FSC Family Forest Standard Moves Forward in Revision Process

(New Gloucester, Maine) – The FSC Family Forests Alliance, a national partnership of individuals and organizations committed to promoting responsible forest stewardship, has released a report on the results of the recent field testing of proposed revisions to group certification and the family forest standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).  The revisions include updates on policies for implementation and evaluation for group certificate holders and special provisions for family forestlands.

“The report outlines the results of the field testing, the potential impacts of the family forest standard and the changes that are in development,” says Kate Albert Read, Secretariat for the Alliance and Director of Harvest Certification and Research for the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands.

The FSC’s Family Forest specific standard is the result of 2 years of work by the Family Forest Working Group and several other technical groups. These groups have helped identify the challenges facing family forest certification.

“The Alliance has been an active participant in the revision process from day-one and we continue to contribute to the advancement of family forest owner interests within the FSC program,” says Albert-Read.

From April 8-10, 2009 the FSC-International Center, staff from FSC-US and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources cooperated to pilot test draft policies related to group forest management and the proposed FSC-US Family Forests Standard.

“The field test included a review of the approach that Wisconsin has taken to certifying family forestlands through the Managed Forest Law Program which includes nearly 30,000 woodland owners and about 2 million acres of forestland,” says Albert-Read.

The field test participants visited certified family forestlands in Sauk County, WI, and WI DNR staff organized the visits.  The main objective was to evaluate how applicable, reasonable, and auditable the proposed indicators are through a simulated field audit and intensive critical discussion.

After field-testing, further revisions will be made to the Family Forests standard, and these revisions will be followed by two 60-day public comment periods.

For more information and to access the full report, visit:
http://www.familyforestsalliance.org

Direct link to download the report:
http://tcnef.org/uploads/documents/FFA-Observations-Report.pdf

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About the FSC Family Forests Alliance

In 2007, the core organizers of the FSC Family Forest Alliance hosted an inaugural national gathering at the Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin, and the outcomes of that gathering defined the Alliance’s first Action Plan. Since that meeting the Alliance has been focused on efforts to develop family forest standards as a part of the FSC standards revision process. The Alliance partners have also initiated carbon credit projects for family forest owners, supported marketing alliances and participated in FSC’s global efforts with small forest holders.

Since 2007, the FSC Family Forests Alliance (FFA) has pursued four primary purposes:

* Advocate for FSC policies, public policies, and procurement policies that better serve FSC-certified family forests.

* Operate as a forum to share information and strategies for successful models of certification, forest management, policy development, and market development.

* Provide more visible networks and membership opportunities for family forest owners who feel underserved by existing forest management models and landowner organizations.

* Work collaboratively to develop new resources and tools for group certification programs.

For more information, visit:
http://www.familyforestsalliance.org

Dovetail Partners, Inc. is a member of the FSC Family Forests Alliance.