American Tree Farm System (AFTS)
http://www.treefarmsystem.org
The American Tree Farm System offers third party certification to lands meeting the ATFS Eligibility Requirements. Landowners have three options to ATFS certification.
- Individual Third Party Certification
- Group Certification through Independently Managed Group (IMG) Organizations
- Group Certification through ATFS Regional State Program Forest Owner
There are the following guidelines for AFTS:
- Properties up to 10,000 contiguous* acres may continue to be accepted by ATFS state committees
- Properties exceeding 10,000 contiguous acres and less than 20,000 contiguous acres must complete an application to be administered by the National Office
- All properties exceeding 10,000 contiguous acres must undergo a third party audit by a certification body accredited to conduct ATFS certification audits. These entities may be certified under an IMG Certification or Individual Certification.
- Properties exceeding 10,000 acres may be subject to an annual administrative fee
- Properties must be non-industrial but may be associated with small local business
- Ownership must be privately held and not publicly traded
- Commitment to sustainable, long-term forest management is apparent through management objectives or management plan
- Owner(s) demonstrates proactive forest management involvement
- Ownership goals and objectives do not compromise ATFS mission
- Owner(s) are susceptible to active outreach effort or can contribute to the effort.
- Not appropriate for landscape scale ownership
There are no exact figures available and no clarification regarding the above guidelines.
No endorsement of this product or service by the American Forest Foundation or the American Tree Farm System is implied or intended.
