Stumped Fall 2013
Answers to Inspectors’ Most Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I’m doing a re-inspection with a landowner who has been in the program for years. He is very proud of his stewardship and proudly displays the Tree Farm sign. However, his management plan is about 10 years old and is probably due for an update. It is also missing a couple of the required elements for certification, including threatened and endangered species, invasive species and special sites. The landowner has committed to updating his plan next year. Should the property be decertified?
A: A Tree Farmer whose plan is missing even one of the management plan elements required under the American Tree Farm System® (ATFS) standards cannot remain certified. However, there are alternatives to full decertification from the program. The primary avenue is to transfer the Tree Farm into the Pioneer Program. This allows the landowner time to update his or her plan and ensures that the quality of the state’s program is maintained. You can transfer a Tree Farmer to Pioneer status using the 004 Form—simply check the “Pioneer” box at the top of the form, next to the “Reinspection Only” field.
Management plans are designed to be adaptive and embody the landowner’s goals, as well as the on-the-ground conditions. ATFS standards are also updated every five years to reflect new technologies and developments in the field of forestry. In this case, it sounds as though a complete revision of the plan is appropriate. However, for cases where the plan still matches forest conditions and landowner’s objectives, the ATFS Management Plan Addendum allows landowners to update their plans with new information. For example, a landowner or forester can review the State Natural Heritage Database to see if any species have been transferred to a threatened or endangered status since the plan was developed. This quick web check can then be noted in the addendum w as an update. In addition, we also encourage landowners to think of their plan as a living document that can continually be enriched with monitoring and observations over time. This also helps the forester understand the landowner’s goals, practices and interests, which can inform the plan revision and other services.
