American Forest Foundation Blog
How Maryland's State Forester Found His Forestry Calling
Shortly after graduating from forestry school, I joined the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service and have been working for the agency for 29 years. Today, I have the pleasure of serving as Maryland’s State Forester. I serve on the American Forest Foundation’s Board of Trustees, among other things, and am a huge supporter of the American Tree Farm System® and Project Learning Tree® programs.
Read More >Categories: News News for Forest Landowners Profile
Walnut Trees and Thousand Cankers Disease
Walnut timber growth and production is really a multi-generational process, as the growth cycle is at least 55 to 70 years. Raising walnut trees is a legacy and I do not expect to physically harvest the younger trees that I pruned and managed. Unfortunately, a walnut grower’s worst nightmare is threatening to ruin everything that woodland owners are working for.
Read More >Categories: News for Forest Landowners Profile Resources for Forest Landowners
Ohio Tree Farmers on Capitol Hill
July 20th started typically early for Walt and Donna Lange—except with meetings on Capitol Hill in place of the usual planting and weed pulling. The Langes, who own 32 Ohio acres that help protect the watershed for Lake Erie, came to Washington to represent fellow Tree Farmers.
Read More >Categories: News for Forest Landowners Policy Profile Resources for Forest LandownersDay 5: Oil City Students Reflect on Colorado, Head Back Home
Day 5 is 7th grade guest blogger Elizabeth's final day in Colorado with her school. You can check out photos from Oil City Elementary School's Rocky Mountain adventure at www.facebook.com/projectlearningtree.
Read More >Categories: Environmental Education ProfileOut of the Dust (or Snow)
There is a large white pine, just behind Aldo Leopold's family’s shack, which was planted in 1936 by Nina and her siblings. Today, the tree is massive—it towers above the shack, like a pillar of faith. The Leopolds weren’t crazy. The land can heal. And forests can return the favor of restoration by providing many public benefits such as clean air, clean water, and wildlife habitat.
Read More >Categories: ProfileEcosystem Services in Aldo Leopold’s Landscape
Wednesday kicks off the Ecosystem Markets Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. The annual conference is hosted by AFF and World Resources Institute. Brent M. Haglund, president of Sand County Foundation, discusses the important role that ecosystem markets play in private landowner conservation efforts.
Read More >Categories: ProfileSpring Creek Greenway Reconnects Houston to Nature
On June 8, Project Learning Tree state and international coordinators headed out on a field trip to Spring Creek Greenway. Together we narrowly avoided poison ivy on the newer trails, saw wildlife like a wading yellow-crowned night heron, learned about riverside forests in Texas, and gasped when we heard we were just two miles north of Houston's Intercontinental Airport.
Read More >Categories: Environmental Education ProfilePersonal Statement to Congress Boosts Tree Farmer Voice in the 2012 Farm Bill
On May 31st, Karen Serfass testified before Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
Karen, a Tree Farmer from Dafter, Michigan, spoke for both the American Forest Foundation and the 95,000 Tree Farmers the foundation works with every day.
Karen reminded the Committee that most Americans don’t realize that forests provide tremendous public benefits: clean water, clean air, wood products, and wildlife habitat.
“Tree Man” Finds Meaning and Fulfillment in his Kentucky Woods
On June 3, 1796, Andrew Lang, a young merchant from Wakefield, England, purchased 19,425 acres of land in what is now Hart County, Kentucky. Over the years, some of the property passed out of Lang’s immediate family but much of the original tract is still owned by his descendents.
On July 2, 1963, 167 years after Lang’s original purchase, the Kentucky Division of Forestry mailed a Timber Management Plan to a 16-year-old named Charlie Williams, from which sprouted a passionate, teenaged woodland steward. Williams is Lang’s great-great-great-great grandson.
The Next Generation Steals the Show at Hill Briefing
It's always inspiring when family forest owners come to DC and give all of us a dose of the real deal. At Hill briefings for House and Senate staffers, we had Janet and Craig Olver, from Pennsylvania, and Nancy Livingston from Wisconsin, who are featured in AFF's Stem the Loss report.
Read More >Categories: ProfileMy Longleaf Pine Restoration Story
Saloom Properties, LLC is a 1762 acre Tree Farm in the coastal plains of south Alabama—an area in the natural longleaf range. Historically the longleaf pine was the dominant species of tree at an estimated 60 million acres. This has been reduced to its existing 3.4 million acres. We have seen a resurgence of restoration of the longleaf back to its natural ecosystem. Each year more acres are being planted and managed by private family forest owners.
Read More >Categories: News for Forest Landowners ProfileNew CEO & President Tom Martin Talks About His Family Tree Farm
I am excited to become the new leader of the American Forest Foundation because it really touches what I am passionate about. I’d like to stay in touch with more of you through our new blog, with my first post focusing on family forests and future ones to focus on environmental education, policy and other issues. I would really like to hear your ideas, comments and feedback.
Read More >Categories: News for Forest Landowners Profile