PA Tree Farm Reflections: 2024 Accomplishments and 2025 Goals

The PA Tree Farm Program completed all American Tree Farm-required inspections, and a few more. We are not yet where we want to be, but we are moving in the right direction. To support this effort, I will be handing the Committee Chair baton to Mike Powell, and I will be helping our Tree Farm program administrator with inspection assignment and monitoring.

The PA Tree Farm Committee had a goal to recognize a PA Tree Farmer of the Year and a PA Tree Farm Inspector of the Year in 2024. We completed this goal with an excellent PA Tree Farmer of the Year, Kirik Tree Farm, and an outstanding PA Tree Farm Inspector of the Year, Bob Hobbes of Hobbes Forestry Services. Look for more information on these two award recipients in the spring 2025 issue of Pennsylvania Forests magazine.

We sent four committee members to the American Forest Foundation's National Leadership Conference (NLC) in Vancouver, WA in early February. In 2025, the NLC will be held March 11–13 in Portland ME. We hope to be able to send four committee members to this year’s event as well.

All in all, 2024 was a positive year for our committee. For 2025, we plan to expand our inspections to move even closer to our goal of inspecting every tree farm on a five-year schedule, to make sure we recognize PA's outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year and Tree Farm Inspector of the Year, and to send up to four members to the NLC. With hard work and a little luck, we should meet these goals.

For more information about the PA Tree Farm program, visit their webpage at paforestry.org/tree-farm.

By Susan Benedict, PA Tree Farm Committee Chair