The first tree farm in the Unites States grew out of research undertaken in the 1930s by the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, one of the nation’s largest private landowners. After studying the economic benefits of selling, developing, or replanting its timberlands, in 1940 the company set aside 120,000 acres near Montesano, Grays Harbor County, to test fire-control and reforestation techniques. The experiments were a success and on June 12, 1941, the first tree farm in the nation was established, named after pioneer lumberman Charles H. Clemons. Within a decade, 29 states had established 3,000 tree farms covering 23 million acres, and the number continued to grow. In 2021, Washington had 1,218 tree farms comprising 380,501 acres. The voluntary tree-farming certification program, overseen nationally by the American Tree Farm System, focuses on smaller commercial farms and family farms with fewer than 10,000 acres. The tree-farm designation can apply to tree plantations, tree nurseries, or Christmas tree farms.
A Seemingly Endless Supply
When European settlers began to arrive in the Pacific Northwest, they were greeted by some of the greatest forests on Earth. From the top of the Cascade Range westward to the Pacific, there was a lush mosaic of firs, cedars, hemlocks, and spruce, while Ponderosa pines grew in immense swathes east of the mountains. In the mid-1800s, the vastness of the forests was seen both as a barrier to settlement as well as a source of income. Settlers cut the trees to clear the land for towns and farms, and then sold the logs for cash. The supply seemed inexhaustible. "One of their first acts was to begin clearing with rapacious appetite the forests previously burned and cut only lightly by the first peoples of the Northwest. The newcomers brought first hand and horse logging, then industrial scale, mechanized clear-cutting to these forests, feeding a global market for wood ..." (Lynda V. Mapes).
In 1828 at Fort Vancouver, along the north bank of the Columbia River, the Hudson's Bay Company built its first mill in the Pacific Northwest. Within three decades, there were more than 25 mills operating in Puget Sound alone, and by the turn of the century, Washington companies were harvesting more than 1 billion board feet of timber. The enormous potential intrigued some Midwest lumbermen seeking to expand their operations. One of these individuals was Frederick Weyerhaeuser (1834-1914), a German native who started his career in an Indiana sawmill and went on to purchase huge tracks of land in several Midwestern states starting in the mid-1860s. On January 3, 1900, at a cost of $5.4 million, Weyerhaeuser and a group of investors bought 900,000 acres of Washington timberland from the Northern Pacific Railroad, making him the second-largest private owner of timberland in the nation. Within three years, he had purchased additional acreage, bringing the total to 1.5 million acres – about 26 percent of all the private timberlands in Washington. Jobs and economic growth followed, and the logging industry became Washington’s largest employer. "A 1910 study by the U.S. Bureau of Corporations found that 63 percent of the state's wageworkers directly or indirectly depended on it for jobs. In 1905 Washington became the nation's leading producer of timber, a position it held until the late 1930s, when it was surpassed by its neighbor to the south, Oregon" (Connie Y. Chiang).
The Weyerhaeuser Timber Company was incorporated two weeks after Frederick Weyerhaeuser bought the land, starting with just three employees who worked out of a small office in Tacoma. "Although it established a sawmill in Everett in 1903, the company initially gave little attention to the manufacturing side of the lumber business. Instead, it concentrated on buying land ... and selling standing timber to other mill owners" ("Weyerhaeuser Company"). Still residing in the Midwest, Weyerhaeuser chose George S. Long (1853-1930) to be his first on-site general manager – a position Long held for the next 30 years. Raised in Marion County, Indiana, Long arrived in Tacoma in February 1900. Over the years, his impact on sustainable forestry practices was transformative.
Although it’s impossible to pinpoint when attitudes shifted from timber mining to tree farming, the idea to promote the harvest and management of privately owned timberland was several decades in the making. In 1925, under Long’s leadership, Weyerhaeuser created a subsidiary called the Weyerhaeuser Logged-off Land Company. With 200,000 acres of previously logged terrain, Long directed the new company to study how best to use the land – whether to sell it, develop it or reforest it – all with an eye toward economic return. "George S. Long hoped to show taxing authorities that reforestation was possible and good for business. These efforts were ultimately successful in altering state timber taxation laws to encourage the long-term growth of timber on private lands" (Company History, Weyerhaeuser website).
In 1929, Stewart H. Holbrook (1893-1964), a writer, historian, and early forest conservationist who had moved to Portland in 1923 as an unemployed logger, used the term "tree farmer" in his writing. So too did William B. Greeley (1879-1955), the third man to head the U.S. Forest Service from 1920-1928. And Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), an American forester, first chief of the U. S. Forest Service, and future governor of Pennsylvania, in 1935 wrote: "Wood is a crop. Forestry is tree farming."
