Thinking about certifying your forestry, mill, or lumber operation?  

Choose Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification as the only independent, 3rd party guarantee of environmental, social, and economic sustainability.  Over 247 million acres of working forests are currently FSC certified worldwide with over 60 million acres certified in North America alone!

FSC has developed Principles and Criteria for forest management practices that are applicable to FSC-certified forests throughout the world.  There are currently FSC certified forests in 78 different countries. These 10 Principles and 57 Criteria address the legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, and environmental impacts surrounding forest management in all of these countries.

Within the United States there are a required 10 regional standards in addition to the Principles and Criteria. These regional standards address local issues, habitat types, and other regional environmental and social issues.

A list of Forest Stewardship Council certifiers can be found at:  http://www.fscus.org/certifiers/

If Forest Stewardship Council certification appears too costly or too cumbersome to achieve alone, choose to be a part of the Northwest Certified Forestry program here in Washington State.  Northwest Certified Forestry offers a group certificate program making the process and cost of certification much easier and more palatable for small landowners. This program also connects wood product buyers with FSC certified foresters.