AF&PA Program Resolves to Sustain America's Forests.

The timber industry and environmental groups are working together to improve America's Forests.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows as the saying goes, and the politics of trees are no different.

Ten years ago it would be hard to imagine industry and environmental groups working together to the extent they are today. In 1990, would it have been thinkable that the executive director of the Izaak Walton League of America would chair a committee that reviews how the timber industry harvests its products -- and whose results are accepted by the largest forestry association in the country? Or that timber companies such as Louisiana-Pacific, Temple-Inland and Westvaco would enter into agreements with conservation groups to determine how best to manage their land?

But these things have happened and much of the change is driven by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative developed by the American Forest and Paper Association in 1994. The SFI program is a comprehensive system of principles, objectives and performance measures that integrates the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees with the protection of wildlife, plants, soil and water quality. An independent Expert Review Panel reviews the SF1 program annually.

"With the Sustainable Forestry Initiative program, we have forged unprecedented new alliances with environmental and conservation organizations, with universities, with state and federal government agencies, and with the business community," says AF&PA President and CEO W. Henson Moore. "Each of these kinds of institutions takes part in the SFI program's independent Expert Review Panel."

Progress in the Forests Combined efforts are occurring around the country. In Texas, for instance, Louisiana-Pacific Corp. and The Nature Conservancy of Texas are working together to develop a cooperative management plan to conserve more than 1,300 acres in the Piney Woods owned by L-P as a habitat for the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker and other species of conservation concern.

"This project is an example of what The Nature Conservancy calls community-based conservation, working in partnership with landowners and businesses to conserve lands in ways that benefit local communities," says Ike McWhorter, director of the Conservancy's Piney Woods Program. "In partnership with Louisiana-Pacific, we are able to conserve and enhance important habitat, offer a resource for community education and create a model for compatible forestry all at the same time.

The Nature Conservancy and Westvaco Corp. are also working together. The two organizations plan to survey 1.3 million acres of Westvaco land in five southeastern states to advance sustainable forestry practices including the protection of rare, endangered and unique plant and animal habitats.

Plum Creek Timber Co. was the first company to undergo a voluntary, independent third party verification process to the SFI program. About 3.3 million acres of Plum Creek timberland were found to meet SFI principles.

"Plum Creek's stewardship of its resources and good forest practices are commendable," says Jack Ward Thomas, a member of the SFI Expert Review Panel, and former Chief of the United States Forest Service. "With the leadership of progressive companies like Plum Creek, the entire industry has made great strides in recent years. The SFI program has provided the framework for consistent improvement in sustainable forest practices in the United States."

The fourth Annual Progress report, released by the Review committee highlights some of those improvements, including:

* The total amount of timberlands enrolled in the SFI program has reached 57.1 million acres nationwide. Landowners holding almost 2 million acres joined the SFI program in 1998.

* In 1998, 12.3 million acres of land under the SFI program were entered into cooperative wildlife and fisheries management agreements. As a result, a growing number of wildlife species, such as rabbit, deer, elk, moose, ruffed grouse, wild turkey, and numerous songbirds, can be found using existing and newly established forests for food, shelter and nesting.

That suggests that, even on lands managed primarily for economic return, broader visions are taking hold across a growing portion of the forest landscape, the report states.

* Similarly, 6,464 miles of streams on land controlled by SF1 participants are entered into cooperative fisheries management agreements.

* Approximately 85% of all wood delivered to AF&PA member mills in 1998 was delivered by a trained logger. That is up from 34% in 1995.

* Under the SF1 program in 1998, member companies planted trees on more than 1 million acres of land, bringing the four-year total to some 3.7 million planted acres. In total, the U.S. forest community planted more than 1.6 billion trees in 1997. That means nationwide more than five new trees for every American were planted in 1997.

* About 99% of areas harvested under the SF1 program were reforested within 5 years. In 1998, 59% of sites scheduled for planting were replanted within one year; 98% were planted within two years.

