Newsletter Stories


Friday, 15 March 2002
An Open Letter to Members from the FSC-U.S. Board of Directors

At our recent board meeting in early March, the FSC-U.S. Board of Directors unanimously affirmed that the organization should take several steps that will result in positive changes for FSC stakeholders and an overall strengthening of the FSC.


First and most important, the Board wants an active broadening of the constituency promoting the FSC in the U.S. by strengthening social chamber participation in the FSC-U.S. through work with religious organizations, environmental justice groups, labor unions and others.

Next, the Board wants to recognize the incredible commitment of members and other stakeholders over the years in the development of regional standards. To date, two sets of regional standards have been completed (Rocky Mountain and Lake States) and seven remain near completion. (Alaska and Hawaii have not been initiated.) But, it’s time to bring the process to a fruitful close. The regional standards for the mainland U.S. will be completed by existing regional working groups on or before June 1, 2002. As with the already completed standards, there will then be a technical review by a committee appointed by the U.S. Board. Final Board review will be completed by September 1, 2002 and the regional standards will then be submitted to the Secretariat for approval. National standards (based on the existing national indicators) will be completed by the technical committee and submitted to the Secretariat by June 30, 2002. For the time being, these will be used for Alaska and Hawaii, for parts of regional standards where consensus could not be reached, and for any regions where standards could not be completed by June.

In addition to the above, the FSC-U.S. staff will be developing alternatives to the current dispute resolution mechanism with other National Initiatives and the Secretariat for review by the FSC membership at the November, 2002 General Assembly.

Finally, in the upcoming election, there will be bylaws changes for the FSC-U.S. members to consider. The Board will propose expanding the number of board members, drawing upon individuals that will increase the stature and credibility of the organization, and adding a new membership class in the U.S. to increase the number of members and broaden its U.S.-based constituency. As an example, all FSC certificate holders in the U.S. and all regional working group members will be invited to join with free membership for the first year.

Sincerely,

ECONOMIC CHAMBER

Paul Harlan (Treasurer), The Collins Companies, pharlan@collinsco.com

Jameson French, Northland Forest Products, Inc., jfrench@northlandforest.com

Larry Potts, Warm Springs Forest Products, Inc., lwpotts@aol.com

SOCIAL CHAMBER

Ned Daly (Board Chair), Consumer’s Choice Council, daly@attglobal.net

Cecilia Danks, Watershed Research & Training Center, cecilia.danks@uvm.edu

Philip Guillery, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, pguillery@iatp.org

ENVIRONMENTAL CHAMBER

Barbara Bramble (Vice Chair), National Wildlife Federation, bramble@nwf.org

Daniel Hall, American Lands Alliance, wafcfbp@americanlands.org

Kate Heaton, Natural Resources Defense Council, kheaton@nrdc.org