Maryland’s Mike Kay Awarded National Tree Farm Inspector of the Year for 2020
The Tree Farm program has been in existence since 1941 (this is the 80th anniversary of the program), and the Tree Farm Inspector of the Year Awards have been given since the 1970's. For the first time, Maryland has the winner for the National Tree Farm Inspector of the Year—Mike Kay.
Mike Kay easily ranks as the most productive Tree Farm Inspector in the entire state of Maryland, claiming the top spot in the state in 2020. In his assigned area of Frederick County, Mike has the highest number of Tree Farms enrolled in the program – 122 total – as well as the largest acreage – 17,405 acres. These are huge numbers in the state of Maryland – representing 15% of all Tree Farms in the state and 17% of the total acreage.
In 2020, Mike completed 62 Tree Farm Inspections in Frederick County, approximately 50% of the total number of Tree Farms, and covering 4,143 acres. In addition, Mike enrolled seven new Tree Farms in 2020 on 310 acres. Over the past five years, he has inspected a total of 168 Tree Farms on over 20,000 acres. He is also one of only three Maryland inspectors to be recognized with a “Gold” Hard Hat Award – in fact, he is almost a “Double Gold” Award winner, having enrolled a total of 188 new Tree Farms over his 33-year career!
Mike also regularly recognizes deserving landowners for Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year Award recognition. Although the state of Maryland did not nominate a Tree Farmer of the Year (TFOY) in 2020 due to COVID, Mike nominates a TFOY virtually every single year!
In addition, Mike was the nominator of the 2018 MD Tree Farm Inspector of the Year, Sean Weaver, who was eventually selected as the Northeast Region Inspector of the Year. It was under Mike’s guidance and mentoring that Sean became an Inspector, and Mike’s nomination of Sean is a true testament to Mike’s desire to see fellow colleagues receive deserved recognition. In addition, Mike has participated in every State Tree Farm Assessment in Maryland since he has enrolled such a high number of Tree Farms.
