Tree Farm Certification Gaining Momentum
It's always nice to be recognized for a job well done. Following a decade of progress in strengthening and positioning ATFS as a certification program, the hard work has begun topay off. ATFS continues to gain recognition as a credible certification alternative for family forest owners.
Tree Farms have always been important to forest industry, but they have become even more crucial as vast expanses of company lands have been sold, resulting in more reliance on non-industrial sources of wood. Moreover, some companies are seeking greater percentages of certified wood to meet minimum content guidelines established by major purchasers of paper and other end products.
Formal recognition of Tree Farm certification began with the signing of a Mutual Recognition Agreement between ATFS and the American Forest and Paper Association’s
(AF&PA)Sustainable Forestry Initiative in May of 2000. Since that time, AF&PA member companies have been able to count all verified Tree Farm wood as appropriately certified content.
Time-Warner Inc., the world’s largest paper purchaser, has been a leading force in the establishment of company purchasing policies designed to assure customers that the products they are using originate from sustainable forests. Collectively, these policies place considerable pressure on forest industry to supply more wood from certified forests. Moreover, they specify which certification programs will be recognized as acceptable sources.
In a major recent development, Time-Warner, Inc. announced formal recognition of ATFS’s Group Certification program. Time’s acceptance was based on an agreement to clarify some of the interpretations related to special sites and biodiversity within the AFF Standard. In addition, AFF agreed to monitor the development of BMPs, and upon discovery of new and better means of protecting soil and water quality by the forestry community, to incorporate those findings into the performance measures and field indicators within the AFF Standard.
This is just the latest of what promises to be a series of exciting victories for the American Tree Farm System. Our efforts to position ATFS as a credible certification program are beginning to pay dividends. Some companies are already specifying Tree Farm wood in their procurement initiatives, and more will surely follow.
ATFS is like the little train that could. We chugged up the hill - improving our standards and working hard to earn acceptance as a certification program. We’ve reached the crest and now we’re building steam for an unstoppable downhill run. All aboard!
