Green Horizons

Last summer saw the beginning of a new era for the American Tree Farm System, of which Missouri Tree Farmers are a part. On Aug. 7, 2008, the American Tree Farm System, and all of its member Tree Farms, were recognized as being sustainably managed by an international certifying organization called the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC). PEFC is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization, founded in 1999 which promotes sustainably managed forests through independent third party certification.

To maintain PEFC recognition, third party audits are performed on a state-by-state basis with a few Tree Farms in a state being audited once every five years. In Tree Farm's North Central region, Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky were selected for the first round of audits since PEFC recognition. Thirty of Missouri's 800+ Tree Farms were randomly selected for inspection. Two auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers visited these Tree Farms during the first week of June. They were checking to see if the individual Tree Farms were being managed in accordance with the American Forest Foundation's Standards of Sustainability for Forest Certification, 2004-2008. The same auditors also visited Tree Farms in some states in the other Tree Farm regions. Different states will be audited next year. Missouri's turn for audits will come around again in 2013.

Sustainability certification may benefit Missouri forest landowners in the future by facilitating participation in environmental services markets, such as carbon sequestration, or access to forest products markets which require wood from certified lands. Stay tuned to Green Horizons for the results of our audit.