Every year the American Tree Farm System (ATFS) recognizes exceptional ATFS Inspectors with the Outstanding Inspector of the Year award program. Private consulting forester and University of Minnesota forestry program alumna, Jan Bernu, was honored with the prestigious award on January 31 at the ATFS National Leadership Conference in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
The Tree Farm Inspector of the Year award is given out annually to one forester, among thousands of volunteer foresters who help close to a half million landowners across the country take care of their woods using Tree Farm’s Standards of Sustainability.
There are four Regional Outstanding Inspectors of the Year chosen annually – one from each of the ATFS regions (North East, Midwest, Southern, Western) that mirror the regional manager regions. The finalist is selected from these four regional finalists and is announced during the National Leadership Conference.
Bernu works out of northeastern and central Minnesota, where she established the private consulting firm Two By Forestry. She assists private and public landowners with a myriad of services such as land, timber, and wildlife management planning recommendations, along with other general natural resource management planning focused on water quality, invasive species, and insect and disease assessments. The list of services provided by Bernu does not end there: She also conducts timber sales; timber stand improvements; tree planting administration, coordination, and compliance; ground photography and aerial photo interpretation; timber and regeneration inventories; general timber and timber damage appraisals; and planting mitigation projects
“The Minnesota State Tree Farm Committee nominated Jan for this award because she has exemplified commitment to family forest lands ‘above and beyond the call of duty,” said Brian Gulseth, chair of the Minnesota committee. He noted Bernu's deep commitment to the outreach work of the committee in addition to her passion for her own consulting business.
“My dream is to leave healthy woodlands for future generations; to encourage young women to take the path of forestry; to be a part of the Tree Farm system; to especially encourage women to engage in the sustainability of their lands through such networks as the Women’s Woodland Networks," Bernu said in her award acceptance speech.
The American Tree Farm System is a national network that provides community, recognition, and legacy for family forest landowners. They are active in 42 states. Certified family forests are natural or planted forests between 20 and 20,000 acres in size. They are sustainably managed for recreation, wildlife, water, and wood. To join Tree Farm, landowners develop a forest management plan and invite an inspecting forester to walk their woods with them to confirm eligibility and compliance with the ATFS standards of sustainability.
~ Story by Kathleen Preece, Minnesota Tree Farm. (Edited for length and clarity.)
Learn more about the careers of UMN forestry program alumni Jan Bernu and her husband Greg, a fellow forestry professional, in the spring 2022 issue of Forest Scene.