Forest Resources : Sustainable Forestry Initiative^(SM)

The SFI(sm) Program: Doing Well by Doing Good

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative(sm) Program enables landowners, loggers, and forest product producers to meet market demand for quality hardwood forest products while meeting the increasing public demand for environmentally sound practices.

The SFI(sm) Program requires participants to be responsible stewards of the land–an obligation to current and future generations of Americans. In fact, in today’s increasingly competitive environment, demonstrating that you are a contributing part of an environmentally responsible organization can be a decisive advantage in doing business.

The SFI(sm) Program has 3 major components.

• It fosters sound forest management among its participants;
• It allows members to verify their adherence to these principles; and
• It promotes sound environmental practices throughout the forest industry.

"Becoming a licensee will help us assure our constituents that St. Louis County manages its forests in a responsible and sustainable manner."

--Dave Epperly, Land Commissioner, St. Louis County, MN

Who Developed the SFI(sm) Program?

The SFI(sm) Program was developed by professional foresters, conservationists and scientists. They were inspired by the concept of sustainable forestry that evolved out of the 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, which was adopted later by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The SFI(sm) Program was adopted in 1994 by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA). To some, this seemed a bold step. But the SFI(sm) Program was simply a logical extension of individual practices of many in the forest industry. It is a means of demonstrating in public what already was being practiced in private–sound, sustainable forest management.

What are the principles?

The SFI(sm) Program Standard spells out the principles and objectives of the SFI(sm) Program, and the steps necessary to implement and comply with them. These principles call on participants to meet market demand while promoting the protection of wildlife, plants, soil, air and water quality.

What are the objectives?

SFI(sm) Program standard objectives translate principles into action. These objectives promote

• Broadening the practice of sustainable forestry;
• Ensuring prompt reforestation;
• Protecting water quality;
• Enhancing wildlife habitat;
• Minimizing the visual impact of harvesting;
• Protecting special sites;
• Contributing to biodiversity;
• Continuing improvements in wood utilization
• Continuing prudent use of forest chemicals to ensure forest health.

In short, the SFI(sm) Program calls upon participants to:

• Foster sustainable forestry practices on all forestlands;
• Measure and publicly report their progress
• Provide opportunities for public outreach.

These objectives have specific performance measures to gauge progress. These performance measurements enable participants to quantify their results and provide tangible proof of adherence to the SFI(sm) Program Standard.

Because of the wide diversity of forest types and conditions, the SFI(sm) Program recognizes that implementation guidelines will be most effective if they are tailored to the unique forest conditions at the regional, ownership or site level. For this reason, participants adopt performance measures that are most appropriate for their own forest conditions, provided they are fully consistent with or exceed the spirit and intent of objectives.

What are the performance standards?

Timber Quality

Participants are called upon to manage their forests to promote timber size and quality. They report actions taken to promote increases in average diameter and quality of standing timber and they monitor and report size/quality trends.

Prompt Regeneration

Participants promise to reforest harvested areas in a prompt manner to ensure long-term productivity, sustainable yields and conservation of resources. For example, if they use planned natural regeneration methods, they will act to ensure site regeneration in 5 years. If they use even-aged silviculture as a management prescription, they will reforest by planting or seeding within 2 years.

They also monitor and report their overall rate of success in reforestation.

Water Quality

Participants establish riparian protection measures and utilize Best Management Practices in all forest management operations. They meet or exceed all applicable state and federal water quality laws and regulations. They monitor research into water quality methods, and seek to apply the practices shown to be most effective in protecting water quality.

Biodiversity

Participants clearly define their plans to promote habitat diversity with regard to the conservation of plant and populations associated with forest stands. They work to conserve and enhance diversity in plant and animal populations found in forest communities. They keep abreast of the practices shown to be most effective in conserving diversity, and they monitor their progress in these areas.

Is there an expert review?

An Independent Expert Review Panel, consisting of 18 independent experts from conservation, environmental, professional, academic, and public organizations, reviews the success of the SFI(sm) Program as a whole. It ensures the integrity of the Annual Report, which summarizes the status of SFI(sm) Program implementation. This panel does not, however, review individual company data.

How do participants verify compliance?

To help meet increasing public interest in environmental stewardship, SFI(sm) Program members may choose to participate in SFI(sm) Program Voluntary Verification, which applies a rigorous and consistent review of individual companies and their conformance with the SFI(sm) Program Standard.

Companies may also conduct self-verification, have the customer or another company verify compliance, or contract an independent third party to verify compliance.

