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Southern Forests Network Launches 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

The Southern Forests Network has received Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for its new Group Certification Program. The 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.

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 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, a landowner in Mississippi and 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 southern Appalachian 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."

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.

Harry Groot is the founder and CEO of the Blue Ridge Forest Cooperative, a member-owned business serving forest landowners in the Virginia watersheds of the New River, the upper James River, and the upper Roanoke River watersheds of Virginia. BRFC member forests and the co-op’s manufacturing facilities are certified through the Southern Forests Network. “FSC certification recognizes the excellent forest practices we insist on and provides access to good markets for our products.  Group certification reduces our costs and simplifies the process, too.  We’ve been stewards of this land for thirty years and our children want to keep our farm and forest productive into the future.  Affordable certification and strong markets for FSC certified forest products will help us do that.” 

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 it[1].

“The entire Southern region is quickly losing our 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 Susan Moore, Director of the Forestry and Environmental Outreach Program with North Carolina State University Extension Forestry.

Family forests managed by Appalachian Sustainable Development are also being certified through the Group Certification Program. Appalachian Sustainable Development assists landowners with forest management, wood processing, and marketing.

“ASD is pursuing FSC certification for the same reason that we chose to have our produce certified organic.  We want our customers to have confidence that the wood products they purchase from Sustainable Woods enhance the local economy and support sound environmental practices. FSC certification will allow those who are not familiar with ASD and its mission to see this internationally recognized label and right away know that our products are environmentally friendly” explained Kathlyn Terry, Appalachian Sustainable Development’s Business Operations Manager.

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.

SFN’s partners in the development of the program include Appalachian Sustainable Development, Blue Ridge Forest Cooperative, the Natural Resources Initiative of North Mississippi, and North Carolina State University Extension Forestry. 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. The Southern Forests Network is a program of WildLaw, a nonprofit conservation organization working to defend the environmental integrity of human and natural communities in the South.