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Mission:
The Southern Forests Network
is a community
of people, organizations, and businesses
working to conserve private forestlands and cultivate sustainable
forest-based economies in the South. We believe that the key to
conserving our landscape, our forest-based heritage, and our rural
economies lies in facilitating forest management that is ecologically
responsible, economically sound, and socially just.
Vision:
Southern forests are among
the most ecologically and economically productive forests in the world. In many
Southern communities,
forests dominate our landscape, economies, and culture.
We believe that the key to conserving
our landscape, our heritage, and our rural economies lies in conserving
our forests, managing them sustainably to produce high-value forest
products, and establishing strong regional markets for local value-added
wood products.
Today, development pressures, changes in the
forest products industry, and declining forest health are creating uncertainty
about the future of our forests. In many cases, forest management is maximizing
ecological costs while minimizing the economic and social benefits to
landowners, workers, and communities.
Southern forests:
· harbor
some of the greatest wildlife diversity in the world- but are also home
to more threatened forest ecosystems than any other region in the US
· provide
clean water, clean air, and other ecosystem services- but none of us
have to pay for them, and landowners aren’t paid for providing them
· are
the world's largest producer of timber, producing more timber each year
than any other region in America or any other country in the world- yet
local communities do not benefit from this resource as much as they
should
· are
owned primarily by families and individuals who care about the land- but
they face the greatest development pressures on forests anywhere in the
US
The Southern Forests Network works to address these conditions by facilitating
the development of sustainable forest economies throughout the South.
Sustainable forest economies rely first on restoring and maintaining healthy
forest ecosystems, second on managing forests to produce useful goods or
services, and third on ensuring economic and social justice for landowners and
the people who make their living from the forest.
We are working to:
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Create active partnerships among landowners, forestry professionals,
local forest products businesses, conservation organizations, state
and federal agencies, educational and research institutions, and
economic development organizations.
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Provide landowners with tools and resources that help them practice
sustainable forestry and realize greater benefits from their
forestland.
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Enhance rural economies through local value-added processing of
sustainable forest products.
-
Develop markets for local & sustainable forest products.
Programs:
Facilitating Forest
Stewardship Council Certification
SFN's Group Certification Program
will begin providing FSC certification for private forestlands
in 2007.
Building Markets for Sustainable & Local Forest
Products
SFN works to develop market
opportunities for sustainable local forest products (including
non-timber products and forest ecosystem services) and support the
development of forest-based enterprises.
Organizing for Community Forestry
SFN works with individuals and
organizations to explore issues and strategies, develop
collaborative projects, build local capacity, and support innovative
leaders.
Staff:
Director, Alyx Perry
email Alyx
Alyx has been with SFN since its founding and
developed SFN’s Group Certification Program. She currently serves on the
Forest Stewardship Council’s Family Forest Standards Working Group, and
the governing boards of the FSC Family Forests Alliance, the National
Community Forestry Business Alliance, and the Southern Forestry
Foundation. Since 1995, Alyx has provided support to landowners,
businesses, and rural communities working to cultivate farm and forest
enterprises that protect ecosystems, enhance local economies, and
preserve the South’s land-based heritage. Alyx received a B.S. in
Agricultural & Resource Economics from Oregon State University in 1994.
Forestry Programs Coordinator,
Belinda Esham
email Belinda
Belinda joined SFN in August, 2007 with extensive experience in forest
certification and landowner support. Belinda earned her Master’s
in Forestry
and is currently completing her
PhD in Natural Resources
at the University
of Tennessee. She previously worked for the US Forest Service as the
Forest Stewardship Coordinator for the Virgin Islands, and as a
certification assessor and project coordinator for Smartwood (an FSC
certifying organization).
Steering Committee:
Steve Brooks, Executive Director, Virginia Forest Watch
Virginia Forest Watch is a grass-roots based
coalition of individuals and environmental groups organizing to maintain
and restore the natural ecology and biodiversity of woodlands across
Virginia through education and citizen participation. Steve is a forest
landowner and has also worked as Director of the Kentucky Welfare Rights
Organization, as a tenant farmer on a tobacco farm, and directing a five
county low-income housing program.
