that have occurred in recent years.
This manual is a great resource for executing the most common
database functions. It is available for download directly in
the database as well as on the technology helpdesk in leaders
only.
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Inspector's Corner
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Online
Training Eligibility Update
In a
continued effort to support and strengthen our ATFS Inspector
corps, we have responded to concerns raised by state
committees about in-person inspector training limitations
related to the Inspector Training Policy.
Inspectors who have been trained to the 2015-2020 Standards
are eligible to complete the online refresher training course
until the beginning of 2020, when the new training materials
will be available for the 2020-2025 Standards. Therefore, if
an inspector does not have active status, he/she may take the
online training to reactivate their status to complete an inspection.
2018
Required Sample Available in ATFS Database
The
annual required and priority pioneer sample is now available
for viewing in the database. For chairs and administrators,
the report can be found under tree farm reports. The deadline
for submission and approval of these inspections is December
9, 2018.
On-the-ground
inspections with an ATFS Inspector provide the greatest value
to Tree Farmers enrolled in ATFS. To help ensure the
credibility of ATFS, every year we ask state programs to
complete a number of “required sample” inspections.
Additionally, since 2016, a small sample of pioneer
properties are randomly selected for inspection for states
with a pioneer population.
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