Technical Updates


Saturday, 12 December 2009
New US Forest Management Standard Close to Final

Last month, the FSC-US Board recommended draft 8.1 of the Forest Stewardship Council's US Forest Management Standard to FSC-International (FSC-IC) for final approval. Their vote marks the final stretch of a two-year standard revision process, which has included extensive involvement by a diverse FSC-US Working Group, Standards Committee, Board of Directors and stakeholders who participated in the two rounds of public comments and conference calls


 Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time and expertise to this process.

FSC-US will now work closely with FSC-IC to finalize the draft standard for approval. All FSC standards must be approved by FSC's headquarters in Bonn before they can be used for certification. We expect final approval by early spring 2010, and will keep you updated as the date becomes clearer.

Draft 8.1 does not include Principle 10 (plantation management) or Family Forest-specific indicators and guidance. Both are still undergoing revision within FSC-US and will be available for the second phase of public comment in early 2010.