New Guidelines for Tree Farm Eligibility
New Guidelines for Tree Farm Eligibility
In 2002, a moratorium was in place that limited the acreage size of new Tree Farms entering ATFS to less than 10,000 contiguous acres. At their December 2005 meeting,the AFF Board of Trustees approved new guidelines for determining eligibility for ATFS certification. The acreage size was increased to 20,000 from 10,000 contiguous acres. However, landowners whose properties are between 10,000 - 20,000 contiguous acres must apply to the national office to determine eligibility under additional criteria as well as undergo a third-party audit judging conformance with the AFF Standards of Sustainability. All third-party audits must be conducted by an accredited ATFS Lead Auditor.
The additional criteria to which eligibility is determined include:
- Properties must not exceed 20,000 contiguous acres
- Properties are non-industrial and/or associated with small local business
- Ownership is privately held and not publicly traded
- Commitment to sustainable, long-term forest management
- 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
Please direct any inquiries regarding third-part certification to inspectors@forestfoundation.org.
