Tuesday, 25 September 2012
New Agreement Helps Family Forest Owners in Washington
Agreement adds FSC to the state toolbox
Earlier this month, the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Northwest Natural Resource Group (NNRG) announced an innovative public-private partnership for outreach to small forest landowners.
Small forest landowners own one quarter of all forests in Washington State, and real estate development pressure continues to encroach upon natural resource lands, making them harder to maintain. The partnership commits the Resource Group and DNR to work together to:
- Pursue funding to better serve these landowners and the valuable natural resources that they own and steward.
- Develop new markets and incentives for small forest landowners, such as water quality payments and markets for certified wood.
- Add, for the first time, access to Forest Stewardship Council certification to the toolbox for DNR’s work with small landowners.
"I am proud to recognize the successes of Northwest Natural Resource Group in promoting specialty forest markets and high conservation standards through FSC certification,” said Washington State Commissioner of Public Land Peter Goldmark. “This agreement will help leverage scarce resources and provide great new services to landowners.”
The agreement includes "new Forest Stewardship Council certification and FSC market development" as one of the key objectives.
Read the press release at the NNRG website or download the Memorandum of Understanding between Washington DNR and NNRG here.