Conservation Groups Resign from "Timber Certification" Effort in Appalachia
4/22/98
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Title: Conservation Groups Resign from "Timber Certification" Effort in
Appalachia
Source: Appalachian Restoration Campaign
Status: Distribute freely with proper credit to source
Date: 4/22/98
ATHENS, OH - After a year of involvement with the Forest Stewardship Council
(FSC) effort to promote sustainable forestry in Appalachia, two conservation
organizations resigned today from the FSC's Central Appalachian Working Group.
In a letter to the FSC US Initiative Board of Directors, representatives from
Heartwood and the Chattooga River Watershed Coalition cited lack of regional
decision-making power, a disregard for public lands, and a lack of basic
assurances for forest protection in their decision to resign from the Working
Group.
The Working Group is part of a national effort led by the FSC to develop
guidelines for sustainable forestry. The Central Appalachian Working Group was
created in 1997 to refine and customize these guidelines, making them more
suitable for forests in the Appalachian region. These regional standards will
be used to evaluate forestry practices in this region and award "sustainable"
operations with an FSC label. In theory, this label will allow consumers to
benefit sustainable forestry practices with their purchases.
"The FSC standards simply did not live up to Heartwood's standards for
sustainable forestry," said Than Hitt, representative of Heartwood in the FSC
Working Group. "Without basic assurances for forest protection and enforcement
in the regional standards, we could neither endorse this effort nor continue
working with this process in good faith."
Since the inception of the regional Working Group, the conservation groups had
stressed several issues about sustainable forestry in Appalachia. The groups
insisted that the first rule of sustainable forestry is to mimic natural
processes where possible, favoring small openings in the canopy over large,
unnatural clearcuts. Additionally, groups felt that public lands should not be
subjected to industrial forestry or certification. Moreover, the groups felt
that the regional standards were tailored more towards large, corporate timber
operations at the expense of small, non-industrial private landowners.
However, these concerns were not sufficiently addressed by the regional Working
Group.
"I'm thinking about the consumer," said Buzz Williams, Director of the
Chattooga River Watershed Coalition. "Although the FSC Principals of
sustainable forestry are good concepts, without equally good enforcement on the
regional level, the FSC cannot guarantee a quality product for consumers."
Heartwood is a forest protection network in eastern North America working to
protect and restore the heartland's hardwood forests. The Chattooga River
Watershed Coalition works for protection of the Chattooga River basin in North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Both groups work for the protection of
public lands and to enable private land stewardship.
Appalachian Restoration Campaign, a project of Heartwood POB 5541 Athens, OH
45701 704/592-3968
arc@frognet.net
http://www.heartwood/ARC
for information on the Central Appalachian Ecological Integrity
Conference, see:
http://wvnvm.wvnet.edu/~rlanden/arc_conf.htm