Sustainable Forestry Initiative Research Articles

A modified co-production framework for improved cross-border collaboration in sustainable forest management and conservation of forest bird populations

The border between Canada and the United States poses jurisdictional challenges when it comes to consistently implementing science-based conservation of forests and their biological communities. Through a partnership with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Boreal Avian Modelling Project, and American Bird Conservancy, we developed a co-production framework to conduct research that will inform forest management practices for bird conservation in the cross-border region of Bird Conservation Region 12. Our framework first responds to the needs of resource managers and other perceived stakeholders, while investing in relationship-building for long term trust as a foundation for future partnerships with Indigenous rights holders and landowners. Our central question was: How can sustainably managed forests create and/or maintain high quality breeding habitat to support forest bird populations that are resilient to climate change? Engaging with experts in Canada and the United States, we found that the main driver for addressing our central question was our limitation in connecting bird population responses to specific forest management practices. We describe how experts are contributing avian count and forest inventory data that researchers will use to produce a requested decision-support tool. We continue to engage with land managers to link forest resource inventory data to specific forest management practices and refine the components of products by including more diverse perspectives.

A spatial dependence approach to assessing the impacts of Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s Fiber Sourcing certification on forestry Best Management Practices in Georgia, United States

Understanding the effectiveness of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Fiber Sourcing (SFI-FS) standard in increasing/sustaining a high forestry Best Management Practices (BMP) implementation rate is critical for the overall sustainability of southern forestlands. We analyze the impacts of SFI-FS standard on the forestry BMP implementation rate in Georgia, United States, by considering the locations of certified and non-certified mills between 2002 and 2019. The results show each increasing non-certified sourcing area overlap reduces BMP rates by 0.15%, while the same rate goes up by 0.08% overall with each increasing certified sourcing overlap. Moreover, the results of the spatial analyses indicate that neighbors' certified overlaps have a negative effect on average forestry BMP rates associated with a sourcing mill, even though the overall effect is positive. An increase in own harvesting area and mill size reduces BMP rates by 0.056%, but an increase for neighboring sourcing mills increases them by 0.063%, showing an overall positive effect of these two variables. These findings reflect the supply chain inefficiency brought on by concurrent contracting behavior between small mills and their larger certified neighbors. BMP rates are higher in the mill sourcing area by 0.023%, with each increase in the presence of perennial streams, further indicating that loggers are adequately following BMPs in areas that have perennial streams. Our overall results show that spatial dependence is an essential mechanism for ascertaining the effectiveness of SFI-FS standard at large spatial scales.

Impacts of Sustainable Forestry Initiative fiber sourcing on the forestry best management practices and biodiversity conservation in the SE United States

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Fiber Sourcing Standard (FSS) aims to extend the reach of sustainable forest management onto uncertified forestlands through the use of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for water quality and other requirements intended to promote multiple conservation outcomes. Conservation of biological diversity is one of the pillars of the SFI FSS, yet no study has examined its effect on biodiversity conservation at the landscape level. We analyzed BMP implementation rates (inside, outside, and within overlapped wood baskets of certified wood-consuming mills) across five levels (very high, high, medium, low, and very low) biodiversity habitats to measure the impact of the SFI FSS in four states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina) in the SE United States. BMP implementation rates were not significantly different inside, outside, or within multiple wood baskets of mills certified to the SFI FSS. We also find that the SFI FSS facilitates the same level of adherence to sustainable forest practices across various levels of biodiversity habitats, regardless of the presence or absence of imperiled species. High compliance rates across the region indicate that all tracts of land, irrespective of biodiversity categories, typically receive the same level of conservation attention. In this context, the SFI FSS is broadening the reach of sustainable forest management beyond certified forests in the SE United States.

The portrayal of forest certification in national and state newspapers of the United States

Forest certification has emerged as a market-based tool to safeguard the sustainability of the world's forests. Since media can shape public opinion, this study examines media treatment of forest certification in the United States, the world's largest producer and consumer of forest products. This study utilizes 309 print and digital newspaper articles published in the United States between 1989 and 2019 to evaluate which aspects of certification are highlighted, which are favored, and how these vary by region. We found that coverage of forest certification is overwhelmingly positive at both the regional (85%) and national (90.7%) levels. Environmental themes are most discussed nationally (48.8%) and regionally (36%), but thematic emphasis differs regionally. Although the Forest Steward Council is the most covered certification scheme at the national level, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative certification scheme prevails in southern media outlets. The focus of articles related to the American Tree Farm System (ATFS) is mostly sociocultural. This was expected as the ATFS focuses on certifying forestlands of family forest landowners in the United States. Our findings suggest newspaper coverage of forest certification is geographically heterogeneous, with regions establishing their preferred themes and schemes. This research will better situate forest certification as a tool for sustainable forest management in the United States.

