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

The Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) recently finished the second of six workshops, thanks to a grant from SFI’s Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant Program. Over the next three years, RGS plans to hold six Wisconsin Coverts workshops– A Woodland Wildlife Management Program for Private Landowners in the Great Lakes Region. The Wisconsin Coverts Project enlists and educates workshop attendees about management best practices for their land and the wildlife on it, so they can lead by example and help others better understand their role as land stewards. Since 1994, The Wisconsin Coverts Project has held 17 previous Coverts Workshops for 427 Coverts Cooperators (representing 375 properties).  These Cooperators are responsible for managing 330,735 acres in Wisconsin and in outreach to other landowners, have impacted management on a over 700,000 acres.

One of the recent Wisconsin Coverts Workshops was conducted at the Kemp Natural Resources Station near Woodruff, Wisconsin with 23 attendees.  As part of the grant from SFI, applicants who are chosen for the workshop attend it free of charge, which facilitates the participation of family forest landowners.  The large number of applicants (70) for participating in a Coverts Workshop indicates the growing interest and demand for this type of training.  Project staff did an outstanding job targeting forest landowners that have high potential to influence management on large tracts or work with other landowners in their areas.  Anecdotal comments from workshop attendees indicate they found the workshops very beneficial.

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.  SFI is committed to providing leadership and sharing best practices to improve forest management on both certified and uncertified lands. In May 2010, the program announced a commitment of $675,000 to support nine conservation initiatives.  Through the involvement of partners, these projects will leverage additional resources and achieve a total value of almost $2.7 million.

August 12-15, 2010 WI Coverts Project attendees:  Standing (left to right):  Dick Merten, Daniel Einstein, Brad Matson, Scott Craven (workshop coordinator), Doug Hagie, Mark Erickson, Chad Reynen, Tom Owens, Bill O’Donnell, Jim Stuempges, Jo Bailey, David Drake (workshop coordinator), Craig Stomberg, Steve Schwartz, and Doug Appelgren.  Sitting (left to right):  Roxanne Erickson, James Marquardt, Robert Asproth, Charles Erickson, David Johnson, Jason Spaeth, Barb Thompson, Kathy Lewis, and Gretchen Larson.  Not pictured:  Jim Lohff and Jamie Nack (workshop coordinator).

Check out Conservation Fund President and CEO Larry Selzer’s great “guest blog” on CNBC.com. He outlines the critical role of forests in combating climate change and providing many other benefits. He also explains the importance of credible forest certification programs such as SFI and FSC

I’ve just returned from Boston, having spent a great day at the USGBC’s Green Build Expo.

This is the 5th year SFI has participated in the USGBC’s Green Build Expo, and over the years the SFI team has spent countless hours in the exhibit hall talking with architects, developers, and policy makers, among others, about sustainability, about the important role of forest certification, and about the evolution of green building.

It is clear to see there really is an evolution – not just for innovative products and building systems, but evolution in people’s environmental consciousness. Across the board, willingness to incorporate sustainability into our lives and adopt workable measures to protect the environment is increasing.

For example, since 2000, membership at the USGBC has more than tripled, and the market value of green building is projected to keep drastically rising as well. According to McGraw-Hill Construction, the green building market at comes in at around $12 billion value in 2008 and the report projects growth to $60 billion value by 2010. (As an aside, we did a special insert with McGraw-Hill and BusinessWeek magazine about mainstreaming “green” and construction – you can download it here: http://www.sfiprogram.org/files/pdf/feature-businessweek-2008.pdf )

For SFI we’ve seen double and triple digit growth across our program. We now have close to 150 million acres of land certified across North America, and over 320 Chain of Custody Certificates. For the year 2007, we calculated a 386% increase in CoC certificates, and with 2008 nearly over, I can assure you that momentum is strong!

The movement is clearly growing.

These programs and organizations themselves are changing too. For SFI, a clear example of how we reflect emerging public values and adapt to new information and science is our public review process which happens every five years. You can learn more about that on our site here: http://www.sfiprogram.org/standard-development-process.php

And as I am sure you all know, the USGBC is considering revising their system to recognize numerous forest certification programs, including SFI. If you didn’t catch it already, you can read my blog post about LEED and SFI here: http://www.goodforforests.com/archives/89

While we’ve participated in the USGBC show as exhibitors for a number of years, today I had the honor of addressing the crowd and introducing a long-time champion of green building, Architect Stefan Behnisch. The USGBC have posted a videostream of the session – you can watch it here: http://www.greenbuild365.org/GreenExpoVideoDetail.aspx?GreenExpoID=19

In addition to being the founding member of international design firm Behnisch Architekten and US-based Behnisch Architects, Mr. Behnisch has lectured at universities around the world. His approach to sustainable architecture is highly acknowledged in Europe and all over the world. He was recently deemed “Environmental Champion” by EnvironDesign Journal and Interiors & Sources and his buildings have been honored by prestigious institutions and industry organizations alike.

I was interested to read some of Stefan’s views on sustainability. In one interview, he said that sustainability is “not a miracle, or secret science, but is mostly common sense and a significant amount of work and effort.” He also said that architecture and environmental responsibility are eternally meshed and “all architects should be practicing responsibly.” I couldn’t agree more.

By the way, have a look at the new ad we launched at GreenBuild: http://www.sfiprogram.org/files/pdf/ads/ad-solidwood-twoways.pdf. It is one of my favourites for sure.