Posted on Fri, Jan. 06, 2006
State forests across Minnesota are approved as sustainable, responding to market demand for more environmentally friendly products
BY JOHN MYERS | DULUTH NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Nearly 4.8 million acres of forest managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has been certified as environmentally sustainable, Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced Thursday.
The effort, expected for more than two years, is intended to make sure the state-managed forests are in sound environmental shape for years to come.
And it could help make the products manufactured from Minnesota trees more marketable for the state's wood products industry. State officials say that, without acting, Minnesota could have lost a share of the wood products market to regions that have certified their forests.
"Today's achievement is a testament to our long-term commitment to responsible stewardship of our heritage and future," Pawlenty said in a prepared statement.
The state land has received simultaneous certification from both the Forest Stewardship Council, an independent agency, and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, a now-independent group that has its roots in the timber industry.
Both groups have audited the DNR forestry division's books and toured forests and logging sites over the past year before awarding certification. Annual rechecks will be held, and the state must reapply after five years.
Minnesota's state forests are the largest chunk of government-managed land in the U.S. to become fully certified.
A representative of Minnesota's largest timber industry trade group on Thursday praised the industry-preferred Sustainable Forestry Initiative certification.
"The SFI program reflects the market and social realities of the 21st century," said Tim O'Hara, vice president of forest policy for the Duluth-based Minnesota Forest Industries.
"As demand for forest products from sustainably managed forests continues to grow, Minnesota is now at the front of the line to satisfy those demands," O'Hara said. "This is good for the state's forests, and it is vital to maintaining Minnesota's long-running, vibrant forest products industry."
Most of the DNR's forest land is in northern Minnesota, but the land ranges from boreal forests on the Ontario border to oak woods near Iowa.
The sustainable forest initiative has been gaining ground worldwide for a decade, pushed by environmental groups trying to stop the destruction of tropical rain forests.
In the U.S., the effort has been spurred as industry giants like Time Warner, LL Bean, McDonalds and Home Depot have demanded more products for their customers that are certified as sustainable. As big industry demands more sustainable products, more land managers have pushed for certification.
Time Inc., for example, buys paper from the Stora Enso mill in Duluth and the UPM mill in Grand Rapids, both of which get a good share of their trees from state forests.
The certification movement first gained traction in Minnesota in 1997 when county and state lands in Aitkin County became certified sustainable. Last summer, all 319,000 acres of Potlatch company land was certified. Some Minnesota mills, loggers and even truckers who handle the wood have been certified to link the chain of handling the trees.
Exactly what "sustainable" means is often a moving and sometimes unclear target. But most experts agree that sustainable means the people who manage and cut trees, as well as the mills that make trees into paper and wood products, are taking measures to lessen harm to the environment -- especially on birds, wildlife and waterways.
Another common thread is that forestry is conducted with an eye to the future -- that current demand for trees doesn't outweigh future environmental, recreational and social demands on forests.
Sustainable certification requires that land owners and managers use the best available forestry guidelines -- things like avoiding stands of old-growth trees, leaving slash material to help regenerate the soil, keeping away from rivers and wetlands and leaving a lighter footprint from logging equipment.
Some certifications also require that forestry practices be sustainable for nearby communities, meaning that wood products jobs pay living wages and factories don't pollute local waters.
Dave Bubser, regional director for Smartwood, which conducts Forest Stewardship Council certification, said somewhere between 5 percent and 15 percent of forest products in the U.S. now are certified sustainable. Demand is being driven more by industry-to-industry dealings and less by consumers, he said. Demand is increasing as buyers for big companies that use paper are making unsolicited requests for sustainable products for their companies.
"I don't think most consumers even know about forest certification," Bubser said. "But that will change in time."
Of Minnesota's more than 16 million acres of forest, about 54 percent is publicly owned and 46 percent private. The forest products industry in Minnesota is worth some $1.4 billion annually, state officials say, and employs more than 30,000 people -- from loggers and truckers to mill workers and cabinet and window makers. (*)