The role of a fiber sourcing standard in the sustainable management of forests in Georgia, United States

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Fiber Sourcing (FS) standard fosters responsible fiber procurement by certified wood-consuming mills. This study assesses the effectiveness of the SFI-FS standard in increasing the implementation of forestry best management practices (BMPs) and quantifies its impact by surveying logging companies and certified mills in Georgia, United States. About 55% of the logging companies who responded to our mail survey indicated that the SFI-FS standard had increased the statewide BMP implementation rate. Environmental benefits topped the list of perceived benefits of BMPs, while BMP implementation costs and operational difficulties were the most frequently reported concerns. In 2019, the average BMP implementation rate of loggers trained under the Georgia Master Timber Harvester (GAMTH) program was 6.3% higher than non-GAMTH loggers. Certified mills reported consuming a combined roundwood volume equivalent to about 72% of the total roundwood consumed in Georgia. Moreover, we find that a) logging companies with larger capital investments, and b) certified mills engaging with the loggers in terms of communication of conservation practices, may fare better towards increasing BMP implementation. Our results indicate that the SFI-FS standard positively influences the sustainability of forest resource management on non-certified forestlands in Georgia. Our findings directly relate to the sustainability of 116 million hectares of forestland owned by families across the United States.

An Evaluation of Crown Forest Management in Ontario from a Free Market Environmentalist Approach

This paper analyzes the forestry and logging industry in Crown forests in Ontario. We present historical trends on harvested areas, employment, revenue collected by the province, biophysical impacts, and revenue from the industry. We discuss the institutional context of Crown forest management in Ontario which includes a description of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) and NGOs such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the Forest Stewardship Council. We conclude that the current management of Crown forests in Ontario is not achieving maximum potential, as we found that there is a decline in employment and revenue from the industry. We recommend a Free Market Environmentalist (FME) approach to Crown forest management in Ontario. This approach involves common property management and the establishment of Forest Trusts. Current management does not take into account externalities that FME would, which could enhance potential in order to achieve maximum employment and revenue. There is a lack of biophysical data being collected to document the impact on key wildlife species and there is a lack of transparency regarding the management of crown forests by the MNRF. The Haliburton forest was used as case study which emulates an example of a FME approach.

Effects of the sustainable forestry initiative fiber sourcing standard on the average implementation rate of forestry best management practices in Georgia, United States

Much of the discourse on the sustainability of forestry resources revolves around certified forestland. It is typically assumed that certified forestland is the hallmark of sustainable forestry. This reasoning has led to a general perception that uncertified forestlands are not sustainably managed. In this regard, the role of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Fiber Sourcing Standard is instrumental in promoting sustainable forest management on uncertified forestlands. We used an advanced spatial approach to determine the influence of the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard over space and time on Georgia's forestlands. We also assessed differences in the implementation rate of forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) in Georgia on harvested sites located within the sourcing radius of mills certified to SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard relative to those harvest sites located outside the sourcing radius of certified mills. Our results suggest that the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard affects 80% or more of total forestland in Georgia. We also found that the average BMP implementation rate on harvested sites located within the sourcing radius (about 65 km) of certified mills is about 2% higher relative to harvested sites located outside the sourcing radius of such mills over time. Our results indicate that the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard is helping in ensuring sustainability of forestlands in Georgia, as forestry BMPs are an important indicator of sustainable forest management. We hope our results will bring clarity to the overall sustainability of uncertified forestlands in Georgia and other forested regions in North America in the context of global private forest governance systems like the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard.

An evaluation of the UK's use of SFM standards to procure solid woody biomass for electricity generation using sustainable bioenergy criteria

The threat of climate change and depletion of its fossil fuels has pushed the UK to aggressively pursue renewable energy sources for power production. According to its National Renewable Energy Action Plan, the UK hopes to generate 30% of its electricity demand by 2020 from renewable sources, with energy from biogenic sources accounting for approximately 22.3% of renewable generation. The UK requires that all woody biomass imported to help meet these renewable electricity goals provide evidence of legal and sustainable sourcing and, at a minimum, save 60% in GHG emissions compared to fossil fuels. Under its Timber Standard for Heat & Electricity, the UK recognizes woodfuel imported from US forests certified by Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as meeting this requirement. This study evaluates SFI and FSC sustainable forest management certification programs using criteria found in the scholarly literature for sustainable bioenergy feedstock production. The author argues that the sustainability of UK woody biomass imports for electricity would be improved by coupling sustainable forest management programs with a bioenergy sustainability scheme as designed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials.

