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How can America have the wood and paper products it needs today while protecting the environment and ensuring that future generations have the same abundant resources?
The answer from America’s forest products industry is the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)® Program.
The SFI Program provides exacting environmental standards and performance measures that integrate the protection of our environment with the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees.
Sustainable forestry practices meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This includes practicing a land stewardship ethic that integrates the reforestation, managing, growing, nurturing, and harvesting of trees for useful products with the conservation of soil, air and water quality, wildlife and fish habitat, special areas, and aesthetics.
The SFI Program was created in 1994 by the forest products industry, conservation organizations, landowners, loggers, academia and other stakeholders. Since that time, hundreds of companies and others in the forest products industry have implemented the SFI Program on their own lands and on lands from which they acquire timber.
Now a fully independent, non-profit organization is responsible for the SFI Program. SFI, Inc. is a registered charitable organization under Section 501 (c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code, and promotes sustainable forestry management across North America and responsible fiber procurement globally.
SFI, Inc.’s 18 member multi-stakeholder Board of Directors comprises three chambers, representing environmental, economic and social interests equally. Board members include representatives of environmental, conservation, professional and academic groups, independent professional loggers, small family forest owners, public officials, labor, and forest products industry. The Board updates the SFI Standard every five years following a public review process, and based on recommendations from volunteer, multi-stakeholder committees. The Board is the only body that can modify the Standard.
The SFI External Review Panel is an independent group of 15 distinguished volunteer experts representing conservation, environmental, forestry, academic and public organizations. This panel provides and ongoing, independent review of the SFI Program.
SFI
Program in Virginia
In Virginia, the SFI Program is managed by the Virginia SFI Implementation Committee. The Virginia Forestry Association serves as general Program Administrator.
In Virginia, a primary focus of the SFI Program has been on training loggers – the people who actually do the harvesting – on the practices that protect the quality of our environment, that promote forest regeneration and that enhance the safety of loggers and the public. Since 1996, more than 3,000 loggers, foresters and others from across the Commonwealth have completed the SHARP Logger training program and have been recognized as Sustainable Harvesting and Resource Professionals.
While the forest products industry has a strong record of stewardship on its own lands, the SFI Program provides the public with a verifiable system for assuring that all harvesting by SFI Program participants meets rigorous standards for environmental protection and sustainable forestry practices.
Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)® , Sustainable Forestry Initiative® , and SFI® are service marks of SFI Inc.
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© 2003 by the Virginia Forestry Association
Web site last updated: 11/3/09
Tracey S. Sherman
Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation
