Monday, 01 September 2003
From the President
As the summer comes to a close, I thought it would be a good time to comment and reflect on recent events and activities at FSC-US. Over the last several months, FSC staff has been engaged in a comprehensive evaluation of what we do and how we do it.
The purpose is to make sure that we are doing our best to strategically leverage our resources and provide real service to our members, certificate holders and other stakeholders. I would be happy to discuss with any of our readers the details of what we found and how we will respond, but I thought it would be just as useful to give a quick summary here.
Before that, however, let me personally welcome the new FSC-US Board Members: Kent Gilges, Mark Slezak, Karen Steer and Josh Dickinson. We are very enthusiastic about their election and look forward to taking advantage of their skills and insights during their service on the Board. Those of you in the Northwest will get a chance to meet the entire FSC-US Board on September 28th. We are holding our September Board meeting in Portland and will be inviting our Oregon and Washington friends and family to an informal get together. More information and an invitation will be emailed to you soon.
Now, a few observations on what comes next for FSC-US. With the demands of the standards setting process firmly under control, we now have an obligation to make sure that the value of FSC certification exceeds the costs of certification to our certificate holders, members and stakeholders. Both sides of the equation are important. On the cost side, we need to ensure that the FSC reflects the highest level of good forest management practices, that the system works smoothly, and that the system operates fairly for all participants. This is Ned Daly’s, Vice President for Operations, charge—making sure that the FSC certification system works for all our current and prospective certificate holders. On the value end, we need to continue to demonstrate that FSC creates benefits for our stakeholders. Look to Michael Washburn, Vice President for Forestry and Marketing, for responsibility on this front. For the FSC community value comes in different forms. For our certificate holders, value can be access to markets and market differentiation as well as the recognition for good forest management that the FSC logo represents. For others, it is the ecosystem benefits generated by FSC-certified forest operations. Two specific activities on the value arena are worth noting. First, we will expand our brand presence and recognition in the green building market. Virtually all our certificate holders stand to benefit by demand growth in this sector. Second, we want to undertake a longer-term evaluation of the environmental and social benefits of FSC certification on the ground. We are quickly reaching the point where we can truly test what we all believe—that FSC management practices generate significant ecosystem-wide benefits in the forest.
There is obviously much more to our planning for the next two years. I’ll fill in more of the details in future columns, but please don’t hesitate to call Ned, Michael or me if you would like to hear more, sooner. We are very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for FSC and our ability to capture them. Let us share that excitement with you.