News

Oregon Tree Farmers Bob & Margaret Kintigh

Springfield, Oregon -- The American Tree Farm System® (ATFS), a program of the American Forest Foundation, named Bob & Margaret Kintigh of Lane County, Oregon as the 2006 National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year.  The Kintighs received their award during the National Tree Farmer Convention held in Mobile, Alabama. This annual ATFS award recognizes outstanding sustainable forest management on privately owned forestland.

Bob & Margaret and their children, owners of Mountain Home Ranch, were selected from a long list of certified Tree Farmers throughout the nation. Having been actively involved in promoting tree farming and the benefits of sustainable forestry in their community for years, the Kintighs tree farming history is saturated with activities, organizations, and projects dedicated to advancing the good name of tree farming.

Their Tree Farm consists of two tracts containing 249 acres of forest land plus considerable Christmas tree acreage. The Mountain Home Ranch tract has been under intensive management since 1957. In addition to different timber management activities, they also have a containerized seedling nursery that produces approximately two million seedlings annually, and a Christmas tree business. A tree grown by Kintigh was chosen for display in the White House in 1992. Their long-standing management goals are to maximize wood fiber production without damaging soils, wildlife habitat or water resources. It is truly a “working farm” and has been the major family income source for 45 years.

Kintigh recently retired after serving three terms in the Oregon State Senate. During his last session, he was unanimously elected president pro tempore. As the only forester to have served in the Senate, Kintigh focused attention on forestry issues, landowner rights and sound forest and agricultural management practices. He also sponsored the Adopt-a-Highway and Adopt-a-Park programs in Oregon, worked on salmon restoration issues as a member of the Joint Legislative Committee on Salmon and Stream Enhancement, and served four years on the Western Legislative Forestry Task Force.

In addition to his legislative service, Kintigh has served as president of the Oregon Small Woodlands Association, national councilman of the Society of American Foresters and president of the Eugene chapter of the American Rhododendron Society. He has also received many awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oregon Society of American Foresters and a special award from the Oregon Board of Forestry for contributions to stewardship forestry through his chairmanship of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. In 1997, he was recognized by the Agriculture and Natural Resources Leaders of Oregon for his "distinguished service and leadership."

He also has been honored as Oregon Tree Farmer of the Year and is a fellow in the Society of American Foresters.

Kintigh is a World War II veteran and was involved in several major naval engagements in the Pacific while serving as an officer on a destroyer.

Certified Tree Farmers own at least 10 acres of forestland and actively follow a forest management plan developed in partnership with an ATFS volunteer forester.  The plan addresses forest sustainability, wildlife habitat, recreation, and water and soil conservation.

The American Tree Farm System® (ATFS) is a national program that promotes the sustainable management of forests through education and outreach to private forest landowners.  Founded in 1941, ATFS has 33 million acres of privately owned forestland and 80,000 family forest owners who are committed to excellence in forest stewardship. Tree Farmers manage their forestlands for wood, water, wildlife, and recreation with assistance from 5,200 volunteer foresters.  ATFS is a program of the American Forest Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works for healthy forests, quality environmental education, and informed decision-making about our communities and our world.

A revised Form T- Forest Activities Schedule has been released. The form itself and the Instructions for Form T are now separate. The major change is a requirement to track each reforestation project separetely, Part IV Reforestation and Timber Stand Activities. This change results from the impact of the reforestation deduction and amortization provisions on depletion accounts. Stands of timber resulting from reforestation projects for which the expenses have been deducted and/or amortized will have a zero basis and this must be discernable in your records. Changes to how casualty losses are treated and reforestation expenses recovered make it increasingly important that your depletion accounts be setup and maintained appropriately. The instructions also shed light on the definition of "qualified timber property" (QTP). This definition is important because the $10,000 expense deduction ($20,000 in Golf Opportunity Zones) applies to each QTP, a term introduced in the 2004 amendment of IRC Sec. 194.

(Posted by WLH on 2/1/06)

Oregon Tree Farm Newsletter

Log prices

Fire danger