Wood is a Crop
The idea that trees could be managed and harvested like corn, apples, or any other agricultural crop was controversial, flying in the face of practices that were decades old. The situation was further complicated by antiquated tax codes. "Owners had to pay substantial property taxes every year on the forestlands they had not yet logged. Because they also faced the constant possibility that a fire would destroy their timber, they had an economic incentive to cut their lands as rapidly as possible" (Connie Y. Chiang).
Pinchot advocated for the government sector and private landholders to work together to reduce forest-fire destruction and sought tax reforms to provide monetary incentives. In 1931, the Washington State Legislature passed a law that enabled lumber operators to pay taxes on their yield at the time of harvest. "This yield tax removed the burden of annual payments on non-productive land and encouraged owners to plant trees for another crop on harvested areas" ("Tree Farming").
To further validate the idea that timber could be a renewable crop, Weyerhaeuser’s executive committee commissioned a study in 1937 on sustainable-yield forestry, a term that means harvesting only the number of trees that can be cut without damaging the forest’s ability to renew itself. For the first time, the company used selective logging, which left the smaller trees in the forest to grow and reseed the area for a later harvest. Full-page ads placed by Weyerhaeuser rolled out a new slogan, "Timber is a Crop," heralding a public relations campaign devised to change public attitudes toward forestry management.
In 1938, Weyerhaeuser undertook another study to see whether trees planted by hand could thrive. Loggers Ed Baker and Glen Masterson experimented with taking surplus seedlings and replanting them in bare places in the forest. It worked, and a new crop of trees sprouted. In 1940, to further test fire-control practices and reforestation techniques, Weyerhaeuser set aside 120,000 acres in Grays Harbor County on land where fire damage had prevented a more marketable species of trees from growing. Called Operation Rehab, the experiment succeeded, and on June 12, 1941, the first tree farm in the nation was established outside Montesano. The era of tree farming had begun.
Tree Farm Number One
The term "tree farm" was chosen for its ability to convey a renewable resource. The general public, after all, was familiar with the word "farm" and understood that it signified a place where a crop would grow, be harvested, and then replanted.
Tree Farm Number One was located on the original logging site of Charles H. Clemons, a pioneer lumberman who had founded the C. H. Clemons Logging Company around 1902 at Melbourne, a community southwest of Montesano and across the Chehalis River. (Clemons Logging later merged with Weyerhaeuser; the company was dissolved on June 29, 1937.) Chapin Collins, editor of the Montesano Vidette, suggested that the tree farm be named after Clemons and the idea hit paydirt. In remarks at the June 1941 dedication, Gov. Arthur B. Langlie (1900-1966) noted that "the Clemons Tree Farm … may set the pace for millions of acres of such lands throughout the state" (Richard Lewis). Little did he imagine how quickly his prediction would come true. By November 1941, the Forest Conservation Committee of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association recommended the establishment of a national tree farm program to be overseen by the American Forest Products Industries.
Weeks after that, Oregon established a tree farm program in Portland, and tree farms sprouted up in Alabama (April 1942) and Arkansas (June 1942). Within 10 years, the tree farm movement had spread to 29 states with 3,000 tree farms made up of 23 million acres. About 25 percent of this acreage was in Washington and Oregon. In 1946, a shift in sentiment was recorded by William Greeley, who noted that, "the pioneer producers are beginning to realize that the virgin forests are slowly disappearing and we must grow timber to meet our needs. Even the hard-boiled logger now is convinced that we must grow our timber" ("Tree-Farming Increase Seen").
Coming of Age
The housing boom that began after World War II had a profound impact on managed forests. Timber companies expanded their lumber output from 3.3 billion board feet in 1944 to 5 billion board feet in 1951. Wood was no longer cheap or as readily available. "Years of logging had steadily reduced the amount of mature timber on private lands. As the supply of private timber diminished, its value increased rapidly. Because forestlands were becoming so expensive, lumber companies became more interested in conservation measures that would guarantee their future timber supplies. During World War II, the West Coast Lumbermen's Association and the South Olympic Tree Farm Company organized timber farms and began focusing on reforestation. Other groups followed suit ... The postwar period ushered in a new era of national forest administration, one that emphasized rapid logging and intensive management" (Connie Y. Chiang).
The Northwest’s lead role in the national tree-farming movement did not go unnoticed. A 1945 article in The New York Times noted how quickly the movement had spread on a national scale. "At present, some two million acres of privately owned land is certified for tree farming; about a million and a half additional acres are in process of certification. This represents approximately half of the cut-over land of the Northwest ... Tree farming in the Northwest has proved economically sound. Millions of acres in other areas of the nation are primarily suited to grow trees. In decades past, we have squandered this resource recklessly; at present the war emergency is causing us to use wood faster than it is being grown. The restoration of woodland resources is a matter of national concern" ("Tree Farming").
At the 10th anniversary of the Clemons Tree Farm on June 23, 1951, both Washington and Oregon governors were on hand to celebrate, as was J. P. Weyerhaeuser Jr., president, Weyerhaeuser Timber Company. At the event, Gov. Langlie told the 2,500-member audience: "Today the lumberman is no longer a timber miner, but a timber cropper. He is a businessman in the business of growing trees for future generations. The timber operation, in short, has come of age" ("Ten Candles for Clemons").
At the 20th anniversary in 1961, the White House selected a 75-foot Douglas fir from the Clemons Tree Farm to install on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. The tree was cut, loaded onto a truck for transport to a railyard, and shipped by train across the nation. Making the most of this marketing opportunity, "the car carrying the Christmas tree was adorned with signage celebrating its source: 'Grown in Grays Harbor County by Weyerhaeuser Company Clemons Tree Farm, America's First Tree Farm'" (Eben Lehman). A crowd of 4,000 spectators gathered to watch the tree-lighting ceremony that year.
Tree Farms Big …
The 90,000-acre Snoqualmie Tree Farm became the sixth tree farm in the nation after its certification in 1943. The farm had its roots as the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company, incorporated in 1914 as a joint venture with Weyerhaeuser. The company stretched from Snoqualmie Falls in King County north into Snohomish County and east toward Duvall. The nearby company town of Snoqualmie housed the mill workers and offered a school, post office, community hall, and grocery store.
At that time, after a property was logged, most companies would sell off the land as inexpensive "stump farms." Some land was not even considered worth paying taxes on and the timber company would allow it to revert to the state. After conducting business this way for more than a decade, Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company managers realized that selling off acres of prime timber-growing land was a short-sighted business strategy. In 1925, they issued a revolutionary public statement: "Reforestation of the logged off lands of the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company, maintaining a perpetual stand of growing timber on all areas more suitable for this purpose than for agriculture, has been adopted as one of the progressive measures of this company" ("Snoqualmie Tree Farm"). The company was so convinced of this new approach that it began buying up logged-off lands with good growing potential that were contiguous with their property. In 1938, a seedling nursery was established, and the first new seedlings were planted in September 1942. In 2003, Weyerhaeuser sold the Snoqualmie Tree Farm to Boston-based Hancock Timber Resource Group, which resold it in 2015 to Campbell Global. In 2022, the Snoqualmie Tribe purchased 12,000 acres of the Snoqualmie Tree Farm.
… and Small
Although initially catering to large timber companies, today’s tree farm movement is focused on smaller commercial farms and family farms comprising fewer than 10,000 acres. One of these is the 277-acre Coburg Tree Farm, located in the Cascade foothills east of Eatonville. Coburg was certified in 1955, and is the ninth-oldest continuously certified tree farm in Washington. As with the Snoqualmie Tree Farm, the Coburg farm was once owned by Weyerhaeuser. A fire in 1924 reduced the trees to ashes, but 30 years later, stands of Douglas fir, red alder, western red cedar, black cottonwood, and vine maple had reclaimed the charred ground. For two years starting in 1954, forester Robert Wise acquired acreage there, naming his property the Coburg Tree Farm in honor of the town in Germany where his family originated.
Today the farm is managed by three generations of the Wise/Townsend family who are passionate about sharing their knowledge of sustainable forestry practices with other landowners, educators, elected officials, and the general public. "Their dedication to the craft extended to exploring new techniques, such as pair-planting Douglas fir and Sitka spruce, an experiment that yielded remarkable results – the trees grew 75% taller than their netted counterparts in just five years ... They went above and beyond regulatory requirements, meticulously maintaining their logging roads to minimize erosion, and planting western red cedar along the banks of Krone’s Creek, a seasonal stream that flowed through their property, to enhance bank stabilization and provide shade" ("Beyond Timber ...").
The farm is home to a diversity of wildlife, from salmon and frogs in the wetland areas to eagles and hawks that nest in the tree tops. On the forest floor roam deer, elk, and cougar, among other mammals. Recognizing their years of dedicated environmental stewardship, the Townsend family was honored in 2024 with the National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year award from the American Tree Farm System. The family had previously won the Washington State Tree Farmer of the Year award in 2023.
Meeting the Needs of the Future
During a 40-year span, the number of tree farms in Washington nearly doubled – from 622 farms (1981) to 1,218 farms (2021). A tree farm designation can apply to tree plantations, tree nurseries, or Christmas tree farms. It’s a voluntary program that relies on scores of volunteer foresters and inspectors to make the program run smoothly. To be eligible for certification, a tree farmer must have a viable forest-management plan that addresses wildlife habitat, water quality, recreation, threatened and endangered species, and sustainable harvest levels. To maintain certification, tree farms are inspected regularly by trained foresters to ensure they are adhering to tree-farm policies. Members can compete for various awards such as tree farmer of the year or forester of the year, attend training seminars, apply for educational grants, and access resources to help them better manage their forestlands. The Washington Tree Farm Program is headquartered in Olympia, where its staff assists the state’s forest owners to sustainably manage some 400,000 acres of private forestlands.
