INSPECTION DEADLINE APPROACHES
The deadline for creating the Required and Priority
inspections is September 1.
We MUST complete all of the Required and Priority, and
we, as a committee, have a goal of completing 25% of the Optional. If
you have any questions, please email Jennifer Johnson.
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TREE FARMER INVOICES MAILED
The annual invoices for Arkansas Tree Farm Program
membership were mailed today. The invoices have a deadline for
payment of September 30. Any
Tree Farmer that was certified before 1/1/2017, that did not pay the
fee in 2017 AND does not pay the fee by the deadline will be
decertified. A list will be emailed out to the District Chairs
in early October for review. Decertifications will take place
in mid-October.
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HAS YOUR INSPECTOR CERTIFICATION LAPSED? DO YOU
NEED HELP WITH THE ATFS DATABASE?
The Arkansas Tree Farm Program is hosting a training
for Registered Foresters who wish to become a certified Tree Farm
inspector or for inspectors who wish to have a refresher
course. The training will be held on Thursday, July 26 at the
Central Arkansas Library System, 100 Rock Street, Little Rock.
This is a two-part session in which participants are
able to choose to attend either or both of the sessions.
The morning session will train foresters who meet the
requirements and wish to become a certified Tree Farm inspector,
or for current inspectors who wish to renew their
certification.
The afternoon will be an interactive session that will
train inspectors on the nuances of using the ATFS Inspector Database,
entering inspections and updating landowner information. It is open
to any interested Tree Farm inspector.
Register to attend by clicking the following links:
INSPECTOR
TRAINING
and / or
DATABASE
TRAINING
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INSPECTOR PLT TRAININGS OFFERED
The Arkansas Tree Farm Program (ATFP) recently
received a grant to partner with Arkansas Project Learning Tree (PLT)
to build collaboration between the two programs to promote forestry
education in the state. The American Forest Foundation, the national sponsor
of the American Tree Farm System, announced the grant recipients on
May 30, 2018.
It is the goal of ATFP to have at least one Inspector
and one Tree Farmer certified in PLT within each District.
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INSPECTOR INCENTIVE ANNOUNCED
As discussed at the recent Inspector Meeting, several
grants were submitted to the American Tree Farm System for review and
approval. One of these grants, A
Project to Increase Inspector Participation in Arkansas,
has been approved.
Related to inspections conducted in 2018:
Activity 1:
INSPECTOR MENTORING PROGRAM
Inspectors conducting five inspections or less in 2017
will be identified. The District Chair (DC) will contact
Inspectors to determine cause of low activity.
- If
inspections have not been assigned, the DC will ensure that Tree
Farms are assigned.
- If
lack of training / familiarity with the process, the DC will
assign an experienced Inspector to mentor with the inspection
process.
- Mentors will receive a $50 stipend for each inspection
assist. (NOTE: If you mentor an inspector on an
inspection, send Jennifer an email with the Tree Farm #,
Inspection Date and Inspector name)
Activity 2: INSPECTION INCENTIVE
To encourage multiple inspections, the Inspector is
entered into a drawing with prizes worth $500, $250, and $100
for each inspection.
NOTE: Prizes and
stipends will be distributed at the December Inspector's
luncheon. Inspections completed in 2018, on/before November 30,
2018, will be included.
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SERVICE RESTORED TO PDF INSPECTION UPLOADER
The American Tree Farm System (ATFS) recently
discovered that from June 7-15, the inspectors@forestfoundation.org inbox was
not receiving any emails, which includes PDF uploader
submissions. This issue has now been resolved and any inspections
that were not accepted during this time should be resent. Thank you
for your patience. If you are unsure if an inspection was submitted
successfully, you can email the inspection to inspectors@forestfoundation.org again. If
the submission has already been submitted, you should get an error
message saying that the inspection is no longer assigned.
Alternatively, you can see the inspection's status in the inspections
area of www.atfsdatabase.org. Please
contact Nephtali Chavez of ATFS with any
questions.
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- New
Overdue Inspections Report: A new report has been created to
list inspections that have not been approved in over 60 days.
This report is intended to highlight inspections that may have
been forgotten in the database and ensure timely completion of
the inspection process. An inspection is not complete until it
has been approved and fully entered in the ATFS database.
- Inspectors
can now designate their preferred counties to work in. Using the
recently updated Inspector
Training Registration Sheet, inspectors can specify
counties they prefer to work in. During assignment of
inspectors, inspectors with a preference for the same county
that the property is in will appear higher on the list.
For more information visit https://www.treefarmsystem.org/database-updates.
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WATERSHED EDUCATION
WORKSHOP
July 20
DeGray Lake Resort Lodge, Arkadelphia, AR
HUNTING LEASES and
LANDOWNER LIABILITY FOR LANDOWNERS
August 28
Fordyce Civic Center, Fordyce, AR
TREE FARM INSPECTOR
COMMITTEE MEETING
FOREST MANAGEMENT
WORKSHOP / AFA ANNUAL MEETING
Hotel Hot Springs, Hot Springs, AR
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