Tree farm
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A tree farm is privately owned forest managed for timber crop production. The term tree farm is also used to refer to plantations and to tree nurseries.
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[edit] American Tree Farm System
In the United States some tree farms are certified by the American Tree Farm System. The American Tree Farm System was established in 1941 and is the oldest third party verification process for certified wood in the United States. Tree farms were established because of concerns that forests were being cut at unsustainable rates without reforestation. Traditionally Tree Farms were managed for wood, water wildlife and recreation. Tree farms were established as part of the conservation movement because of fears of a "timber famine." In North America timber was harvested in an area until the supply was exhausted. Loggers would then move to another area. It was believed that the term "tree farm" would emphasize the notion that woodland could be managed to supply a continuous supply of wood.
[edit] Effect on global warming
A May 19, 2008 article in Wired magazine stated, "A tree absorbs roughly 1,500 pounds of CO2 in its first 55 years... Left untouched, it ultimately rots or burns and all that CO2 gets released... A well-managed tree farm acts like a factory for sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere, so the most climate-friendly policy is to continually cut down trees and plant new ones... Plant seedlings and harvest them as soon as their powers of carbon sequestration begin to flag, and use the wood to produce only high-quality durable goods like furniture and houses." [1]
