AFF’s pilot landscape management plan will be created in partnership with the Florida Forest Service and the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences School of Forest Resources and Conservation, and designed specifically for Florida. Forest owners in the area can choose to adopt this plan in place of going through the longer, more expensive traditional process. The pilot landscape management plan will include all the elements required for management plans: considerations around soils, invasive species, forests of recognized importance (FORI), and threatened and endangered species. The plan will also reflect recent academic studies and a local woodland owner survey on conservation priorities in that specific region. In doing this, the new approach will not only help guide individual land owners with their forest management and expand ATFS certification but will also help us improve our overall impact on the entire region’s conservation efforts that the community agrees are important.

 

The pilot will launch during the 75th anniversary year of ATFS, a time in which we will celebrate the thousands of individuals who have and continue to do great stewardship on their land. We hope this pilot approach to forest management will allow us to engage more land owners in ATFS, and develop long-term relationships with new individuals in the coming years. As we continue to grow as a community, we hope this ultimately this will help us further sustain our forests and protect the clean water, wildlife habitat and sustainable wood supplies they provide.

 

Learnings from this pilot will be shared across the ATFS network with best practices for state committees to help streamline and support state programs at the local level. As the partnership evolves, we will continue to provide updates and request your thoughts, insights and ideas.