Some Thoughts on Sustainable Forestry

[SwampDonkey]

Paul aren't they looking at the PanCanadian Certification on Private woodlots out your way?

http://www.acoa.ca/e/media/press/press.shtml?ID=3270

[Paul_H]

I have lost track of all that to tell the truth.When the BC Forest Practices Code was implemented we had been operating under those guidlines for over a year in our District but that didn't satisfy the Preservationists.

Our entire crew spent many hours in the classroom and in the field receiving training in protecting Fish streams and wetlands,soil,oil,you name it. We learned acronym after acronym because thats how the FS likes to talk 

Then we went through the ISO 14001 (?) and then some more training so we could do work for the FS (I cleaned out a bunch of certification cards out of my wallet a couple of days ago) I think FSC was the new buzzword when we got out of the business but by conforming to the BCFPC,we had already been exceeding the standards of certification


It all boils down to butt covering and politicing and making consumers feel like they are making a difference.My feeling is the majority of forest companies in the States and Canada are already striving for sound foresty,certification or not.

[SwampDonkey]

I think in New Brunswick you need a minimum of 25 acres to participate. I have a feeling it's going down the same path as your suggesting Paul. They've been puttin on courses about certification since 1994 here. There were very few loggers at those courses and mostly weekend hobbyist. It's a good thing the database is funded by ACOA, they like to throw money around at ideas whether they are productive or not. ;D When your dealing with 39,000 woodlot owners in a little province, who's going to be employeed to run around looking at these woodlot operations, and who's gonna be paying the bill? Our average piece size is small and the quality isn't that great for the majority of wood harvested. Are we going to be able to follow certification and be able to make a living on small woodlots? The numbers suggest to me that it won't work, not for us. Very few woodlot owners (maybe 10 %) even know certification is being considered on woodlots, that's another reason it won't work. I don't even remember there being a vote by the membership and I've been to every annual meeting.  :

[MemphisLogger]

What's involved in having your operation certified?How much property is needed to make it worthwhile? Is your certification basically a Bond? Would it be fair to say that the financial burden rests solely on the property owner?

Paul,

Under FSC, you can opt to certify any size tract you'd like but the value of the certificate would rely on the availability of local market demand for the products coming off the land.

For example, certifying a tract that would be producing pulpwood would only be financially worthwhile if you had a pulpmill nearby that was producing FSC pulp and/or paper. If you're producing good grade sawlogs, you'd want to have a sawmill nearby that's producing FSC certified lumber.

Certification is basically an annually audited promise to follow a management plan that adheres to the principles of FSC. Basically, you pay an accredited certification auditor to review your plan and assure that the plan is followed.

The cost of the certification/auditing is borne by the landowner. In many cases, the lack of FSC markets or the size of the tract has made certification financially unfeasible. That's why FSC has recently adopted more streamlined, lower cost auditing proceedures available to smaller landowners. It's also the reason behind the creation of cost-sharing management cooperatives and conservation "landbanks".

In our case, we are certifying that our sawmill and planermill will only use lumber diverted from the landfill, sourced from development projects or purchased from FSC certified timberland. This is easy for us as currently only produce lumber from urban removals, trees cleared for developments or reclaimed timbers from demolitions. This makes auditing our operation relatively easy and cheap--$2000 up front and approximately $500/year thereafter.

Other operations that handle both FSC and non-FSC wood may see higher costs because auditing becomes far more complicated due to the necessity of keeping wood separated and trackable.

The benefits to a sawmill/kiln/planermill being certified include access to a growing market for FSC certified products, preferential treatment when bidding on timber from certified forests and free marketing opportunities through FSC.