* Since the inception of the SF1 program, participants have spent almost $250 million on sustainable forestry research funding, including more than $90 million on research for water quality, fish and wildlife, ecosystem management, and other environmental protection.

* In 1998, the SFI program was opened to companies, landowners and organizations outside of Association membership and more than 1.8 million acres were enrolled in the SFI program. The Conservation Fund, a national environmental organization, became the first nonprofit organization in the U.S. to become an SFI program licensee when it enrolled three demonstration forests comprising 20,000 acres of working woodlands. The Ida Cason Calloway Foundation in Georgia came next, enrolling 11,500 acres in the SFI program. And St. Louis County, MN, enrolled 900,000 acres in Northern Minnesota in the SFI program.

Our new licensing program offers a great opportunity for those who are not members of AF&PA to demonstrate environmental stewardship," Moore says. "By expanding the SFI program to outside groups, we will build a higher standard for forest management and promote continuous improvement for all forest landowners."

Despite all of the positive news, the report makes clear that there is still more to he done if the SFI is to meet its goal of sustainable forestry practices to all 490 million acres of timberland in the United States.

"The SF1 will not have the broad public credibility it needs until it can provide positive proof to both the general public and the industry's skeptics that the SFI is having a positive impact on the landscape of the "hack forty," says Paul Hansen, executive director of the Izaak Walton League and chairman of the SF1 review committee. "The forest products industry must be able to openly document what is actually accomplished on the ground - the "only progress that matters."

                     Acres Enrolled in the SFI Program
1995 52,036,971
1996 52,805,771
1997 53,957,119
1998 56,200,861
Since SFI's creation in 1994 about 57 million acres of
forest have been enrolled in the program.
                       Reforestation and Harvesting
     Harvesting Reforestation
1995 1,125,591    1,264,003
1996 1,216,593    1,219,636
1997 1,413,070    1,266,630
1998 1,372,337    1,350,343
One of the goals of SFI is the quick reforestation of
harvested forestland. Approximately 98% of harvested
areas are replanted within two years.

SUCCESS STORIES

Reforestation 

MI: Mead more than tripled its seedling donations compared to prior years. These seedlings, including wildlife species grown for the National Wild Turkey Federation, totaled more than 190,000 in 1998.

MI: Champion International helped develop baseline data on vegetation and deer population to support research in a 63,000-acre tract suffering from poor sugar maple regeneration. The company cooperated with the Sand County Foundation and the state Department of Natural Resources in this project.

CA: Simpson Timber Company prepared its sixth annual report to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on the company's Habitat Conservation Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl. To date, Simpson biologists have banded 1,064 owls living on or near the company's managed, young-growth forests in northern California.

FL: The Timber Company, a separate operating group of Georgia-Pacific Corp. designated 13,000 acres in the Gulf Hammock forest as a wilderness area primarily for use as bird breeding habitat. The company also cooperated in an international program to locate and monitor Florida swallow-tailed kite nests in the Gulf Hammock forest and St. Johns water management areas, and to record the birds' movements between Florida and South America.

SUCCESS STORIES

Reforestation

LA: Boise Cascade's entire holdings of 683,000 acres in Louisiana are covered by partnerships with the Black Bear Conservation Committee and the National Wild Turkey Federation. In addition, the company protected a special site in the Stoker Hills and created a two-mile interpretive nature trail in cooperation with the Boy Scouts and the Louisiana Natural Heritage Group.

LA: Plum Creek sold 4,750 acres near Monroe to The Nature Conservancy and worked with the group to protect habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker and other birds on this land.

MN: With the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center, Boise Cascade is helping track habitat requirements for bald eagles. The company donated $30,000 to attach small transmitters to eagles to track them by satellite; Minnesota school children can track their "adopted" eagles from their school computers.

