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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Larry Jarrett, Chair, Natural Resources Initiative of North Mississippi

662-489-9708, lnj@hughes.net

 

Alyx Perry, Director, Southern Forests Network

828-277-9008, alyx@southernsustainableforests.org

 

Local Landowners are Pioneers in First Regional FSC

Certification Program for Family Forests in the South

New program facilitates access to certification and emerging markets for family forests and local forest-based businesses

 

Several local landowners recently received Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for their forests through the Southern Forests Network’s new Group Certification Program. The Southern Forests Network’s Group Certification Program is the first of its kind in the South, and was developed to provide family forest owners, local forest-based businesses, and distributors of forest products with access to FSC certification. The Southern Forests Network developed the program in partnership with the Natural Resources Initiative of North Mississippi, which brings together federal, state and local representatives from the natural resources and economic development sectors to protect and sustain our natural resources while promoting business development opportunities.

 

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, comparable to organic certification in farming, is widely recognized as the most credible certification system for forest management. Because FSC certification is relatively inaccessible to most private landowners and small businesses due to the cost and administrative requirements, it has been slow to catch on in the South, where family-owned forests dominate the landscape. Working in cooperation with the Natural Resources Initiative of North Mississippi, grassroots landowner groups, consulting foresters, and extension agencies, the Southern Forests Network began developing its Group Certification Program in 2006.

 

“The Southern Forests Network’s Group Certification Program makes it affordable for landowners like me to participate in forest certification that otherwise would be difficult to implement and cost prohibitive. We are pleased to be part of a program that creates a marketplace that promotes well managed forests by ensuring forestry practices that are environmentally responsible, socially equitable, and economically viable” said Larry Jarrett. Larry is the Chair of the Natural Resources Initiative of North Mississippi, and is one of the founding members of the program.

 

Jim Sitts is the Appalachian Timber Manager for Columbia Forest Products. "We operate two decorative hardwood plywood plants in the region and green building products are the fastest growing part of our business. As a Forest Stewardship Council certified company we are always in the market for FSC certified wood to use in our products, but supplies in the South are extremely limited. We are excited that the Southern Forest Network is facilitating certification for private forests in the region."

 

Family forests in the South produce more timber than any other sector of the U.S. timber industry. The globalization of the timber industry, loss of wood products manufacturing facilities in our region, and increasing rural property values have significantly diminished the economic feasibility of forestland ownership for landowners. In addition, past forestry practices and various environmental threats have diminished the ecological health and productivity of Southern forests. As a result, the South faces the greatest rates of forestland loss anywhere in America. Southern forests are among the most ecologically and economically productive forests in the world, yet there are more threatened forest ecosystems in the South than in any other region of the U.S.

 

"As forest landowners we knew we needed to manage our property well but were frustrated because most management practices we were reading about were financially motivated. This did not correspond with our values. We want to be part of a communal effort to improve things in the forest environment in addition to enjoying the economic benefits associated with forest management. The support materials and the network SFN provides have allowed us to do that” said Jim and Kathleen Sullivan, who have also certified their property.

 

The Southern Forests Network has certified landowners and businesses in Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia, and plans to expand certification and other programs throughout the region. The Southern Forests Network is one of several community organizations in the U.S. pioneering FSC certification programs for family forestlands, but is one of only 3 group FSC chain-of-custody certification programs for mills and small businesses in the U.S.

 

“The traditions of producing timber, medicinal plants, and other forest products have provided the economic foundation for sustaining the South’s forest landscape and our forest-based heritage for generations. If we want to conserve what’s left of our forests, we’ve got to make it work economically. FSC certification provides a framework both for excellent forest management and for developing specialized markets that make it feasible. The most innovative landowners, forestry professionals, and businesses are already demanding it” explained Alyx Perry, Director of the Southern Forests Network.

 

“The Southern region is quickly losing forests and their ability to provide wildlife habitat, clean air and water, and forest-based livelihoods simply because forestland ownership has become such a financial challenge for family forest owners. Those concerned with forest conservation and those who make their living from the forest are coming together to sustain our forest products industries for the sake of both our economies and our ecosystems,” said John Hodges, who recently retired from Mississippi State University’s Department of Forestry and now works as a professional consultant on forest management and certification.

 

A University of Tennessee survey of forestland owners found that while only 3 percent of landowners surveyed had familiarity with forest certification, when given a definition of forest certification 81 percent said they would consider it1.

 

SmartWood, an FSC-accredited certifier conducted the certification evaluation of the Southern Forests Network’s Group Certification Program. “Responsible forest stewardship is clearly a core value of most family forest owners, and access to markets that recognize those values is long overdue. Through the leadership of the Southern Forest Network, these landowners can be assured of a very high standard of forest management, and can also participate in the fast-growing marketplace for FSC-certified wood products.” said Dave Bubser, SmartWood’s US Region Manager.

 

The development of the Group Certification Program was supported by investments from the Merck Family Fund, Town Creek Foundation, US Department of Agriculture, and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. The Southern Forests Network (SFN) is a regional network of landowners, forestry professionals, and businesses working to conserve private forestlands and cultivate sustainable forest-based economies in the South.

 

For more information go to: www.southernforestsnetwork.org

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1 Mercker, David, Forest Certification for Family-owned Forests: Who will certify and why?, Renewable Resource Notes,

University of Tennessee Extension, May 2006.