It’s a Great Day to Be an SAF Member
June 4, 2021
Good day!
I hope you and yours are doing well. Summer begins this month, and Memorial Day, which has become a symbol of summer’s start, was observed this week. Memorial Day was made a federal holiday in 1971 to remember the 1.3+ million American military personnel who died since 1775 while defending our freedom (Wikipedia – US Military Casualties of War). Some of these freedoms include the opportunity to own and manage forest land, to have a forest industry, and to have a forestry profession and SAF.
As we exercise our freedom to assemble and start a membership drive this month, we need to remember our Society’s mission, which in summary, says “to advance sustainable management of forest resources…to ensure the continued health, integrity, and use of forests to benefit society in perpetuity.” To do this, we need staff and engaged members from forestry and related fields.
Gifford Pinchot said the Society needed “to further the cause of forestry in America...by creating opportunities for a free interchange of views upon forestry and allied subjects, and by disseminating a knowledge of the purpose and achievement of forestry.” Pinchot and past Society leaders recognized the importance of “allied subjects” to mission accomplishment. So, SAF broadened its membership opportunities from just the eight founding foresters to include foresters as defined today plus technicians and professionals from “allied subject” areas. Our bylaws state that members can be “Professional Members, Conditional Professional Members, Associate Members, Technician Members, and Student Members.” Sometimes, there is confusion about who can be members, particularly in the Associate Member category. The bylaws say these members can be “scientists or practitioners who hold a bachelors or higher degree in a subject area not within the broad field of forestry but who work in a position that strongly influences the profession of forestry (excluding elected officials).” Some of these “allied subject” area professionals are geneticists, soil scientists, economists, entomologists, biometricians, climatologists, hydrologists, botanists, arborists, biologists, and many more. So, we should encourage all foresters and professionals in supportive roles to be members. This will ensure the continued success of our Society and mission accomplishment.
To see how various professions have helped achieve forestry objectives on our Tree Farm, please
click on the following video.
All the best,
Gene