MN: Potlatch Corporation entered into a cooperative long-term trout stream project on the Dark River with Trout Unlimited, the American Tree Farm System, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Fond Du Lac band, and U.S. Forest Service.

TX: In cooperation with The Nature Conservancy, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation continued its efforts to protect habitat vital to the survival of the endangered RedCockaded Woodpecker. Company foresters have enhanced critical areas by providing tree cavities, maintaining adequate foraging habitat, and controlling hardwoods in cluster sites.

SUCCESS STORIES

Reforestation

OR: Giustina Land & Timber Company cooperated in the Oregon Plan for Watershed Restoration to protect Coho salmon and improve spawning habitat on Sand Creek in Douglas County.

OR: Willamette Industries gave the public a unique opportunity to view large numbers of elk throughout the year by leasing 1,060 acres to the state's Jewell Wildlife Meadows. Willamette's staff in both the Mid Coast and North Coast areas won a number of performance awards from the Oregon Department of Forestry.

OR: Weyerhaeuser's operations in southwest Oregon won the state's Fish and Wildlife Steward Award for industrial forestlands.

SUCCESS STORIES

Stewardship Through Sustainability

TX: Temple-Inland created a 400-acre American Bald Eagle habitat adjacent to Lake Sam Rayburn Reservoir, and a 3,000-acre management area for longleaf pine and red-cockaded woodpeckers adjacent to the Sabine National Forest in east Texas. The National Tree Trust recognized the company for its annual donation of 55,000 bald cypress seedlings to civic groups and private landowners. The company also invited an independent review of its forest practices by two members of the SFI program Expert Review Panel and a representative of The Nature Conservancy.

OK: Weyerhaeuser designated 450,000 acres of forestland as a wildlife management area, in cooperation with the state Department of Wildlife Conservation. The company and the state will work together to protect water quality, fish and wildlife habitat on this large tract, while preserving public outdoor recreation areas.

SFI Objectives

The SFI Standard Objectives translate these principles into action by providing forest managers with a specific roadmap to expand the practice of sustainable forestry and to visibly improve performance. The objectives form the substance of the program and promote:

1. Broadening the practice of sustainable forestry.

2. Ensuring prompt reforestation.

3. Protecting water quality.

4. Enhancing wildlife habitat.

5. Minimizing the visual impact of harvesting.

6. Protecting special sites.

7. Contributing to biodiversity.

8. Continuing improvements in wood utilization.

9. Continuing the prudent use of forest chemicals to help ensure forest health.

Upcoming SFI Challenges:

* Benchmarking study. In cooperation with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, we will work in 1999 to develop and implement a benchmarking study to further document changes taking place on the land as a result of the SF1 program. Benchmarking will provide independent assessments of how companies are doing things differently to improve the natural environment.

* Performance measures. SFI participants have a challenging task in improving performance measures for the SFI standard. In 1999, AF&PA hope to work with, our members to advance a variety of improvements to the SFI performance measures that have been suggested by the Expert Review Panel, the 1998 workshop on wildlife and biodiversity, member companies and others.

* Logger training. When AF&PA launched the SF1 program, it set a goal to provide appropriate training for 100% of the loggers supplying material to AF&PA member companies by the year 2000. From 1995 to 1998, working cooperatively with the American Pulpwood Assn., numerous state forestry and logging associations and logging professionals, we progressed from 34% to 85% fulfillment of that goal. Our sights are firmly set on 100% fulfillment of the goal by the beginning of the new century. Through 1998, more than 29,000 loggers had completed comprehensive training under the SFI program.

* Outreach to landowners. AF&PA is committed to intensifying our efforts aimed at encouraging more of America's private, non-industrial forest landowners to adopt sustainable forestry practices. This task requires patience and persistence, because there are more than 9 million such landowners, and many of their properties change ownership each year.

* Data collection and measurement. AF&PA is committed to working more closely with SF1 state committees and public agencies to collect improved data on reforestation and harvesting on private, non-industrial lands and all other lands.