The American Tree Farm System is celebrating its 80th birthday this year, a movement founded June 12, 1941, on the concept that recognizing landowners who practiced good forest stewardship would spur others to follow suit. And throughout its rich history, some of its state affiliates have made bigger headlines than others.

Washington lays claim to the first certified Tree Farm, a Weyerhaeuser property known as the Clemons Tree Farm, and Alabama certified the ATFS’s first non-industrial property in 1943. In 1976, the group’s first Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year award went to a family forest owner in Florida. Wisconsin arguably has the most bragging rights of all as home to more than half of all Tree Farms in the system, according to Angela Wells, Director of ATFS.

Tennessee: Emphasizing Educational Opportunities

Operating under the umbrella of the Tennessee Forestry Association, the Tennessee Tree Farm Committee is involved in a number of high-priority projects that will benefit both humans and wildlife. Among them is the Duck and Elk River Watershed Initiative, which offers landowners in 13 counties across central Tennessee a free visit from a professional forester.

Through the program, landowners will be able to maintain healthy forests and improve wildlife habitat for aquatic species and upland wildlife such as the northern bobwhite quail, turkey and white-tailed deer. The initiative focuses on establishing riparian forest buffers near rivers and streams that were once surrounded by agricultural land and shoring up existing riparian forest buffers.

The Duck and Elk River Watershed Initiative started last year with a direct-mail campaign targeting 50 landowners in each of the 13 counties, with the goal of reaching 6,000 landowners over the next two years. Foresters will share recommendations based on landowners’ objectives for their properties and help them develop land-management plans so they can enroll in the Tennessee Tree Farm program.

Similarly, the TFA is participating in the White Oak Initiative, an AFF-led partnership helping landowners regenerate this vital tree species. White oak provides habitat and nutrient-dense acorns that many species of wildlife rely upon, and it’s used for a variety of in-demand products, including bourbon barrels, furniture and flooring, making it an essential part of rural economies.

Since white oak is a slow-growing species, less-valuable and -desirable tree species often overtop it, and the result is that the rate of white oak regeneration is falling short of ever-growing consumer demand.

“The general consensus is that to keep pace with demand for white oak saw timber for forest products, primarily bourbon barrels and veneer, we need to focus across the entire U.S. native range on the regeneration of white oak,” said Brian Hughett, chair of the Tennessee Tree Farm Committee. “That’s something we’re actively engaged within Tennessee.”

The TFA’s outreach to landowners includes Tennessee Healthy Hardwood Field Days, held in partnership with the University of Tennessee Extension. These events are offered about five times a year at different locations and feature forestry experts addressing an array of topics, including stubborn invasive species like the emerald ash borer, gypsy moth and hemlock woolly adelgid.

This piece was originally published as part of a larger article in AFF's quarterly magazine, Woodland Magazine. You can read the full piece in the digital edition of the publication.