According to the Southern Group of State Foresters (SGSF), in their November 2011 report, “Forest Certification Programs: Status and Recommendations in the South,” the most common type of certification varies by region.
In the Northeast (a region that includes the Northeast, the Lake States and Appalachia), for instance, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification is most prevalent; 70 percent of all certified forests there are certified to this standard. Sixty percent of all certified timberland there is certified underSustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and 20 percent are certified under the American Tree Farm System (ATFS). Interestingly, 20 million acres in the Northeast are dual certified. As a result, the statistics in the following table exceed 100 percent when added together.
Unlike the Northeast, no timberland in the South is dual certified. Another difference is the type of certification that is most common. In the South, just 6 percent of all certified forests are FSC certified. More prevalent in the South are SFI at 55 percent and ATFS at 39 percent of all certified forests.
In the West, 34 percent of all certified forests are FSC certified, 60 percent are SFI certified and 27 percent are ATFS certified. In addition, only 200,000 acres are dual certified.
Timberland owners in the Northeast are also more likely to certify their timberlands; nearly 24 percent of all forests there are certified. In the South, this number is nearly 18 percent. In the West, the number drops to just under 5.5 percent.
As the SGSF points out in the report, forest certification rates are market driven. When consumers demand forest and wood products that are sustainably produced, the makers of those products will source their raw materials from certified timberland. A few examples of consumer demand for sustainably sourced products are taking shape right now: Continue reading →
