The American Tree Farm System Celebrated Its 70Th Anniversary
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In 2011, the American Tree Farm System celebrated its 70th anniversary. After a controversial beginning, it is now an important player in efforts to mitigate climate change. The American Tree Farm System GROWING STEWARDSHIP FROM THE ROOTS “ ill the thing before it spreads,” U.S. Forest Service Chief Lyle Watts allegedly declared. Watts and his assistant C. Edward Behre tried to kill the thing in K 1941. They failed, and it spread from the West, into the South, and eventually all across America. The “thing” was the American Tree Farm System (ATFS), which is now 71 years old and America’s oldest family-owned federal regulation is certainly not to its discredit,” according to woodland sustainability program, covering more than 26 million the journal. privately owned acres. Why were Watts and Behre against tree farms in 1941? PUSH FOR FEDERAL REGULATION Encouraging private owners to grow continuous crops of trees The strong push for federal regulation of forestry had begun in (as tree farming was defined) probably was not abhorrent to them. the 1930s, during America’s Great Depression. Federal forestry What they disliked was substituting private cooperation for public leaders believed that they should closely regulate the private sector, regulation. They saw tree farming as a move to decrease pressure and many people agreed. The National Industrial Recovery Act for federal regulation. of 1933, for example, had authority to coordinate major industries Watts and Behre asked the Society of American Foresters to to set prices, working conditions, and (in the case of forest indus- question the ethics of members who participated in tree farming. try) control forest practices. Industry executives were determined This move could have killed the program, since foresters’ coop- to manage private lands without federal policing. eration was needed to make the program work. But the profes- Tree farming was not new to this debate. Foresters had been sional group disagreed. Why, asked its August 1942 Journal of advocating something like it since the first glimmers of Forestry, should not private owners work to eliminate the need American forestry in 1900. Some companies and landowners for federal regulation? had essentially been tree farming since then, generally with “That one of [tree farming’s] purposes is frankly to forestall little public notice. BY BRIGITTE W. JOHNSON 16 FOREST HISTORY TODAY | SPRING 2012 FOREST HISTORY SOCIETY PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, FHS6288, FHS6289 These photographs taken in 1941 and 1951 from the same location show the rapid recovery of cut-over and burned-over land on the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company’s Clemons Tree Farm near Montesano, Washington. “Wood is a crop,” Gifford Pinchot, first chief of the U.S. Forest grams had improved but had not prevented an uneducated and Service, said in a speech in 1935. “Forestry is tree farming.” M. L. careless public from causing fires. Alexander, commissioner of the Louisiana Department of By the summer of 1941, the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company Conservation, advocated timber farming on cutover lands in 1917. was ready to tackle the problem head-on. The company opened But the chronic conditions of bad tax policies and poor fire pre- its land for tours on what it called its tree farm. More than 700 vis- vention kept undermining the idea of private owners’ managing itors from the Elma and Montesano areas of Washington took a their land for growing trees. 25-mile motorized trip over dirt roads on Weyerhaeuser land to Government tax policies fueled the widespread destruction witness a new forest—a combination of naturally seeded and of forests. The town and county land tax rates for private landown- planted trees—that had previously been logged and burned. Named ers often demanded more annually than it cost to buy new land. in honor of a well-known local logger, Charles H. Clemons, the This encouraged timber companies to cut their trees, then move 120,000-acre Clemons Tree Farm was dedicated on June 12, 1941. on to new land rather than hold onto the property and wait for Washington Governor Arthur Langlie joined other dignitaries to a new timber crop. witness the dedication of the country’s first tree farm. Over several decades government authorities took millions of The area was protected by an impressive system of firefighting acres of tax-delinquent private property and then sold it for cheap equipment and lookout towers. Weyerhaeuser used this premier to get it back into the tax system. The land often ended up back tree farm as a model to encourage hunting, fishing, and camping in tax sales after the new owners had extracted what they could— visitors to be more careful with fire. Weyerhaeuser suggested an or the woodlands had burned in uncontrolled fires. Farmers used equation that would help all forest landowners become tree farm- fire frequently to clear land and burn off old grass and weeds, ers: fire protection + fair taxation + forestry expertise = an