justnorth posted on February 27, 2007 13:57 :: 1278 Views
Efforts to responsibly manage Wisconsin’s forest resources will be shifting into a higher gear in 2007, with a number of innovative activities planned for state-owned and national forest lands, according to the new coordinator of the state Forestry Certification Program.
Forest certification is a systematic process to promote responsible resource management, according to Paul Pingrey, a 32-year-DNR veteran recently appointed to the Bureau of Forest Management position. The certification standards developed by multiple organizations share a universal goal: providing a way to track timber production through a “chain of custody” (from raw material through finished product) that ensures nationally and internationally accepted standards encompassing environmental, social, and economic principles and criteria are followed.
“Certification is an assurance, like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,” Pingrey said. “It’s a way for the public to immediately know and understand that a forest is being managed in a way that assures it will be there to benefit future generations.”
Pingrey noted the 260,000 individuals and families who own 70 percent of Wisconsin’s forested lands will also be playing a key role in keeping Wisconsin in the forefront of forest certification.
Changes that will be part of 2007 certification activities include the following:
- strengthening of the Managed Forest Law, a program through which private landowners can get certification;
- testing a pilot program to allow non-DNR agencies and organizations to provide forest-related services to private landowners;
- exploring the possibility of having parks, wildlife and other recreation areas, and national forest areas (government-owned land not considered traditional forest production areas) participate in a certification program; and
- working to improve and strengthen Wisconsin’s Forest Certification Program initiated four years ago.
“A surge of interest in environmentalism, fueled by global warming, extreme weather events like Hurricane Katrina, the fragmentation of forested lands by new construction, and the march of invasive species may propel forest certification beyond its commercial products assurance origins and broaden certification’s appeal,” according to Pingrey.
Wisconsin’s forest certification program focuses on three areas: the Managed Forest Law, with 38,000 individual private landowners; the 2.5 million-acre County Forest Program; and the half-million-acre State Forest System.
A growing body of research (including a 2001 University of Wisconsin-Madison-Harvard University study) suggests good forest management can be a simple and cost-effective way to offset some impacts of global warming, such as higher carbon dioxide levels that result from the burning of fossil fuels.
Bob Mather, director of the Bureau of Forest Management, said forest certification provides a way for the general public and the business community to understand that the state’s forests are being managed utilizing the highest standards of environmental accountability.
More information about forest certification can be found on the DNR Web site.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Paul Pingrey (608) 267-7595
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