2017 Assessment Recap
Thank you!
We have successfully completed the 2017 Third-Party Assessment! Thank you very much to the state committees of Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, and South Carolina for all of your efforts throughout the entire process. We will provide a full recap of the assessment and related findings once we receive our final report. In the meantime, we have been provided draft findings from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Learn more about the highlights from the assessment and the overall improvements to the ATFS Program.
Thank you to everyone involved in the assessment, and as always, please share any ideas to help us effectively support our Tree Farmers and the great work they do.
As in years past, our representative Tree Farmers, from across the country were truly impressive with their efforts and engagement with sustainable forestry. There were countless accolades about the Tree Farmers’ efforts to address forest health issues, provide outreach and educational opportunities to their neighbors, and improve habitat for local wildlife. I am always in awe at the number of miles Tree Farmers have hiked through their woods with a chain saw in hand or with a backpack sprayer at the ready fulfilling the ATFS mission one acre at a time.
The 2017 Third-Party Assessment includes appraisals of the State Committees during the opening meetings in January. The PwC lead assessor reviews the operations of the Committee, Committee member roles, ATFS Inspector training, inspection records, and data quality maintenance. In addition to good management practices highlighted in previous Sightline editions, the review of 2016 required inspections showed they were in conformance. PwC recognized that ATFS Inspectors were thoughtfully providing information in the 004 forms that could be used by the state committees as well as future ATFS Inspectors.
The efforts made by Tree Farmers and State Committees, as well as the overall improvements to the ATFS program at the national level were highly commended by PwC. However, based on the draft findings, there is still room for improvement. As in years past we, as a network, need to continue to work on database accuracy at the state level, which is tied with our ongoing national multi-year database cleanup efforts.
During inspections, inspectors, will continue to ensure that Tree Farmers understand the ATFS Standards, such as forest health risks and resources and Forests of Recognized Importance. Inspections are also an opportunity to ensure that management plans are fully in conformance with the Standards, but taking advantage of tools such as the ATFS Standards Addendum and the notes sections within the 004 form to provide any necessary information or clarification needed.
We will also continue to use outreach to landowners to verify that contact and location information is accurate, noncontiguous parcels are broken up into unique Tree Farms, and most importantly to ensure that the landowners are receiving the network support they need.
Kristina Duff
ATFS Certification Manager