entirely and campers tossed away burning cigarettes and left campfires new industry built on forest management. unattended. Firefighting forces were scarce. Starting around 1936 with Oregon and Washington, some 1940S: PLANTING THE IDEA states passed tax legislation to treat forestland more fairly. Aided The term “tree farm” was an inspired choice. Chapin Collins, a by federal legislation—namely the Weeks Act of 1911 and the Montesano newspaper editor, is commonly credited with its Clarke-McNary Act of 1924—fire prevention and control pro- coinage. After years of talking about silviculture, sustained yield, FOREST HISTORY TODAY | SPRING 2012 17 and scientific management, foresters finally had a term that non- foresters could understand. Farmers grew crops; clearly, a tree farmer grew crops of trees. Forest product firms began to lead the tree farm movement through their western and national associations, with state foresters assisting, especially in the South. The principle was that foresters would certify that the management practices on each tree farm met high standards. In effect, this was the forerunner of the current forest certification programs. The early movement also focused on communications. Certified tree farms were to be marked with green-and-white diamond-shaped signs—now widely recognized as a sign of sustainable forestry. The West Coast Tree Farm Program was under way by the end of 1941, organized by the West Coast Lumberman’s Associ - ation and the Pacific Northwest Loggers Association. The two associations soon merged into the Industrial Forestry Association. Urged on by its western members, the National Lumber Manu - facturers Association (NLMA) in Washington, D.C., started work- ing on a national system of tree farms, and its subsidiary, American Forest Products Industries (AFPI), took on national sponsorship in 1942. By 1946 AFPI was independent and the Tree Farm System was one of its major programs. The South quickly followed the West in adopting tree farming. The Alabama State Chamber of Commerce and the state Division of Forestry certified the first nonindustrial property, 60 acres owned by Emmett McCall in Brewton, on April 4, 1942. The Arkansas Forestry Commission was next, with a tree farm dedication on June 6, 1942. As the tree farm movement gained momentum and spread to the South, the participation of small landowners became a focus for outreach and growth, and provided the foundation for AMERICAN FOREST INSTITUTE RECORDS, HISTORY SOCIETY a nationwide organization. By 1945 there were 945 tree farming When Woody debuted in 1944, the AFPI press release described him as operations covering more than 11 million acres in 11 states: “a smiling, animated log.” Alabama, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. tees state by state, and turned most of the administration of tree Communication efforts focused on fire prevention: AFPI annu- farms over to state-level Tree Farm System subcommittees (except ally sent more than 3 million pieces of educational materials on in western states, where the program continued under regional forestry and fires to approximately 50,000 schools and organ- sponsors). Some states also maintained a joint sponsorship izations. The U.S. Forest Service’s Smokey Bear program, with their state forestry associations. created in 1944, followed a similar approach and even- Also in 1954, AFPI adopted standard Tree Farm cer- tually assumed much of the industry’s fire prevention tificates and signs. Up until then, states had had their program. own. AFPI also adopted a set of common national standards called “Principles of American Tree THE 1950S: TAKING ROOT Farm System.” However, several of the Cooperation was the theme during the regional organizations refused to accept 1950s, with tree farming putting them, and the failure to adopt those down roots in most states. national standards would cause Although industrial forests were COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN TREE FARM SYSTEM problems later on. still the backbone of the system, the Promoting fire prevention went focus turned to the more numerous hand-in-hand with educating the public family-owned forests. More and more, the about the role of wood in their everyday Tree Farm program courted farmers and lives. The Keep America Green program was woodlot owners. As the program tried to generally linked to local committees composed become national in scale, focus was placed on sup- of state foresters, state and regional forest associ- port for self-regulation of privately owned forestland. ations, private consultants, and industry foresters work- In 1954 AFPI helped organize forest industry commit- ing together to reduce wildfires and produce and distribute materials to inform people about the Tree Farm The American Tree Farm System name and logo program. AFPI created the cartoon character Woody and fea- were officially registered and trademarked in 1976. tured him in ads and comic books to teach both young and old Before standard Tree Farm signs were adopted in 1954, about all the benefits of a healthy forest and the need for fire pre- individual landowners often crafted their own signs.