Wayne Miller, a former 

 newspaperman, was first association 

 executive secretary, serving from 



1941 until his death in 1945. Paul W. 

 Schoen followed from 1945 to 1951, 

 when J. Walter Myers, Jr., assumed 

 the position. Myers stayed in office 

 until he retired in 1982 as executive 

 vice president. B. Jack Warren is the 

 current association executive. 



What was to become the American 

 Tree Farm System started in 1941, 

 when a 120,000-acre (48,563-ha) 

 tract in Washington State, owned by 

 Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, was 

 designated Tree Farm No. 1. Later 

 that year the National Lumber 

 Manufacturers Association (now the 

 National Forest Products Association) 

 resolved to establish a voluntary, 

 nationwide tree-farm system to be 

 administered by a subsidiary. 

 American Forest Products Industries, 

 Inc. (now the American Forest 

 Council). The primary goal of this 

 industry-sponsored program is to 

 encourage timber production for the 

 future, principally by recognizing 

 good management of privately owned 

 timberland. 



The tree farm program came south in 



1942 with the first dedication service 

 at Brewton. AL, on April 4. In 

 attendance were such notables as 

 Governor Frank M. Dixon and 

 prominent local lumbermen, including 

 W.T. Neal and Earl M. McGowin. 

 The concept debuted with strong 

 support from editor Stanley F. Horn 

 of the Southern Lumberman magazine 

 and from the National Lumber 

 Manufacturers Association. That same 



month, the Arkansas Forestry 

 Commission sponsored a program, 

 and that State's first tree farm was 

 certified on June 6 (Lewis 1981). 



Initially, recognition as a tree farm 

 was conferred on large company 

 holdings where scientific forest 

 management was being practiced. It 

 proved an excellent public relations 

 program and served to demonstrate 

 the forest industry's ability to 

 regulate itself effectively. This 

 movement— initiated at a time when 

 Federal regulation of private 

 timberlands was being widely 

 advocated— proved a valuable tool in 

 blunting the effort. 



Over the years since its inception, the 

 tree farm program has been expanded 

 to all 50 States. Moreover, the 

 program now includes large areas of 

 nonindustrial lands in recognition of 

 the importance of their proper 

 management to the Nation's timber 

 production. The impact of the tree 

 farm program on timber production in 

 the South has been substantial, 

 although difficult to measure. As of 

 1985, there were approximately 

 50,000 certified tree farms 

 nationwide, totalling 86 million acres 

 (34.8 million ha), with 55 percent on 

 nonindustrial tracts of less than 100 

 acres (40 ha). In the 12 Southern 

 States, there were 30,351 tree farms 

 in 1985, totalling 50,318,262 acres 

 (20.3 million ha), with 95 percent of 

 the nonindustrial acreage in tracts of 

 more than 100 acres. 



Participants in the program receive 

 valuable educational information on 



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