Family Forest Blog
August 7, 2020
Filling in the Critical Data Gaps to Support the Gopher Tortoise
AFF’s approach to engaging private and family landowners in gopher tortoise recovery is filling in the gaps and providing a more comprehensive solution to helping this candidate species for federal protection.
August 5, 2020
AFF Launches Pilots in GA, SC and FL to Grow ATFS Certification Three-Fold
For family landowners, being certified in ATFS validates good forest stewardship and provides access to free or reduced professional resources to help them care for their land. For some, however, the certification process can be long and slow. In fact, across the U.S., fewer than 10% of family lands in the U.S. are certified. Starting this year, AFF is launching pilot programs in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which will aim to increase the growth rate of certified acres by three times its current pace annually.
August 5, 2020
American Forest Foundation Statement on the Rural Forests Markets Act
The Rural Forests Markets Act is designed to open carbon and other markets to small landowners that are currently unavailable to them. By allowing the USDA to provide guarantees for upfront capital investment the financial burdens landowners face to enter carbon markets are reduced, allowing them to access revenue from carbon markets to finance stewardship activities that have a carbon sequestration benefit, among other co-benefits.
June 30, 2020
American Forest Foundation Statement on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
In response to the release of the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, the following can be contributed to Tom Martin, President and CEO of the American Forest Foundation (AFF), a non-profit conservation organization that specializes in helping family-owned forests be productive for a wide array of benefits such as wildlife habitat, clean water, sustainable wood supplies and carbon storage.
June 27, 2020
AFF Helps Family Forest Owners Make Significant Contribution to Longleaf Restoration
The American Forest Foundation (AFF), a long-time participant in the ALRI coalition, is proud to have supported one of the most significant non-profit contributions to these results – 23,000 acres – to longleaf restoration. Through its work, AFF is facilitating more family forest owners be a part of the solution and make important contributions to biodiversity and wildlife needs.
June 23, 2020
7 Terms You Need to Know About Carbon and Family Forests
The issues of climate change and sustainability are important ones. In order to tap into the opportunity within family forests to address these issues, it is critical to understand why these forests and how. To help facilitate this, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) has developed a set of terms common to climate discussions, along with an explanation of how those terms relate to family forest owners, and to AFF’s and The Nature Conservancy’s collaborative program, the Family Forest Carbon Program.
June 18, 2020
American Forest Foundation Welcomes WestRock Foundation as a Family Forest Carbon Program Partner
Today, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) announced WestRock, a leading provider of differentiated paper and packaging solutions, through its WestRock Foundation, has committed to supporting family forest owners addressing climate change by investing in the development of the Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP), a new program created by AFF and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).
June 2, 2020
American Tree Farm System Opens Second 60-day Public Comment Period on Standards of Sustainability
The American Tree Farm System (ATFS), a program of the American Forest Foundation (AFF), today launched a second 60-day public comment period related to its Standards of Sustainability for Forest Certification.
April 6, 2020
Family Forest Carbon Program Gets Go-Ahead on New Carbon Methodology Concept
The Family Forest Carbon Program announced this week it has received concept note approval on a new innovative methodology on measuring carbon sequestered by family forests from Verra, the non-profit organization that oversees the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), the world’s leading voluntary program for the certification of greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects.
March 26, 2020
AFF Welcomes 3M as a Family Forest Carbon Program Partner
The American Forest Foundation (AFF) is proud to announce that 3M has committed to supporting the newly-created Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) to enhance carbon sequestration on family-owned forestland across the U.S.
March 24, 2020
Strengthening, Growing, and Increasing Conservation Impact: A Recap of the 2020 NLCC
This year, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) and American Tree Farm System (ATFS) welcomed more than 250 attendees including ATFS committee leaders, inspectors, and placed-based conservation partners to the three-day 2020 National Leadership Community Conference (NLCC). The event focused on how we together, collectively as a community, can strengthen, grow and increase our conservation impact.
March 20, 2020
American Tree Farm System Honors Bob Obedzinski as 2020 National Outstanding Inspector of the Year
The American Tree Farm System® (ATFS) is pleased to recognize Bob Obedzinski of Washington as the 2020 National Outstanding Inspector of the Year. Obedzinski was selected from among more than 2,500 inspectors nationwide for his exceptional on-the-ground work with family forest owners and commitment to the American Tree Farm System.
March 20, 2020
Wyoming Couple Awarded for Leadership and Contributions to Forestry Community
The American Tree Farm System® (ATFS) are pleased to recognize Ed and Barb Mignery with the 2020 National Leadership Award. The award recognizes the efforts of extraordinary volunteers for their leadership in motivating other volunteers, educating landowners and accomplishing his or her state committee’s forest conservation goals.
March 19, 2020
Dutch Biomass Certification Foundation Enlists AFF to Help Reach Its Sustainability Goals
The American Forest Foundation (AFF) recently announced that it has received $1.5 million in funding over three years from the Dutch Biomass Certification Foundation (DBC) for its sustainability assurance work. DBC is a non-profit entity that was established to promote certification and provide support to small forest owners in North America, where the majority of the country’s wood biomass supply is sourced.
March 16, 2020
A Message from Tom Martin, AFF President & CEO, Regarding COVID-19
Given the rapidly evolving coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, the American Forest Foundation and the American Tree Farm System would like to inform you of the steps we are taking to minimize risk to our staff, partners and network members and how these steps may affect our operations in the coming weeks. We are also taking steps to help our network stay engaged during this difficult period by making available tools for virtual work.