A comparison of avian habitat in forest management plans produced under three different certification systems in Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACTConsiderable discussion and theoretical reviews of forest certification systems have been published that outline the potential impact of forest certification on biodiversity and wildlife habitat. Three common approaches to forest certification used in Canada include the Forest Stewardship Council, the Canadian Standards Association, and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. In this study, I reviewed forest management plans in Ontario, Canada, and compared the plans' potential impact on habitat for 6 species of birds that use mature and older forests: pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), ruby‐crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula), boreal chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus), black‐backed woodpecker (Picoides arcticus), great gray owl (Strix nebulosa), and red‐breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis). The purpose was to determine whether the different certification systems in use resulted in different impacts on avian habitat, and to compare certified forest management plans with plans prepared for un‐certified forest units. Based on 27 Forest Management Plans in Ontario, there seems to be little reason to believe that certified forests are more likely to protect and conserve habitat for these 6 bird species that use older forests than are forests that are not certified. © 2014 The Wildlife Society.

Impacts of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Forest Certification in North America

We conducted e-mail surveys of organizations that had received forest management certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in the United States and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) in the United States and Canada to determine if forest certification has changed forest management practices and if the changes are practically and statistically different between systems. The results indicate that forest certification prompted substantial changes in practices. On average, firms implemented 13‐14 changes in forestry, environmental, social, and economic/system practices to obtain or maintain forest certification. Although there was no statistical difference between systems in the total number of changes, there were many differences in the implementation of specific forest practices, with FSC firms required to make more environmental/forest management changes and SFI firms required to make more economic/system changes. Forest managers believed that the benefits of forest certification were greater than the disadvantages. SFI managers rated the benefits of forest certification higher than FSC managers, but also rated the disadvantages higher. Most organizations felt certification accomplished their objectives and were likely to recertify, thus indicating their endorsement of the process.

The efficacy of forest certification: Perceptions of Canadian forest products retailers

A nation-wide survey of wood products retailers was conducted to examine their perceptions related to forest certification and its impacts in the market place. Four widely accepted forest certification standards were taken into account: International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) 14001, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z809 Standard. The survey inquired about the economic impacts of forest certification, namely wood purchasing policies and the potential for price premiums on certified wood products. The responses indicated that most retailers had no particular purchasing policies for certified products. However, they reported up to a 20% price premium on certain certified products, although the number of consumers who request certified wood products was small (less than 10%). The retailers also indicated that the most important reasons for buying or selling certified forest products revolved around improved company image, being an environmental leader in the field, and maintaining or increasing market share. Finally, respondents felt that forest certification had minimal impacts on the social aspects of forest management, while the environmental and economic aspects of forest management were perceived to be subject to more marked changes.

Predictive Habitat Modeling of Rare Plant Species in Pacific Northwest Forests

Abstract Certification requirements associated with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative include efforts to identify and protect occurrences of endangered plant species. Habitat models were constructed in this study using maximum entropy and random forest algorithms to generate independent predictions for four selected rare plants, Castilleja chambersii, Erythronium elegans, Filipendula occidentalis, and Sidalcea nelsoniana, associated with divergent physical environments. Explanatory variables used to model rare plant occurrence included Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus spectral imagery, spectral-based vegetation indices, climatic data, and several terrain variables derived from a digital elevation model. Models were trained with known occurrence records obtained from the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center. Subsequent field surveys were conducted to acquire randomly located test data for comparative model evaluation. A range of accuracy statistics was computed that indicated generally high prediction accuracy for both methods. Model performance was highest for species with narrow, well-defined ecological requirements at scales comparable to the resolution of the calibration data. Species with relatively broad ecological distributions or with extremely specific habitat requirements were less accurately predicted. Random forest-based models generally produced higher rates of prediction success than maximum entropy when model performance was limited by the ecology of a species. Field surveys identified 22 previously unknown populations of the target rare plants, suggesting the efficacy of habitat models for predicting rare species occurrence and their utility as a prescriptive tool for land management planning.