Joshua Dickinson, Executive Director, Forest Management Trust, Forest
Stewardship Council Board of Directors
Joshua is the Executive Director of the Forest
Management Trust and a member of the Forest Stewardship Council U.S.
board. Under his direction, the Forest Management Trust coordinated the
FSC Standard setting process for the Southeast US. Josh has a PhD in
Geography from the University of Florida with postdoctoral studies in
ecology at the University of Georgia. He was a founding principal of
Tropical Research and Development, a natural resources management
company that helped bring 2.5 million acres under FSC certification in
Bolivia. Currently the Trust is working closely with Handley
Forest Services to promote uneven-aged management of southern yellow
pine. Josh is restoring a pine-dominated ecosystem on family land in
Florida.
Harry Groot,
CEO, Blue Ridge Forest Cooperative
The Blue Ridge Forest Cooperative (BRFC) is a
member-owned business in southwest Virginia that helps its members
improve the value of their forest lands and increase the returns on
their timber harvests. BRFC products are certified through SFN's Group
Certification Program.
Harry worked in industry for 22 years in management and consulting
positions as a Professional Engineer.
He has managed an ecologically sustainable, socially responsible
forest products company since 1998 and is a frequent speaker and
contributor on sustainable forestry, sustainable agriculture, and
collaboration.
Don Handley, Consulting Forester/Registered Forester, Handley Forestry
Services
Don has been
practicing forestry for over 50 years in the South, and began working in
the woods logging as a teenager. He received his forestry degree from
Arkansas A&M University. Don served on the Forest Stewardship Council’s
Southeast Standards Working Group, and is known throughout the region
for his unique uneven-aged pine management system, a unique approach to
increasing the biodiversity in planted pine stands. He provides private
landowners with services such as forest management planning, forest
management, timber sale management, and certification consultation.
Dr. John Hodges, Forestry & Certification Consultant,
Mississippi State University (retired)
John received a BS in Forest Management from
Mississippi State University, MS in Silviculture and Ecology, and Ph.D.
in Plant Physiology/Ecology from the University of Washington.
He has worked for the U.S. Forest Service (10 years), taught
Silviculture and Ecology at Mississippi State University (20 years) and
served as VP and Land Manager for Anderson-Tully Company.
He is a lead assessor for Smartwood, an FSC certifier, and is
considered one of the foremost experts on sustainable forestry in the
nation. John is author or co-author of more than 150 scientific
publications and a fellow in the Society of American Foresters.
Larry Jarrett,
Chair, Natural Resources Initiative of North Mississippi
Larry is a sixth generation Mississippian whose family owns several
hundred acres of forest land. Larry received a B.S. in Business
Administration from Mississippi State University, has worked in various
capacities with the furniture manufacturing industry, and served as
President of the Pontotoc County Chamber of Commerce, Mississippi
Forestry Association and the Pontotoc Rotary Club. He currently serves
on the Board of the Nature Conservancy, Audubon Mississippi, Mississippi
State University College of Forest Resources advisory council, and is
Council member of the North Mississippi and Conservation Development
District. Larry is a founding member of the Group Certification Program
and represents SFN on WildLaw’s Board of Directors.
Dr. Susan Moore, Director, NC State University
Forestry and
Environmental Outreach Program
Susan has directed the Forestry and Environmental Outreach Program since
2000. Through workshops, short courses, tours, seminars and conferences,
the Program provides timely, relevant and unbiased information on
natural resource stewardship, use and conservation. Susan was the
project director for a dual forest certification project on NC State
University’s College Forests, has worked as a certification auditor for
FSC, and has presented workshops on FSC assessor training and group
certification. She created an extension publication on forest
certification for NC landowners, and developed a graduate course titled
Global Forest Sustainability. In 2006 Susan was awarded
the College of Natural Resources Outstanding Extension Service Award and
was inducted into the NC State University Academy of Outstanding Faculty
Engaged in Extension.
Kathlyn Terry, Business Operations Manager,
Appalachian Sustainable
Development
Appalachian Sustainable Development is a
not-for-profit organization working in 10 counties of the
Appalachian section of Virginia and Tennessee. The ultimate goal of
ASD's Sustainable Woods
project is to create a working model of market-based incentives for
community sustainability and forest conservation. ASD products are
certified through SFN's Group Certification Program. Kathlyn holds a
BBA degree in Marketing from Texas A&M University. She
has 20 years of experience in various business roles with a focus on
operations management and business process design and improvement.
Contact:
Southern Forests Network
(828) 277-9008
email
PO Box 941, Asheville, NC 28802
The Southern Forests Network is a
project of
WildLaw, a non-profit
environmental organization.
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