The American Tree Farm System® Awards the 2010 Sustained Excellence Award to Virginia State Forester Carl E. Garrison III

The American Tree Farm System® Awards the 2010 Sustained Excellence Award to Virginia State Forester Carl E. Garrison III

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Washington, D.C. - The American Tree Farm System® (ATFS) has awarded the 2010 Sustained Excellence Award to Virginia State Forester Carl E. Garrison III. He received his award at the National Association of State Foresters' (NASF) annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
 
This annual award honors State Foresters who have been strong advocates and supporters for the American Tree Farm System. This is the seventh year ATFS, a program of the American Forest Foundation, has recognized an NASF State Forester for providing outstanding support and collaboration to private forest landowners in forest conservation efforts.

Garrison has served as the State Forester for the Commonwealth of Virginia for six years and was recently re-appointed by the Virginia governor. In this capacity he has encouraged all the Department of Forestry (DOF) foresters and technicians to assist forest landowners with on the ground Tree Farm inspections and re-inspections. Garrison has remained a constant proponent of ATFS and in encouraging and strategizing with his state foresters, during the past five years, DOF foresters have completed 60 to 72 percent of the annual inspections.

Bolstering support and renewed excitement for Tree Farm inspections, perhaps one of Garrison's greatest contributions to the Virginia Tree Farm Committee has been his suggestion to "piggy back" on the DOF's Timber Token incentive program. This program allows every trained DOF forester to receive one Timber Token for each new inspection or re-inspection completed during a calendar year. The tokens are then exchanged for goods available from the program manager's catalog.

Beyond the day-to-day support, Garrison took the lead on a joint memorandum of understanding with the Virginia Department of Natural Resources, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the Virginia Tree Farm Program to recognize management plans from each organization. This mutual recognition of plans among the three organizations streamlines the process for landowners to receive the benefits of services and opens the market for broader potential in such areas as international markets requiring certification, the ability to market their timber to firms that require certification programs, and to increase ranking qualifications.

Garrison is a Certified Forester and, prior to his initial gubernatorial appointment, he was regional forester for the Virginia Department of Forestry overseeing activities in 23 counties. He earned his B.S. in Forestry and Wildlife Management from Virginia Tech.

The American Tree Farm System®  (ATFS), founded in 1941, is the oldest and largest forest conservation, certification, and advocacy program in the United States. ATFS promotes the sustainable management of forests through education and outreach to private forest landowners.  ATFS has enrolled 24 million acres of privately owned forestland and 90,000 family forest owners who are committed to excellence in forest stewardship. Landowners manage their forestlands for wood, water, wildlife, and recreation with assistance from 4,400 volunteer foresters.
 
The American Forest Foundation is a nonprofit 501 © (3) conservation and education organization that strives to ensure the sustainability of America's family forests for present and future generation .

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