Winter 2017 Families and Forests by Arkansas Forestry Association

Families & forests

A newsletter for Arkansas Tree FarmerS

WINTER 2017

AR Tree Farm Program lays out fee structure details Written by: Jennifer Johnson Arkansas Tree Farm Administrator

the American Tree Farm System, as well as pay a membership fee of $75 for the first Tree Farm and $20 for each additional Tree Farm, with a maximum fee of $5,000. There is a fee associated with the standards and an audit to monitor the standards which the membership fee helps cover.

Max Braswell, Executive VP of the Arkansas Forestry Association discusses county road issues with former Izard County Judge David Sherrell at the 2016 Tree Farm Tour. The Arkansas Tree Farm Program provides many benefits to its members, such as, networking, certification, advocacy and much more.

fee schedule adopted by the Arkansas Forestry Association (AFA) Board of Directors in October 2016 will be implemented in July 2017. The fees are a component that will assist the Arkansas Tree Farm program in meeting the requirements set forth by the American Forest Foundation stating that each state program must be financially self-supporting by 2018. To maintain certification, each Tree Farmer will be required to meet the certification Standards set forth by

All current Tree Farmers will be invoiced in mid-late June 2017 for their currently certified Tree Farm(s), with invoices being due in July. It will be necessary to decertify all Tree Farmers from the Arkansas Tree Farm Program who opt not to pay the membership fee. For Tree Farms certified after July 1, 2017, the Tree Farmers will be billed a pro-rated amount during the certification process and renewed each year in the July billing cycle. If the Tree Farmer is also an AFA member and would like to be billed

THE TREE FARM PROGRAM...

is administered by the Arkansas Forestry Association (AFA) and its Tree Farm Committee. AFA’s goal is to provide relevant, timely information about the Tree Farm program and forestry resources.

at the same time as their AFA dues, the Tree Farmer should contact AFA so that the billing may be coordinated. If you have more questions about the membership fee, please contact Jennifer Johnson at 501-374-2441 or jjohnson@ arkforests.org for details.

The Growth of Forestry Certification Written by: Van Hendry Evergreen Packaging (FSC® C016043)

For companies like Evergreen Packaging and others to sell certified fiber-based products, we are procuring wood from certified forests. These are forests with land management plans that are audited to recognized forest management standards. In the US, the prominent forest management standards are the American Tree Farm System® (ATFS), Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®), and Sustainable Forestry Initiative®. Certification will provide greater access to markets, preference in times of quota restrictions, and the possibility of more bids for certified wood resulting in potentially higher prices.

ake a closer look at your paper grocery bag, magazine, box, envelope, juice carton, and coffee cup. There’s a good chance that you’ll find a forestry certification logo. That might not have been the situation a few years ago. Many companies that make these products are turning to forestry certification programs to provide assurance of responsibly sourced wood fiber and to meet customer demands for sustainable products. If you check out the websites of companies that you purchase fiber-based products from, you’ll probably find a corporate fiber procurement policy that mentions forestry certification. But what does this mean to us in the Arkansas Tree Farm Program? We can respond to this market demand by increasing certified forest acreage in Arkansas.

management standards is not significant. Take some time to determine if forestry certification is right for you. Review the forest certification websites and talk with your forestry consultant and wood purchasers to learn more about forestry certification. Or, just take a closer look at the paper products you use every day, it is likely they are made with certified fiber. Get certified and one day they could be made from your certified fiber.

What does this mean to landowners? One benefit of forest certification to landowners is improved market access. While we have not seen strong demand from the solid wood markets for certified material, significant demand does exist for pulpwood and residuals. Certification can definitely improve your access to these markets and provide positive support for thinning and management activities. Another benefit is recognition of your efforts to protect wildlife habitats, fishable streams and rivers, and maintain the beautiful forest resources of Arkansas. Some basic elements of forest certification include the implementation of a forest management plan that meets the requirements of the selected standard (or standards, you can be certified to multiple standards); initial and annual auditing to the standards, pre- and post-harvest monitoring, and keeping the forest in forestry. Many landowners already have a forest management plan and, in many cases, the effort needed to meet these forest

Interested in Quail Habitat? The USDA, Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission are partnering to offer seven informational meetings across the state concerning a new program that will offer $400,000 to quail habitat restoration on private land in the following counties: Ashley, Baxter, Benton, Carroll, Drew, Faulkner, Fulton, Hempstead, Logan, Marion, Nevada, Newton, Pulaski, Randolph, Searcy, Sebastian, Sharp, St. Francis, Stone and Yell For more information, please visit: http://conta.cc/2izpykU Upcoming Meetings: January 24 | Hamburg & Paris January 26 | Bentonville & Cave City

NRCS offers landowners new benefits NRCS

he USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) has had drastic changes this year and is much more friendly to forest landowners than what has been offered in the past. CSP is intended for the good stewards, those landowners doing good sustainable forest management. CSP can reward these landowners for the resource concerns already addressed and give the landowner the opportunity to address additional resource concerns. For those landowners willing to increase their current level of conservation, there are several enhancement options that may meet their objectives. Many of the enhancements have attractive payments. Some examples of enhancements offered: · Sequential patch burning (prescribed burn in 3 different areas in 3

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To compete for enrollment in CSP, applicants must be the operator of record in the Farm Service Agency farm records management system, must have addressed at least two resource concerns at the time of application, and must schedule activity(s) to address at least one additional resource concern by the end of the contract. The program offers a 5 year contract per

operation, with a minimum payment of $1,500 per year. Ideally, the forest land is being actively managed under a forest management plan. If not, a forest management plan for all the forest land will have to be developed before a contract is finalized. Existing or new forest management plans must have components consistent with activities chosen to be scheduled in the CSP contract. CSP is NOT for those landowners who have had no management activity on their forest land. Deadline to sign up for the program is February 3, 2017. Contact local NRCS office for more details or visit the Arkansas NRCS web site at www. ar.nrcs.usda.gov.

Non-Profit Org U.S. Postage PAID Little Rock, AR Permit # 2686

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

1213 W. 4th St. Little Rock AR 72201 501.374.2441 www.arkforests.org

EPA Takes Important Step, Removing Barrier to ATFS Wood American Forest Foundation (AFF) ate in 2015, the EPA announced requirements for federal purchasing, limiting federal purchasing of wood/ lumber products to those that are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The intention of this policy was to support healthy forests, but the result would have been to exclude the wood grown by tens of thousands of family landowners certified by the American Tree Farm System and wood that is certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. These ATFS certified landowners practice excellent stewardship but often lack the resources, ability or inclination to pursue FSC certification.

Throughout 2016, AFF worked with a broad group of partners to engage EPA on this issue. Just before the Christmas holiday, EPA informed us it was removing the FSC only language from its interim recommendations for wood/lumber products, instead noting this as “under review.” While this doesn’t resolve the issue permanently, it removes the current discriminating policy that was so problematic for landowners in the American Tree Farm System and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Kudos to all our partners, Grasstops Leaders, and Congressional champions who helped make this happen.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR LA Women in Agriculture Conference Alexandria, LA | Feb. 9-10 Register here: http://tinyurl.com/hfrp6hc AR Women in Agriculture Conference North Little Rock, AR | March 14-15 Register here: http://tinyurl.com/jj37axt

“Like” us on Facebook! Arkansas Tree Farm Program

Business Workshop for Landowners

March 9, 2017 | 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Morrilton, AR Call 501-652-0330 or register online. ($30 per person, $50 per couple) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/business-workshop-for-landowners-tickets-28384860883 Outdoor business revenue potential and considerations | Premises liability and legal considerations | Forest management Estate planning | Wildlife habitat management | Opportunities to see management prescriptions on field tour Event Sponsors Arkansas Forestry Association Education Foundation, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, Mississippi State University Natural Resource Enterprise Program