Spring 2002 Volume II, Number 1
YOUR FORESTS ARE CERTIFIED
by Bob Simpson, National Director of the American Tree Farm System and Vice President for the American Forest Foundation
Not long ago I received a call from a long-time Tree Farmer in Virginia. In a
disgruntled tone I heard him say, .Bob, for most of my life I have tried to be a
good steward of the land. In return I have been taxed, regulated and almost TMDL-ed.
And now I find out that in order to sell my timber, I have to pay someone
thousands of dollars to be "certified". I give up!" He went on about the true
unfairness of it all and how this additional cost may finally drive him to sell
his forestland. Finally, I had to jump in. "Don't worry," I said. "You're
already certified and it didn't cost you a thing." That's right. That frustrated
Tree Farmer and all the other 65,000 forest owners in the American Tree Farm
System are already certified. That's what the American Tree Farm System has been
doing for the post 60 years. We've been doing it longer than anyone in the whole
world and have more small private woodland owners certified than any other
certification system in the United States; 26 million acres to be exact.
The current certification movement got its start in Europe in the early 1990s, when environmental groups come home from the Rio Summit on Sustainability. They were concerned about the loss of tropical forests and wanted to create a system that would verify to consumers that wood coming from tropical sources was being harvested and managed in a sustainable way. So they had the idea of setting standards of sustainability and "certifying" that the harvested wood being sold in Europe met those standards - a pretty admirable idea. But for some reason, these some groups shifted their concerns from the tropics to the well-managed temperate forests of the United States and Europe. Somehow it was lost on them that for the past hun-dred years these forests were actually increasing in acreage.This European certification system was promoted by its supporters as the only credible system in the world. These supporters have even pressured some lumber distributors such as Home Depot™ to sell only products certified by their system. But many small forest owners realized that this system was not conducive to sustainability of small, private ownerships. In Europe the forest owner associations of the European Union came together to create their own certification system - Pan-European Forest Certification (PEFC). In the United States the American Tree Farm System was already in place for private owners and operating successfully for decades. The U.S. forest industry trade association, the American Forest & Paper Association, created a comprehensive certification system for its industrial members called the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). Today there are nearly 60 forest certification systems around the world, the Tree Farm System being the model for many. But just because we're a model doesn't mean we've stopped making improvements. In 1997 standards were modernized, and new minimum qualification standards were set for foresters who inspect Tree Farms. Even minimum requirements for management plans were modernized.
With these changes come rewards. For instance, in July 2000 Tree Farm and SFI signed an agreement of mutual recognition. SFI recognizes that Tree Farm certifies with standards that are adequate and appropriate for private landowners. It also makes it possible for Tree Farm wood can be counted in SFI-certified inventories. This means that Tree Farmers can become preferred suppliers for many members of the forest industry. This summer Tree Farm will join PEFC and will seek mutual recognition with them. This mutual recognition will allow Tree Farm wood to be preferred by many European wood buyers looking for timber to ship back for processing.
So if you hear someone telling you that your forests need to be certified by the
American Tree Farm System, the world's oldest and largest forest certification
system for small private forests.