AFF Partners with Forest Stewardship Council to Deliver Conservation Impact on Family Forestlands
The American Forest Foundation (AFF) is partnering with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC US) to support the implementation of the FSC US Controlled Wood National Risk Assessment.
The partnership's goal is to help companies that source fiber from family forestlands to mitigate sustainability risks identified in the FSC Controlled Wood National Risk Assessment for a specific region, such as threats to High Conservation Values and forest conversion. AFF and FSC are also working together to monitor the impacts of these risk mitigation efforts on family-owned forests. To ensure close coordination on this effort, AFF has become a Member of FSC in the Social Chamber.
Family forests, which comprise almost 40% of US forests and provide more than 50% of the wood flowing into supply chains, are a principal source of FSC Controlled Wood. Over the last year, AFF has implemented a range of risk mitigation projects across the Southeast US, in partnership with a handful of FSC Certificate Holders that source Controlled Wood. The projects engage family landowners to protect and restore High Conservation Values, including native longleaf pine systems, late-successional bottomland hardwoods, and the habitat of the dusky gopher frog.
Glenn Riley on his property in Alabama with a forester.
“The approach to risk mitigation developed by the American Forest Foundation offers great potential to expand the positive impacts delivered by the FSC Controlled Wood system,” said Corey Brinkema, president of the Forest Stewardship Council US. “Family forests are vital to both conservation and US markets, so we are excited to deepen our partnership with AFF.”
AFF is also partnering with FSC to monitor and evaluate the impact of the National Risk Assessment in the United States. FSC is implementing a unique approach to risk mitigation in the US, focusing on creating measurable change at a landscape scale through the collective mitigation activities of many FSC Certificate Holders. Due to the intended scale of impact, individual Certificate Holders can't measure the overall impact. Therefore, AFF and FSC are co-creating metrics and evaluation strategies to understand the collective impact and effectiveness of the mitigation.
To that end, AFF brings its deep knowledge of family woodlands and analytical knowledge to support FSC’s system. As a member of the social chamber, AFF brings specific expertise in family forest conservation and advocacy for family landowners' needs and interests. Both organizations hope this partnership can serve as a model for promoting sustainability on family forests.
“We are excited to help family forest owners have an impact on important conservation issues identified under the FSC US Controlled Wood National Risk Assessment,” said Tom Martin, president and CEO of the American Forest Foundation. “We look forward to bringing deep expertise with family woodlands to our role as a partner and member of FSC.”
While AFF and FSC advance this exciting partnership to support conservation impact, the American Tree Farm System (ATFS), which AFF administers, will retain its certification system endorsed by the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) that allows for the recognition of fiber originating in ATFS-certified properties in PEFC and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) chains of custody.
For more information about AFF’s mitigation solutions, contact us at info@forestfoundation.org. For more information about Controlled Wood, visit the FSC US website or contact Justin Meier at j.meier@us.fsc.org.
Related Articles
October 29, 2024
Branching Across the Aisle: How Building a Voluntary Carbon Market Benefits Rural Communities & The Planet
With the presidential election right around the corner, our television screens and social media feeds are filled with divisive messages and rhetoric. However, in a time where finding common ground seems nearly impossible, there is at least one thing that Americans on both sides of the aisle support: our forests.
October 15, 2024
A New Way to Buy Carbon Credits: The American Forest Foundation Carbon Auction
We believe there is a better way to buy carbon credits – a way to create contracts which more directly tie buyers and landowners to one another as true partners in a great enterprise. A way which reduces the friction, opacity and transaction costs of the current market.