Comparing Sustainable Forest Management Certifications Standards: A Meta-analysis

To solve problems caused by conventional forest management, forest certification has emerged as a driver of sustainable forest management. Several sustainable forest management certification systems exist, including the Forest Stewardship Council and those endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, such as the Canadian Standards Association – Sustainable Forestry Management Standard CAN/CSA Z809 and Sustainable Forestry Initiative. For consumers to use certified products to meet their own sustainability goals, they must have an understanding of the effectiveness of different certification systems. To understand the relative performance of three systems, we determined: (1) the criteria used to compare the Forest Stewardship Council, Canadian Standards Association – Sustainable Forestry Management, and Sustainable Forestry Initiative, (2) if consensus exists regarding their ability to achieve sustainability goals, and (3) what research gaps must be filled to improve our understanding of how forest certification systems affect sustainable forest management. We conducted a qualitative meta-analysis of 26 grey literature references (books, industry and nongovernmental organization publications) and 9 primary literature references (articles in peer-reviewed academic journals) that compared at least two of the aforementioned certification systems. The Forest Stewardship Council was the highest performer for ecological health and social sustainable forest management criteria. The Canadian Standards Association – Sustainable Forestry Management and Sustainable Forestry Initiative performed best under sustainable forest management criteria of forest productivity and economic longevity of a firm. Sixty-two percent of analyses were comparisons of the wording of certification system principles or criteria; 34% were surveys of foresters or consumers. An important caveat to these results is that only one comparison was based on empirically collected field data. We recommend that future studies collect ecological and socioeconomic data from forests so purchasers can select certified forest products based on empirical evidence.

The Impact of Forest Certification on Firm Financial Performance in Canada and the U.S.

The purpose of this article is to examine empirically the impact of environmental certification on firm financial performance (FP). The main question is whether there is a “green premium” for certified firms, and, if so, for what kind of certification. We analyze the short-run and the long-run stock price performance using an event-study methodology on a sample of Canadian and U.S. firms. The results of short-run event abnormal returns indicate that forest certification does not have any significant impact on firm FP regardless of the certification system carried out by firms. Unlike the short-run results, the long-run post-event abnormal returns suggest that forest certification has, on average, a negative impact on firm FP. However, the impact of forest certification on firm FP depends on who grants the certification, since only industry-led certification (Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Canadian Standards Association and ISO14001) are penalized by financial markets, whereas non-governmental organizations–led Forest Stewardship Council certification is not.

Patterns and processes in forest landscapes: multiple use and sustainable management

List of contributors.- Author's profiles.- Foreword T.A. Spies.- Preface R. Lafortezza et al.- Part I: UNDERLYING CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIVE APPROACHES. 1. Ecology and management of forest landscapes J. Chen et al.- 2. Cultural determinants of spatial heterogeneity in forest landscapes R. Lafortezza et al.- 3. Managing forest landscapes for climate change T.R.Crow.- Part II: CONSEQUENCES OF MANAGEMENT ACROSS REGIONS AND SCALES. 4. The Great Siberian Forest: challenges and opportunities of scale I.M. Danilin, T.R. Crow.- 5. Fragmentation of forest landscapes in Central Africa: causes, consequences and management J. Bogaert et al.- 6. Human-induced alterations in native forests of Patagonia, Argentina F. Carabelli, R. Scoz.- 7. Landscape-scale factors influencing forest dynamics in Northern Australia D.S. Banfai, D.M.J.S. Bowman.- 8. Spatial patterns and ecology of shifting forest landscapes in Garo Hills, India A. Kumar et al.- Synthesis: Cultural controls of forest patterns and processes G. Sanesi, R. Lafortezza.- Part III: LANDSCAPE-SCALE INDICATORS AND PROJECTION MODELS. 9. Tools for understanding landscapes: combining large-scale surveys to characterize change W.K. Moser et al.- 10. Shape irregularity as indicator of forest biodiversity and guidelines for metric selection S. Saura et al.- 11. Land suitability for short rotation coppices assessed through fuzzy membership functions P. Corona et al.- 12. Assessing human impacts on Australian forests through integration of remote sensing data R. Lucas et al.- 13. Habitat quality assessment and modellingfor forest biodiversity and sustainability S. Luque S., N. Vainikainen.- Synthesis: Ecological modelling and perspectives of forest landscapes J. Chen.- Part IV: LONG-TERM SUSTAINABLE PLANS AND MANAGEMENT ACTIONS. 14. The role of the sustainable forestry initiative in forest landscape changes in Texas, USA J.C. Azevedo et al.- 15. Biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods in tropical forest landscapes J.-L. Pfund et al.- 16. Forest management on carbon sink dynamics: a study in boreal and sub-alpine forest regions C. Li et al.- 17. Emulating natural disturbance regimes: an emerging approach for sustainable forest management M. North, W.S. Keeton.- 18. Conserving forest biodiversity: recent approaches in UK forest planning and management K. Watts et al.- Synthesis: Ecology-based landscape planning and management T.R. Crow.- Appendix: Evaluating forest landscape connectivity through Conefor Sensinode 2.2 S. Saura.-

