From the Daily Press, by Rick Olivo
Bayfield County's county forests, and all of the state's 2.4 million acres of county owned and managed forest lands have reached a coveted goal of forest certification, a milestone that will ensure they will remain competitive in an increasingly environmentally conscious timber market.
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle recently accepted documents of certification for the Wisconsin County Forests. Collectively, the County Forests represent the largest public landholding in the state. The certification includes forestlands in 27 counties. Certification of the County Forests follows similar certification of the State Forests in the summer of 2004.
"Receiving this certification highlights the excellent management of our county forest lands and ultimately ensures that Wisconsin producers will continue to be able to compete in the global marketplace," Doyle said. "Certification is crucial to addressing the growing demand for certified forest products from many of the large purchasers of Wisconsin products, particularly in the pulp and paper industry and fits with my 'Grow Wisconsin' initiative."
Forest certification is a process in which a forest landowner undergoes an audit of their practices by an independent third party organization. If the forest practices of the landowner meet the standards for long-term sustainability identified by the certifying body, certification can be awarded. Certification was awarded through both the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
The working relationship between county forests and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources provides the opportunity for the County Forest Program to be audited under a group certification format. The DNR will serve as the group manager and the individual county forests will be participating members.
"This certification represents the partnership between county and state government," Doyle said. "It's a unique partnership that stretches back 76 years and it's a great example how local governments and state agencies can work together in addressing statewide needs."
SFI and FSC are the two most widely accepted forest certification systems in North America. This 27 county group certification represents the largest single award of certification ever issued for public land under the SFI program said SFI lead auditor, Mike Ferrucci, NSF International and Scientific Certification Systems, provided the evaluation and certification.
"Wood products originating from the county forests can now be marked under the SFI and FSC designations as having been grown and harvested in a way that will assure long term sustainability for biological, social and economic benefits," State Forester Paul DeLong said.
"Our County Forest people have felt for a long time that they have been doing things right," said Wisconsin County Forest Association director, Colette Matthews. "They are extremely proud of the management being done on these forest lands. Having their work verified by the certification systems confirms their beliefs and gives all those who work on the County Forests a reason to feel very proud of their accomplishments".
It's not the first time that Bayfield County has looked into forest certification, says County Forester Paul Lundberg.
"The county started looking into a certification program under SmartWood in the late 90s. They looked into it but it kind of died down," he said. "Within the last couple of years, the major corporations and fiber consumers, primarily Time-Warner, are saying because of pressures being put on them worldwide from environmental groups, that they needed to make sure every piece of paper, every magazine was coming from a forest that was properly managed."
Lundberg said paper and fiber product buyers are increasingly insisting that forests where their finished products originate be certified by an independent third party.
"A couple of the major ones in the world right now are SFI and FSC," Lundberg said. Lundberg said when Time-Warner made their decision to require certification, it sent ripples all through the lumber industry.
"We had people come down from Consolidated Paper, Plum Creek. Now they get a lot of their fiber off of the Bayfield County Forest, and all the county forests. They said they are on a track, within a couple of years they have to have at least 50 percent of their fiber from certified forests. In another year it's higher, until within a few years virtually all of their fiber will be coming from these forests."
Lundberg noted that the county forests, like most public forests are narrowly regulated on how they manage their forests. He said he originally questioned the need for a third party to oversee their forest management.
Nevertheless, the direction the industry is heading in is clear.
"If you didn't have your forest certified, and they had to buy only certified wood, they would be looking somewhere else."
Lundberg says because of the professional nature of the county-DNR partnership in forest management, qualifying for certification has been relatively easy.
"The group that came to do the certification didn't come to all the forests. They visited 84 sites and they said we would be able to be certified," he said.
The certifiers found no major problems in the state's county forests and only a few minor non-conformities related to record keeping and best management practices for soil conservation, Lundberg said.
"They did some intensive monitoring of best management practices last summer and I think they found the county forests were somewhere like 93 to 96 percent in compliance, which isn't bad," he said.
One area that will see changes is in requirements for training of loggers. "They wanted to see that we were really promoting the certified logger program. The state does that right now, and says that you have to have certified loggers on state contracts. The counties will be getting into that in the next year. It will also be required on our contracts," he said.
Certification of loggers lead to a better-trained logger, Lundberg said, something that carried advantages wherever that logger is employed, on private and public land.
Lundberg said the forest certification process included recommendations for improvements in the county forests along with the findings of minor deficiencies. He said at some future date these recommendations for improvements could become requirements.
"You need to continually improve," he said. "What the certifying groups want to see is that we are on a continuously improving program."