Regardless of which verification approach participants choose, auditors must meet rigorous educational and professional criteria and the method of conducting the audit must be uniform.

What are the benefits of participation?

Participation in SFI(sm) Program means affiliation with a nationally known and respected environmental organization. Participants may

• Use the SFI(sm) Program logo on printed materials
• Gain greater access to professional foresters throughout the U.S.
• Increase their involvement in community outreach and education programs
• Participate in the Voluntary Verification Program
• Benefit from the awards and recognition earned by the SFI^SM Program

Praise for SFI(sm) Program

The SFI(sm) Program has received praise from a variety of sources:

• National Wild Turkey Federation’s Land Stewardship Award, 2001.
• Renew America/President’s Council for Sustainable Development, National Award for Sustainability in Forests and Rangeland 1999.
• 1998 Summit Award from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
• 1997 Business Conservation Leadership Award from National Association of Conservation Districts.
• Renew America/President’s Council for Sustainable Development, National Award for Sustainability in Forests and Rangeland 1999.
• Certificate of Appreciation in 1996 at 50th anniversary ceremonies of U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The legislatures of several states–Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia–have passed resolutions of support for the SFI(sm) Program. Missouri has done so through an executive order.

Organizations Supporting the Goals of the SFI(sm) Program

• American Bird Conservancy
• American Forests
• American Tree Farm System
• American Legislative Exchange Council
• Arkansas Wildlife Federation
• Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, UBC
• The Conservation Fund
• Conservation Federation of Missouri
• Council of State Governments
• Ducks Unlimited
• Forest Resources Association
• International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
• Longleaf Alliance
• Michigan United Conservation Clubs
• National Association of Conservation Districts
• National Association of Professional Forestry Schools and Colleges
• National Association of State Foresters
• National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
• National Fisheries Institute
• National Hardwood Lumber Association
• National Tree Trust
• National Wild Turkey Federation
• National Woodland Owners Association
• Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association
• PACE International Union
• Pulp and Paper Workers Resource Council
• Quality Deer Management Association
• Quail Unlimited
• Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
• Ruffed Grouse Society
• Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
• Society of American Foresters
• South Carolina Wildlife Federation
• Southern Council of Industrial Workers, UBC
• Tree Musketeers
• United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America
• United Mine Workers of America
• USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
• Western Council of Industrial Workers, UBC
• Wildlife Habitat Council
• Wildlife Management Institute
• The Wildlife Society
• Woodworkers District Lodge #1, IAM
• Woodworkers District Lodge #2, IAM

More About Sustainable Forest Management

There is an important but often overlooked distinction between deforestation and timber harvesting. Developing countries sometimes clear trees for agriculture, grazing and other uses. But in North America, woodlands are typically reforested after harvest to grow a future forest. We call this sustainable forestry. Today, the U.S. has virtually the same number of forested acres it had in 1920, and hardwood saw timber has doubled since 1952. We are not deforesting the United States. We are voluntarily replacing what we use, without government regulation.

Each year Americans plant at least 1.6 billion trees–about six trees for every one we use. Of this total, about half are planted by forest products companies. And these figures actually understate the nation’s true reforestation rate as they do not include millions of hardwood trees that are not planted because they regenerate naturally.

As a result of this reforestation record, the growth of U.S. forests exceeds the amount harvested by 33 percent. Trees are a renewable resource and we are renewing them.

Forest products companies own only 14 percent of all the timberland in the U.S., compared with private individuals who own 59 percent, and public agencies which own 27 percent. Yet forest products companies each year plant 43 percent of all the trees planted in the United States on little more than 1 million acres of industry timberland.

Forest products companies employ numerous wildlife scientists and have spend millions of dollars each year to improve forest habitat for wildlife. Wildlife conservation programs have been initiated on commercial timberlands in every region of the country.

Forest and paper companies have donated more than one million acres of land for conservation, recreation or other special uses.

Compared to other building products, forest products are probably the most environmentally beneficial. Not only is the raw material renewable, but wood products require far less energy to produce than equal amounts of aluminum, steel or cement. Manufacturing wood and paper products also emits far less carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, methane and other gases than processing non-wood substitutes.

Young, growing forests remove more carbon and generate more oxygen than old forests. Wood stores carbon dioxide and returns oxygen to the atmosphere. To grow a pound of wood, for example, a typical tree consumes about a pound and a half of carbon dioxide and releases a little over a pound of oxygen. Altogether, U.S. forests remove about nine percent of the nation’s total carbon dioxide emissions.

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