Green Horizons

Missouri Tree Farmers are now third-party certified under the American Tree Farm System’s (ATFS) North Central Region certificate issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers Aug. 17, 2009.

Certification is a two-stage process. First, states in the 10-state ATFS North Central Region are selected and then Tree Farmers in each state are randomly selected for on-site visits. Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky represented the Region this year and 29 Missouri Tree Farms comprised the Show-Me State sample.

The auditors appreciated both the flexibility of the Missouri Tree Farm Committee, field staff and landowners, and all their hard work assembling the required information for each Tree Farm before the field visits.

The auditors commended landowners and foresters for improving wildlife habitat; restoring riparian corridors, glades and savannas; maintaining close working relationships between landowner and forester; being sensitive to aesthetic concerns related to forest management activities; willingness to host educational events; and getting out and doing what needed to be done!

One focus of the assessment was the forest management plan associated with each Tree Farm, and the conformance of the plan to the published Tree Farm Standards of Sustainability.

Five of the 29 plans audited in Missouri were found to be lacking in their adherence to the ATFS Standard. This issue was seen in the other two states visited this year by the certification team and the trend of nonconformance resulted in a “major” non-conformance for the North Central region.

There were three conditions found that triggered this finding:

• The plan is too brief for the scale of the operation.
• The plan is not active with the landowner’s stated objectives.
• The plan is missing required elements.

Short-term solutions are already underway. The landowners and foresters involved with these five plans have been notified and are working to upgrade the plans so that they conform to the Tree Farm Standard. In addition, the State Tree Farm Committee in cooperation with the ATFS is increasing inspector contact, and revising the inspector training program, the national required sample formula, and the 004 form.

Long-term corrective measures include developing continual training modules for inspectors and focusing on management plan education for landowners. The certification team from PricewaterhouseCoopers has accepted the corrective action plans for the North Central region and the “major” nonconformance was downgraded to a “minor” nonconformance.

The Progamme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) recognition of the Tree Farm System has changed the nature of the organization. What was once a landowner recognition program has been modified to become a forest certification program.

ATFS has added certification as a complement to the education, outreach and recognition activities in which they are already involved.

Therefore, it is critical for landowners who wish to remain an active Tree Farmer and remain in the program to continue to be reminded of these essential aspects of the program.

• Good record keeping is a must.
• There is the potential to be visited during a certification assessment.
• Landowners need to be able to demonstrate understanding and involvement with the management of their lands. If interviewed by an auditor you need to:
• Be familiar with dates and details of management activity.
• Be familiar with basic forestry terminology.
• Be familiar with the Tree Farm Standard of Sustainability. A revised version of the Standard that will be in effect for the next 5 years is due out this fall.
• Landowners must implement management plan recommendations.
• Management plans must reflect the owner’s goals and objectives.
• Management plans must be up to date and active.
• Landowners must use BMPs, know what they are, and why they were implemented.
• Management plans must be appropriate for the scale of the property.
• Contractors working for the landowner need to have liability insurance, worker’s comp., and any other required licenses (pesticide applicator’s, etc.). These requirements need to be stated in contracts and landowners need to ask contractors about these issues as well.
• If prescribed fire is used on the property, make sure a burn plan is prepared and retained after the fact.

If you have any questions, please contact your inspecting forester or the Missouri Tree Farm Administrator, Tammy Homfeldt at (573) 634-3252.