Follow the Chain!
Wood harvested from Tree Farm Certified lands is recognized as certified fiber by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification systems (PEFC). Mills across the country are interested in tracking certified fiber which includes Tree Farm wood. American Tree Farm System Certification can be a marketing point for your clients’ wood. When you are working with landowners to prepare for a harvest, be sure to follow these best practices:
- Check if the parcel is currently certified by contacting your State Tree Farm Administrator (contact information available at www.treefarmsystem.org/state-tree-farm-programs)
- Tell the logger that the wood is certified. Provide the Tree Farm number and regional certification number (to find the certification number for your region, please visit www.treefarmsystem.org/state-tree-farm-programs)
- Consider developing a load ticket to go with the wood so that the scale house knows the wood is certified. Important information to include is the Tree Farm number (call your state administrator for the information), property county or town, property legal description and landowner’s name.
- Tell the mill that wood from this landowner is Tree Farm Certified.
- Mills can check the Certification status of a property through our verification database if they have a subscription: treefarmsystem.org/atfsverificationdatabase
Certified mills work with ATFS to track wood from Certified Tree Farms. The two numbers that mills track are the Tree Farm number (e.g. MN – 1234) and the regional certificate number North Central Regional Certificate number – PWC-AFF-342). The Tree Farm number is important for tracking the specific property. The regional certificate number covers all currently Certified Tree Farms in a particular region that are administered through the State Tree Farm Program. Visit our map to see which states are in the different regions: www.treefarmsystem.org/state-tree-farm-programs
Many small mills have not participated in the certification process because of cost, their markets are not asking for this qualification, or other business factors. These businesses can still support family forest owners by buying wood from Certified Tree Farms and telling the local landowner story for their products. Without chain of custody certification, these mills cannot label their product. They can always tell the story in their promotional material that they are proudly sourcing local wood from Certified Tree Farms.
Contact Sarah Crow, Certification Manager, by email at scrow@forestfoundation.org if you have any questions about certification.
