Family Forest Blog
April 18, 2018
AFF Commends House Ag For Addressing Family Forest Issues in Farm Bill
The American Forest Foundation (AFF), the leading conservation non-profit that specializes in family forests, commended the House Agriculture Committee for including many provisions in the House Farm Bill, passed by Committee today, that will support America’s 21 million family forest owners.
April 17, 2018
USFS, Esri, Mars, McDonald's, Staples & Others Partner With AFF, GreenBlue on Sustainability Tool
Today, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) and GreenBlue announced the collaboration of a diverse set of partners that will support the development of a new forest sustainability tool that complements forest certification. The digital mapping tool, called Forests in Focus, will assess the sustainability of family-owned forests at the landscape-level, or across a wood supply region, in the United States.
April 16, 2018
Inspector Highlight: The 2018 National Inspector of the Year, Mississippi’s Michael Hughey
The American Tree Farm System’s (ATFS) vast network of volunteers, inspectors, state committee members and Tree Farmers truly are the glue that holds the program together. They are passion, have incredible expertise, and most importantly, voluntarily dedicate their time, to the program, the people, and to forest stewardship. One example of this is Mississippi’s Michael Hughey, a service forester for the Mississippi Forestry Commission, who has been awarded the 2018 Inspector of the Year award from ATFS.
April 16, 2018
Leader Highlight: The 2018 National Leadership Award of the Year Honoree, SC’s George Kessler
The American Tree Farm System’s (ATFS) dedicated community of volunteers is the backbone that has supported Tree Farm for more than 75 years. Dr. George Kessler of South Carolina is one of many exceptional volunteers in the American Tree Farm System. That is why he has been awarded the 2018 National Leader of the Year award.
April 16, 2018
AFF Statement Regarding USDA Undersecretary Nominee James Hubbard
The following statement can be attributed to Tom Martin, President and CEO of the American Forest Foundation (AFF), in regards to the nomination of James Hubbard to U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary of Natural Resources and Environment (USDA).
April 3, 2018
Helping Audubon Vermont Spread Their Wings to Reach More Family Woodland Owners
Vermont’s forests are home to some of the highest diversity of breeding birds in the United States—making this region globally important habitat for migratory birds and many other wildlife species. Jim Shallow knows this all too well. As the managing director of the Audubon Vermont's Forest Bird Initiative, he has been working for two decades to conserve and improve the forests across New England so that they continue to support migratory birds.
March 28, 2018
The Challenges of Burnt-Out Markets
The Defrees family of eastern Oregon are no strangers to the challenges that come along with forest ownership, having owned a 2,000-acre ranch for more than 100 years. In 1986, the Defrees were hit hard when lightning sparked the Huckleberry Forest Fire — a wildfire that would go on to burn 9,600 acres in their area. The wildfire took with it virtually every ponderosa pine, Western larch, Douglas fir, white fir and black pine tree on the 500 acres of their land it swept through.
March 23, 2018
AFF Statement on Wildfire Funding Fix Inclusion Within Congressional FY2018 Spending Bill
The following statement can be attributed to Tom Martin, President and CEO of the American Forest Foundation, in regards to the inclusion of a policy fix within the FY2018 Appropriations Bill to the wildfire funding challenges within the U.S. Forest Service and Department of Interior budgets.
March 22, 2018
Advocacy Victory on Wildfire Funding Fix
After weeks of intense negotiations, Congressional leaders released their FY2018 Appropriations Bill, including a comprehensive wildfire funding fix to the budgetary challenges within the U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior. We anticipate Congress will pass this legislation later this week.
March 1, 2018
AFF and Enviva Announce Collaboration to Test Streamlined ATFS Streamlined Certification
Today, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) and Enviva Holdings, LP (Enviva) announced a collaboration to pilot a new approach to certify family and small forest holdings through American Tree Farm System (ATFS) forest certification. This pilot is intended to reduce barriers to landowner participation in forest certification while ensuring rigorous sustainability standards are met, and long-term engagement of family woodland owners that leads to improved forest stewardship.
February 14, 2018
Supporting Montana DNRC in Growing Its Landowner Outreach
Angela Wells, the Stewardship Program Manager at the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), spent her days working with private landowners in Montana to help them care for their land.
February 14, 2018
Bringing Our Impact Into Focus: A Recap of the 2018 NLC
Each year, the American Tree Farm System hosts more than 250 individuals from the Tree Farm network including inspectors, Tree Farmers, state committee leaders and policy supporters to its three-day National Leadership Conference. This year, the event’s focus was on strategies and opportunities to grow, strengthen and increase the impact of the program.
February 12, 2018
AFF Supports the Introduction of the Forestry Recovery Act of 2018
Today, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) applauded Representatives Buddy Carter (R-GA), Bruce Westerman (R-AR), Ralph Abraham (R-LA), Austin Scott (R-GA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Steven Palazzo (R-MS) and Sanford Bishop (D-GA) on introducing new legislation that would provide family and private forest owners a better chance to recover after a natural disaster by being able to deduct their timber losses through the tax code.
February 9, 2018
A Look into Conservation Projects in the Central Apps
In an effort to increase the capacity of local organizations working to enhance bird and wildlife habitat in the Central Appalachia, AFF launched a partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to support work in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York.
February 7, 2018
AFF Statement Regarding Introduction of Empowering State Forestry to Improve Forest Health Act
The American Forest Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters offered their support for Empowering State Forestry to Improve Forest Health Act of 2018, a bill introduced by Representatives Peter Welch (D-VT) and Glenn Thompson (R-PA). This bipartisan legislation would direct funding toward the highest priority forest conservation projects, resulting in measurable improvements to private and family-owned forests and nearby National Forest System lands.