Tree Farms are fam­i­ly – owned forests man­aged by peo­ple just like you.

Behind this green and white sign, Tree Farm fam­i­lies man­age their lands for wildlife and water­shed pro­tec­tion while also grow­ing wood for our dai­ly use.

Landown­ers who enroll in the Amer­i­can Tree Farm Sys­tem (ATFS) are fol­low­ing a man­age­ment plan that meets cer­tain stan­dards and guide­lines that demon­strate a com­mit­ment to stew­ard­ship of the land and are part of the solu­tion to meet the glob­al demand for sus­tain­able fiber by grow­ing cer­ti­fied wood.

What are the ben­e­fits of being hav­ing a cer­ti­fied Tree Farm?

Texas Forestry Asso­ci­a­tion (TFA) admin­is­ters the Tree Farm pro­gram in Texas. In addi­tion to cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, TFA Mem­ber Tree Farm­ers receive infor­ma­tion and edu­ca­tion­al mate­ri­als about for­est man­age­ment as well as up-to-date infor­ma­tion about issues per­tain­ing to the forest­lands of Texas. TFA spon­sors an annu­al Tree Farm field day and oth­er work­shops and events through­out the year. Read about the many pro­grams and leg­isla­tive activ­i­ties of Texas Forestry Asso­ci­a­tion on the website.

Nation­al Rep­re­sen­ta­tion: Not only will you be a Tree Farmer at the state lev­el, but you will also be part of a nation­al orga­ni­za­tion (the Amer­i­can Tree Farm Sys­tem) that is a leader in rep­re­sent­ing pri­vate landown­ers, keeps you abreast of new devel­op­ments and polit­i­cal trends at the nation­al lev­el, gives you a voice in deci­sions affect­ing land man­age­ment, and pro­vides you with an oppor­tu­ni­ty to shape the future.

Net­work­ing: Mak­ing con­nec­tions with oth­er landown­ers, shar­ing ideas, learn­ing from each oth­er, con­nect­ing with pro­fes­sion­al foresters, avoid­ing prob­lems oth­ers have had, and becom­ing part of a com­mu­ni­ty that works togeth­er for bet­ter land man­age­ment is ben­e­fi­cial to every­one asso­ci­at­ed with the work­ing forests of Texas.

Recog­ni­tion: The green and white dia­mond shaped Tree Farm sign rec­og­nizes Tree Farm­ers for meet­ing the stan­dards of the Tree Farm Sys­tem with a writ­ten, approved man­age­ment plan. 

Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion: Fam­i­ly forests cer­ti­fied to the Amer­i­can Tree Farm Sys­tem are rec­og­nized by the Sus­tain­able Forestry Ini­tia­tive and qual­i­fy as cer­ti­fied for­est con­tent for the SFI on-prod­uct label. Thus, Tree Farm Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion meets inter­na­tion­al, third-par­ty stan­dards and may pro­vide greater access to mar­kets with more bids on your tim­ber and pref­er­ences when mills are on quota.

Are you inter­est­ed in Tree Farm certification?

Con­tact the TFA office, your forester, or the Area Chair (see Texas Tree Farm Lead­er­ship below) cov­er­ing your coun­ty for more information.

Texas Tree Farm Leadership