Allison Welde is SFI Director, Conservation Partnerships and Communications, and identifies areas of potential collaboration with conservation groups and other SFI stakeholders.

The BC Ministry of Environment Ecosystems Branch in partnership with the South Coast Conservation Program (SCCP) recently completed a technical review of grizzly bear habitats along British Columbia’s (BC) Pacific Coast. Noted coastal grizzly bear ecologist Grant MacHutchon was contracted by the BC Ministry of Environment Ecosystems Branch, with financial support from SFI to aid in the project. Approximately 1200 grizzly bear habitats were reviewed in the mid-coast portion of the project area along the BC coast. Some of the habitat areas were adjusted in size, shape or location because of new classifications or previous errors. This work has created a substantially more accurate and improved map and database of grizzly bear habitats on the mid-coast of BC. In turn, this information is currently being used by forest planners and others involved in the ecosystem management in this part of the BC coast region to reach a balance between humans and the environment.

The SCCP has been using grant funding from the SFI Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant Program to develop materials and tools to identify and protect habitat and populations of forest-dependent plant and animal species at risk on 40.7 million acres/16.5 million hectares of forest on BC Pacific Coast, including grizzly bears. The core goals of this project are to bring together SFI-certified companies, including those owned by First Nations, government and conservation interests, to collaboratively develop material and tools to protect habitat and populations of at risk forest-dependent animal and plant species.

SFI’s Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant Program fosters partnerships between organizations interested in improving forest management in the United States and Canada, and responsible procurement globally.

One of my favorite parts of the SFI conference is our awards luncheon. The conference lets us reflect on all of our shared successes from the last year – and the awards lunch lets us recognize some of the outstanding achievements of our program participants and partners.

This year I presented three awards, all showing the power of partnership in action. Winners each received a carving with symbols of Aboriginal culture created by Curtis Wilson (Muliszas), a First Nations artist and carver from northern Vancouver Island. I was pleased that Curtis was at our conference so delegates had a chance to appreciate more of his amazing work. In fact, I bought a piece for myself – it’s already hanging on my wall.

The SFI President’s Award went to five companies – Time Inc., Hearst Corporation, Verso Paper Corp., Sappi Fine Paper North America and NewPage Corporation – that acted on their commitment to responsible sourcing. They started a pilot project, in partnership with SFI Inc. and the American Tree Farm System, to make third-party forest certification more efficient and accessible to small- and medium-sized landowners and, as a result, increased the amount of certified land in Maine. It made sense to conduct the pilot in Maine because of the state’s strong commitment to all forest certification standards.

Port Blakely Tree Farms received a Conservation Leadership Award for Biodiversity Research for its role in a cooperative project to reintroduce endangered Oregon spotted frogs to their historic range in Washington state. The project is led by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and also involves the Washington Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Army, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, Oregon Zoo, Point Defiance Zoo, University of Washington, The Evergreen State College, Washington Department of Transportation and The Nature Conservancy of Washington.

Port Blakely’s Director of Wildlife and Fisheries, Blake Murden, accepted the award.

Alabama won the 12th SFI Implementation Committee Achievement Award for activities such as qualified logging professional training and outreach to landowners, legislators and educators. SFI Implementation Committees are such an important part of our program, and this kind of work shows why. They bring together loggers, teachers, biologists and public officials who meet the needs of communities across the United States and Canada.

This is the second time Alabama has won the achievement award. Chair Mike Griggs of International Paper, Vice-Chair Sam Hopkins of the Westervelt Company and Committee Coordinator Chris Erwin of the Alabama Forestry Association accepted it on behalf of all committee members, who include SFI program participants, the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences at Auburn University and The Nature Conservancy.

The SFI Annual Conference was like a shot of adrenalin. Think about it – a gathering of more than 200 people from every link of the supply chain who share a passion for improving forest management and procurement.

