"American Tree Farm System" pros and cons- NY state

[jbos333]

Hi all,

I hope I'm in the right section here....

I was thinking about signing up for the "Tree Farm" program, and I was wondering if anyone knows the pros and cons.....that would be the American Tree Farm System, not one of the NY state run programs.

[WDH]

I have been a member for close to 30 years.  There are no cons from my perspective.  It does not cost you anything.  I do contribute each year because I am a Forester and I think that it is a good program to educate timber owners.  The Tree Farmer magazine is nothing fancy, but I enjoy reading it. 

You are required to develop a management plan, but you need to develop one anyway, and you can get professional forester help to develop it without having to hire a forester.  Aside from having access to foresters who support the program, there are not that many pros either.  I enjoy having the sign on the property designating it as a "Tree Farm".   I just like the sound and thought of a tree farm.  You have to meet the Best Management Practices standards, but you need to be doing that anyway. 

I am confident that you will learn something from the process of setting up your Tree Farm, and that alone is worth the effort.

[jbos333]

Thanks for the response, WDH. It does sound like it will be informative. I am going to try to schedule a woods walk with a member at his place and mine. He is a long time member like yourself.

[SwampDonkey]

Can't see how it could do any harm. Might actually learn a few things in the process. A person just has to have a management philosophy to manage his ground with the best practices in mind.

We've had little success up here with such approaches. Most want to liquidate when they get that cruise in one hand and market price list in another.  :-\ Otherwise the percentage of folks that follow a plan is pretty low.

[zopi]

I prefer tree ranching...they are stupid easy to herd. Not much workout for the border collie though...

[Ron Scott]

Ditto to what WDH said. It's a worthwhile and informative program for the forest landowner. It helps one initiate and prepare a Forest Managemet plan to meet the objectives desired for their forest property.

[OneWithWood]

In addition to what has already been stated the AFF maintains an ongoing lobbying effort in Washington, DC to keep family forest issues in front of our elected representatives in a non partisan way.  This is helpful when it comes to tax law, estate taxes, using wood products in government buildings and a host of other issues.

[chain]

I've been a member for 15yrs or so. The best part of the ATFS is you know there's an organized front of like-minded forest owners out there with interests much the same...love of your forest.

On the other hand, I never received a Tree Farm sign [for whatever the reason] yet, I have a much more important sign at least for our family, the "Centennial Forest Stewardship Farm" sign. No special thanks to me, thanks to my Dad, Granddad for passing the family forest along, and Great Grandpa who, was a great caretaker of his forest.

[WDH]

The signs used to be be free, but now you have to pay for them.  Still, I think that it is worth the price to display your Tree Farm.  They are really nice signs.

http://www.treefarmsystem.org/signs-order-form