Forest certification, i.e. identification of a forest that is well managed and sustainable, is a means of promoting better forest management. It also assures the public that forest managers are carrying out environmentally sound plans and practices. In recent years, certification has become an increasingly hot topic, driven largely by rising demand for certified wood and paper products worldwide. The American Tree Farm System is the oldest and largest certifier of private non-industrial forestlands in the United States with 65,000 certified Tree Farms covering 25 million acres.

"The Tree Farm Program was founded 60 years ago to recognize and encourage good management of private forest properties," said Bob Simpson, national director of the American Tree Farm System. "Our mission has always been to get more good forestry on more acres and to keep it there. The American Tree Farm System was not created in response to market pressures as some current certification systems have been, but Tree Farm has been certifying the practice of sustainable forestry since it was founded in 1941."

"With the growing globalization of forest product markets and increasing pressure on private lands to satisfy world demand, we have responded by developing an initiative that will enable Tree Farm to play an even stronger role in verifying the practice of sustainable forestry on small, non-industrial ownerships," said Stephanie Brown, deputy director of the American Tree Farm System. "This certification readiness initiative is designed to grow, improve and strengthen the Tree Farm Program to support its core mission. It will also pave the way to Tree Farm becoming accepted internationally as a credible forest certification option for non-industrial, private landowners," she said.

Since 1997, the American Tree Farm System has been working to improve the quality of its certification and reinspection process. During this time the Tree Farm System has modernized its standards and guidelines for Tree Farm certification; established minimum education and experience requirements for certifying foresters and forest technicians; and developed a national standardized training curriculum that qualifies inspectors to inspect forestland on behalf of the American Tree Farm System.

As a result of these endeavors Tree Farm entered into a mutual recognition agreement with the American Forest & Paper Association’s (AF&PA) Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)^SM program in May 2000. In the agreement, SFI recognizes wood sourced from Tree Farms as certified, and vice versa. As part of the agreement, the American Tree Farm System agreed to an independent 3^rd-party audit to contribute to Tree Farm’s course of continuous improvement.

Approximately 58% of all productive forestland in the U.S. is owned by non-industrial, private landowners. They produce more than half the nation’s wood supply. Tree Farm provides AF&PA member companies with a source of certified wood from non-industrial private forestlands. As such, wood procured from certified Tree Farms may be counted as part of a mill’s SFI certified inventory. In addition, AF&PA member companies can count stronger active participation in the Tree Farm program toward SFI’s requirement of broadening sustainable forestry practices among non-industrial private landowners.

The 3^rd-party audit will be conducted in two phases. The first phase is the Certification Process Review by PricewaterhouseCoopers that began in January with a review of documentation at the national office and observation of a Tree Farm State Leadership meeting and a "Train-the-Trainer" workshop. It continues through May with reviews of four states, their organization and administration of the Tree Farm program in their state, and the process of certifying Tree Farms in the field. A final report from this internal management review is expected by the end of July. The second phase will be a full, across-the-board audit that is expected to begin in 2002.

The 3^rd-party audit is an audit of the Tree Farm System’s certification process, not an audit of its standards. The goals of the audit are to verify that the American Tree Farm System is organized with the necessary internal systems and procedures to properly carry out independent verification of the American Forest Foundation’s standards of forest sustainability; that national staff, volunteer state leadership and volunteer field verifiers are adequately qualified and trained to do a professional and consistent job; that the program delivers replicable and consistent results and that it is compatible with internationally accepted standards of mutual recognition.

Forest certification is the independent verification of the practice of sustainable forestry, as measured against a particular set of standards and performance measures. The American Tree Farm System, sponsored by the American Forest Foundation, is one of several certification programs available to forest landowners in the U.S. Others include AF&PA’s Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and the National Forestry Association’s Green Tag programs. Each program has its own set of criteria used to verify whether a forested property is eligible for certification.

"The forest certification movement is moving toward global mutual recognition and Tree Farm is at the table," said Simpson. "Tree Farm’s certification readiness initiative will advance the Tree Farm program as a well-known standard for verifying the practice of sustainable forestry on private, non-industrial forestlands. It is through these efforts that retail outlets for wood products, such as 84 Lumber, are beginning to formally recognize Tree Farm as a source of certified wood," he said.