Dovetail Report: May 2006
Innovations in Family Forest Certification

What's Happening & What's Needed

Kathryn Fernholz

To request a hardcopy, please call or email for ordering information.
The full text of this report is available in Adobe PDF format (532 kb) .

Introduction

Certification has increasingly become common practice for owners and managers of large forest holdings.   Industrial interests, state and county land management agencies, forest license holders, land trusts, and even TIMOs [1] and REITs [2] in North America are participating in forest certification programs.  

However, even as certification on these large ownerships continues to expand, a cost effective certification solution for small landowners in the United States continues to be elusive.   A previous Dovetail Report explored the specifics of both the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and American Tree Farm System (ATFS) programs and their relevance to small forest ownerships [3] .  

This current report on Innovations in Family Forest Certification provides information about recent research related to the certification of family forestlands in the United States, efforts being made by the ATFS and FSC programs to improve access to certification for small ownerships, and some key barriers and areas where continued effort is needed.


[1] Timber Investment Management Organizations (TIMOs): Private companies acting as investment managers for institutional clients, primarily pension funds, endowments and wealthy individuals.   Timberlands are owned as illiquid direct investments or partnership shares, generally in separate accounts, but frequently in pooled funds.   Examples include The Campbell Group, The Hancock Timber Resource Group and Forest Capital Partners.
[2] Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs): Companies focusing mostly or exclusively on timberland ownership with a high degree of liquidity through the public trading of shares on a stock exchange. Examples include Rayonier, Plum Creek and Potlatch.
[3] Dovetail Partners. 2004. “Family Forests, Tree Farm, and FSC” Available at: http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailFamilyForests.html



Download the full text of this report. (PDF)