Join the Arkansas Forestry Association (AFA) for a tour of Tree Farmer Jim Woodruff’s ARTEX Ranch near Elkins on Thursday, May 7, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This property was recently selected as the 2014 Beaver Watershed Alliance’s Guardian of the Year for protecting the White River Watershed that feeds into Beaver Lake. This Tree Farm tour is a great opportunity to showcase the conservation practices implemented on this property.

Site visits and topics include prescribed fire, spring and winter food plots, shrub and tree planting, and markets for pine and hardwood in Northwest Arkansas.

Representatives from AFA, Arkansas Forestry Commission and Natural Resources Conservation Service will be there as resources for landowners. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. Lunch will be provided.

In 2003, Woodruff was named the Arkansas Outstanding Tree Farmer. There are currently 1,635 Tree Farmers in Arkansas representing 716,964 acres of certified timberland.

The American Tree Farm System (ATFS) is the largest and oldest sustainable woodland system in the United States, internationally recognized, meeting strict third-party certification standards. ATFS is a network of 82,000 family forest owners sustainably managing 24 million acres of forestland. For more than 70 years, ATFS has enhanced the quality of America’s woodlands by giving forest owners the tools they need to keep their forests healthy and productive. Stemming the loss of America’s woodlands is vital to our country’s clean water and air, wildlife habitat, recreational activities, and producing the jobs, wood and paper products we all need.

Since 1947, the Arkansas Forestry Association has been the only organization representing the state’s entire forestry community. AFA advocates for the sustainable use and sound stewardship of Arkansas’s forests and related resources to benefit members of the state’s forestry community and all Arkansans, today and in the future. AFA represents one of the state's largest manufacturing sectors, which directly employs some 24,736 Arkansans and contributes more than $1.38 billion annually in payroll. AFA also represents an estimated 2,500 certified family forest owners in the state, as well as 125,000 other non-industrial private forest landowners, who together own nearly 56 percent of Arkansas's forestland.