Every year I am amazed at how much energy these events generate – and the 15^th annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, was no exception. This year we had 20 sponsors – the most ever. That tells me something about the growing enthusiasm for certification and the SFI program.

This year our theme was the Power of Partnerships. I often point out how partnerships fuel the SFI program, but it takes an event like this to truly demonstrate just how much we all gain through collaboration.

Conference moderator Rick Jeffery described SFI as “champions of partnership”. The SFI program doesn’t pay lip service to the power of partnerships, he said, it walks the walk. As I pointed out in my opening address, the SFI story is your story because its success is the result of your efforts.

SFI Board Chair Marvin Brown noted that SFI is not an exclusive club – when the goal is improving the welfare of forests, it cannot be an exclusive club. I couldn’t agree more. Partnerships are only effective when they are based on trust and inclusivity. True leaders are more concerned about bringing people together to accomplish shared goals than are they are about winning.

Terry Petkau from Habitat for Humanity Canada put it well when he said a true partnership involves organizations that help each other to become the best they can be. Terry said Habitat for Humanity Canada is committed to sustainable building so it is thrilled to have partners like SFI and Built Green Canada. Ann Ralph from Built Green Canada said her program, Habitat and SFI are natural partners. Their presentations were well timed – earlier in the day, the latest SFI-Habitat- Built Green Canada partnership was announced .

Dan Petit of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Pete Davidson of Bird Studies Canada gave enthusiastic accounts of what they are achieving thanks to the new SFI Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant program. Dan said the grant was critical for a project he expects will garner massive habitat gains for birds that depend on younger forests – it involves conservation groups, government agencies and 30 SFI program participants in 14 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Now that’s a partnership!

John Innes, Dean of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, said universities see the SFI Standard’s forest research requirements as a huge opportunity, and he urged delegates to think about partnering with universities when taking on research projects. We felt the conference was a great way to advance this kind of partnership so we sponsored the attendance of a number of UBC graduate students – representing both forestry and economics.

The SFI program wouldn’t be where it is today without the support of more than 2,500 organizations involved in our program globally, but it’s always great to recognize special achievements – and this year’s award winners highlighted our conference theme. All involved powerful partnerships.

I’ll talk more about our award winners in my next post. In the meantime, you can find more information on our conference website, including videos, speaker presentations, photos, and news releases. We even issued a multi-media wrap-up summary that covers the conference well – you can read that here or in my earlier blog post.

In case you didn’t read our wrap up summary, check it by clicking below.

Last week, I had the privilege of speaking at the Sustainable Packaging Forum in Phoenix, AZ. I spoke to the “Power of Partnerships,” which has been an important theme for SFI throughout 2010.

Our partnerships with groups from Habitat for Humanity to Time Inc to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have allowed us to get involved in so many projects we’re proud of. Partnerships are what breathe life into our program and drive the importance of what we do home for many people. When companies get involved with SFI, it means we’re able to continue work to make on-the-ground differences with logger training, conservation and community outreach. Additionally, it gives us a way to keep forests as forests, avoiding loss to conversion and development. To keep involvement with these programs, there must be a continuous demand for forest certification.

The packaging industry plays a large role in us being able to keep many of our partnerships running. Without their support, in addition to all the other users of certified forest products, not only would our forests suffer, but so would many of the programs we’re able to fund as a part of our program.

While forestry and the packaging industry have each made huge strides over the past two decades, there’s still a lot of work to be done. With only 10 percent of the world’s forests certified, the focus will always be on promoting responsible forestry on all lands – certified or uncertified. Additionally, we need more action to inform consumers and customers about forest certification and how it works in partnership with recycling. Recycling is important, but it, nor forest certification, can stand alone.

I had a great time talking with fellow speakers and attendees of the forum. With continued dialogue and continuous improvements, I can’t wait to see the leaps both sectors will make over the next 20 years.

For more coverage from the Sustainable Packaging Forum, check out this interview with Justmeans: