Newsletter Stories


Sunday, 01 February 2004
FSC Family Forests Program

FSC Launches New Certification Procedures for Small and Low Intensity Managed Forests


FSC International Center has launched its new requirements for small and low intensity managed forests seeking FSC forest certification. These requirements enable eligible forests to be evaluated for FSC certification under a modified set of procedures. With these new procedures, a wider range of landowners will be able to receive the benefits of FSC certification and sell their products under the FSC label.

The FSC Board of Directors approved the policy with some modifications during its meeting held on November 20-22, 2003 in Bonn, Germany. The FSC-US Board of Directors recently voted that, in the U.S., this policy would apply to all forest management certifications covering less than 1,000 hectares (approximately 2,470 acres). Known at the international level as SLIMF, for Small and Low Intensity Managed Forests, in the U.S. it is called the Family Forests Program.

Ned Daly, Vice President of Operations for FSC-US, is excited about the implementation of the Family Forests Program because, “FSC is a globally recognized certification system for forests, and has proven effective for large forestland owners. Now we can bring the social and environmental benefits to smaller forestland owners in the U.S., while still allowing them to remain economically competitive.”

The new procedures for small-scale forest owners, non-timber forest product producers and forest operations practicing low-level harvesting, streamline the technical requirements for FSC certification assessment. These include sampling levels that better reflect the size and management activities of the operation, greater emphasis on local rather than national stakeholder consultation, and a reduction in the number of required peer reviews.

“There are many forest managers who are practicing outstanding forest management, but who have been unable to obtain forest certification for a variety of reasons,” said Matthew Wenban-Smith, FSC Head of Policy and Standards Unit. “This new policy is a big step forward in making the FSC system more responsive to the different needs of small and low intensity managed forest owners.”

As Rob Bryan of the Maine Audubon Society explained, “I had the opportunity to field test the draft [Family Forests Program] guidelines during the annual FSC audit of Vermont Family Forests. Based on the VFF review it seems that the greatest cost savings may come from the reduced frequency of auditing.”

“The policy represents an opportunity to attract many new landowners as it may reduce their costs of entry by up to 50%,” said Dave Bubser, Regional Manager for Northern USA for SmartWood, a program of the Rainforest Alliance, an FSC accredited certifier.

According to Phil Guillery, social chamber member of the FSC-US Board of Directors, “this new policy is great news for family forest owners and consulting foresters because it will lower the costs and procedures for them to be certified under the FSC, and it also demonstrates that the FSC can respond and improve its system when warranted.”

“It’s the family forests that are becoming most quickly fragmented, taken out of production, and becoming unmanaged. The [Family Forests Program] guidelines increase the accessibility of family forest owners to practice sustainable forestry and become certified,” said Harry Groot, a family forest owner in SW Virginia. “For the Blue Ridge Forest Cooperative, the guidelines will lower certification costs, reduce the complexity of remaining certified, and enable us to attract and serve more members—because the two primary barriers to FSC certification will have been lowered: cost and complexity.”

Small-scale, indigenous peoples’ and community forests form a significant part of forestry worldwide. In the U.S., 6.4 million forest landowners have forest holdings smaller than 40 hectares, while in Japan 2.25 million households own forest holdings less than 2 hectares. In Mexico and Papua New Guinea, indigenous and local communities own 80% and 90% of the forests, respectively. However, in the past, many of these groups have found it difficult to obtain forest certification, in part due to technical and financial requirements.

“We’re very pleased that FSC has streamlined the audit process of operations qualifying for [the Family Forests Program],” said Dave Wager, Director of Forest Management for Scientific Certification Systems, an FSC accredited certifier. “The new policy is an excellent opportunity to expand FSC to the many small landowners practicing responsible forestry that to date have not sought certification because of cost. Furthermore, we commend the FSC-US board for defining small as 1,000 hectares, as opposed to the default 100 hectares defined by FSC International Center.”

“The new [Family Forests Program] procedures are an exciting breakthrough in FSC’s evolution”, says Eric Palola, Director of National Wildlife Federation’s northeast regional office and an FSC SLIMF Technical Committee member. “I’m hopeful these changes will provide a new wave of small landowners and group managers, who are already managing their forests to high standards, with affordable access to the FSC system.”

Forest owners, managers and other groups can find out more about the new procedures on FSC International’s website: https://ic.fsc.org/en.