Differences That ‘Matter’? A Framework for Comparing Environmental Certification Standards and Government Policies

Competition among environmental certification systems has created considerable demand for transparent comparison. Drawing on the case of forest certification, this article presents an analytical framework for comparing certification standards and government policies according to their policy approach and environmental threshold requirements. A detailed analysis of existing policies is applied to one key indicator, i.e. riparian buffer zones, where it reveals clear differences among the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) regional standards and among the FSC, the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification systems. The FSC regional standards of British Columbia and the Pacific Coast contain quantitative riparian buffer zone thresholds, with the FSC British Columbia standards being the most restrictive. The FSC Southeast standards are comparable with the SFI standards in deferring to state buffer zone guidelines but making those guidelines mandatory. The systems-based CSA standards contain no substantive prescriptions. Most certification standards appear to closely mimic government policy approaches. Standards that cover multiple jurisdictions resemble an averaging of the prescriptiveness and performance thresholds of government policies, resulting in an increase in some state requirements and no additional requirements in others. These findings lay the groundwork for further explanatory research on the interaction of state and non-state policies as well as the systematic comparison of policy effectiveness.

Sustainable Development Becoming Integral Part of Business Strategy

This publication contains reprint articles for which IEEE does not hold copyright. Full text is not available on IEEE Xplore for these articles.

Direct Targeting as an NGO Political Strategy: Examining Private Authority Regimes in the Forestry Sector

In recent years, International Political Economy literature on “politics beyond state” has emphasized the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in broader policy processes, both national and international. In addition to their impact on states, NGOs influence the policies of non-state actors such as firms via public and private politics. Dissatisfied with the progress firms have made in response to public regulation, NGOs have sponsored private authority regimes in several issue areas and pushed firms to participate in them. Across the world, the contest between NGOs and firms has provoked substantial behavioral and programmatic change'including widespread participation in these private authority regimes'among firms seeking to escape NGO pressures. Using firm-level data, this paper examines why direct targeting has not led firms in the U.S. forest products sector to participate in an NGO-sponsored private authority regime, the Forest Stewardship Council. This global regime has been adopted widely in Europe, but U.S.-based forestry firms have tended to favor a domestic industry-sponsored regime, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Our analysis suggests that the desire of firms to maintain control over their institutional environment in light of hostile relations with NGOs has led US-based firms to favor the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

Effects of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative on the Quality, Abundance, and Configuration of Wildlife Habitats

We analyzed the effects of landscape measures within the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) program on the suitability, abundance and spatial pattern of vertebrate habitats based on modeling and simulation of landscape and stand structure in a forested watershed in East Texas. Eight vertebrate species representing guilds established according to breeding and foraging requirements were selected: American beaver (Castor canadensis), American woodcock (Scolopax minor), pine warbler (Dendroicapinus), downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), barred owl (Strix varia), wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris), fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) and gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Habitat suitability of the landscape in general increased with the implementation of SFI measures and habitat conditions were more diverse and even. Fragmentation and establishment of narrow and elongated habitat areas in a network configuration were the main consequences of the implementation of SFI measures in terms of habitat spatial structure. These changes were usually not limiting for the species analyzed. Mature pine and hardwood stands were absent from the simulated landscapes limiting the habitat for species like downy woodpecker or barred owl. Most of the species considered in this work benefited particularly from the implementation of streamside management zones (SMZs).

Policies and practices to sustain soil productivity: perspectives from the public and private sectors

The USDA Forest Service, the Canadian Forest Service, and US and Canadian forest products industries are committed to the principles of sustainable forestry with a major focus on protecting soil productivity. The USDA Forest Service has developed and adopted soil quality standards to evaluate the effects of forest use and management activities on forest soils and, if necessary, prescribe remedial or preventive actions to avoid adverse impacts on soil productivity. Similarly, the Canadian Forest Service has adopted a series of criteria and indicators with which to monitor the impacts of management on soil resources. The policies of both public agencies reflect the recommendations of the Montréal Process Working Group (1999). Many forest industries have adopted the Sustainable Forestry Initiative developed by the American Forest and Paper Association (2000). Standards of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative clearly state the vision and direction for achieving sustainable forest management, goals, and objectives to be attained and performance measures for judging whether a goal or objective has been achieved. However, both public and private entities recognize that current standards, criteria, and indicators represent first approximations. Continuing revision and adjustment based on information from long-term research studies are vital to protecting soil productivity while deriving optimum public benefits from our forest-based resources.