I am pleased to announce that we’ve just released the latest SFI progress report, which measures our program’s progress in meeting its goals. This year’s report is truly special because its theme is “Power of Partnerships.”

Partnerships power the SFI program. They breathe life into our work, making it dynamic and exciting.

Together with our many partners, we share ideas and accomplish so much more in the forest, in communities, and in the marketplace. Our partners include community organizations and companies of all sizes, government agencies, conservation groups, Aboriginal people, customers and family forest owners.

We have a diverse range of partners because we respect and value all contributions, and believe everyone can benefit through involvement in the SFI program. After all, everyone has a responsibility to our forests and to our communities. This report touches on just a few of the accomplishments resulting from these amazing partnerships.

2010 is a perfect time to be celebrating the power of partnerships. We began the year by introducing our new SFI 2010-2014 Standard, concluding an 18-month open, consultative and inclusive review. The process invited input from more than 2,000 people, and was overseen by the independent External Review Panel. This collaboration did a lot to strengthen existing partnerships, and build new ones.

We also entered 2010 as the largest single forest certification standard in the world. This growth reflects the confidence and respect our program has earned. It places us in a leadership position to bring together people from different backgrounds and viewpoints to achieve our common goal — to strengthen forest practices.

You don’t have to look any further than the 950 people who make up our 37 SFI Implementation Committees. These committees are a unique and important part of our program. Close to half of the members are involved not because their organization is an SFI program participant, but because they understand the relevance and value of what we do. They know that they can, and are, making a difference. They include loggers, teachers, biologists and public officials. They are working to meet the needs of communities across the United States and Canada, arranging training sessions and workshops for loggers and family forest owners to expand the reach of responsible forest management.

Another fantastic partnership – one that means a lot to me – is our relationship with Habitat for Humanity. Local participants and SFI Implementation Committees have contributed time and resources to help build Habitat homes in Maine, Manitoba, Minnesota, Ontario and Tennessee – using SFI wood from local communities to build better communities. The SFI partnership includes the first Habitat home certified to the ANSI National Green Building Standard in the United States, the first certified to the Built Green Canada Program in Canada, and the first in a First Nation community in Canada. But what’s best is that these projects bring together volunteers to provide decent homes using local resources for hard-working families– people like Timothy Gistover who lives with his son in a Habitat home in Nashville built with the help of the SFI program and its partners.

We have just embarked on a new partnership initiative that will bring us closer to the conservation community. Through an ongoing Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant Program, we have announced support for projects that will, among other things, improve forest habitat and wildlife biodiversity, strengthen knowledge and data, and reduce the risk of illegal products in the global supply chain. Our criteria called for projects that bring together partners and resources so we were not surprised to find that our initial commitment of $675,000 – $307,500 so far in 2010 alone – will leverage a total value of $2.7 million from all of those involved.

What is so heartening about everything we are doing right now – and what motivates SFI staff and all of our partners to work even harder – is the realization that more and more people are voicing their support for third-party certification and the SFI program.

The power of partnerships gives meaning to the work that we do, and motivates us to take on the challenges ahead and to seize the opportunities of the future. From everyone involved in the SFI program and everyone who benefits from this work, sincere thanks to all of our partners – we look forward to continuing to work with you.

Read the full report here
Read our news release here

I’m looking for every opportunity to talk about our latest round of public consultation because I want as many people as possible to participate in the process that will lead to the SFI 2010-2014 Standard. You have until next Monday (March 2) to comment on the new draft standard posted on our website, and we have begun regional workshops that will be held across North America.

This transparent standard development process means a lot to the SFI program – every time we open up the standard for comments, it gets stronger. As an example, the SFI 2005-2009 Standard added provisions to conserve old-growth forests, strengthen procurement and address invasive exotic species.

The changes proposed in the draft SFI 2010-2014 Standard reflect views we received during public consultation last summer – when we invited 2,000 individuals and organizations to comment, and publicized the process to reach the general public. Proposed changes address changing values and new issues – such as how forests can mitigate climate change and the emerging role of carbon management. Others suggest we require, rather than encourage, the use of trained loggers and resource professionals in our fiber sourcing program, and clarify the definition of Forests with Exception Conservation Value.

The SFI 2010-2014 Standard, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2010, is developed by the SFI Resources Committee and approved by SFI Board of Directors. The members of both represent environmental, social and economic sectors equally and, like me, I know they are keenly interested in your views.

I’ve been thinking about the value of certification for all lands, including public lands, as we finalize SFI’s submission to the U.S. Forest Service, which is inviting views about whether U.S. national forests should be certified. (If you want to send in comments, the deadline for submissions is this Monday, Nov. 17, and the website with all the details is http://www.fs.fed.us/projects/forestcertification/index.shtml)

It’s clear to me that certification is a valuable tool for all forest managers, regardless of who owns the land and how the forest is being used – whether it is for water quality, conservation objectives, timber production, recreation or research. You only have to look at the list of SFI program participants to recognize that certification lets managers consider multiple uses and options for the forest.

Governments are important players in ensuring forests are well managed today for future generations, and U.S. national forests are a great example of public lands that would benefit from certification. The study by the Pinchot Institute for Conservation commissioned by the USFS showed the benefits of certification for national forests, and SFI Inc. welcomes the study and the USFS’s open and thorough response.

The USFS mission statement is to “to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.” This mission is achieved under sustainable multiple-use management.

Third-party forest certification can help Forest Service managers meet their goals, and SFI’s single standard makes it a lot easier for an agency like the USFS that manages lands across the country. It provides a common framework, with objectives, performance measures and indicators that can be tracked and compared to improve planning, practices and reviews in a consistent and comparable context.

SFI has other advantages when it comes to public lands – from our open complaints process to regional SFI Implementation Committees that help to improve practices on the ground, train forest professionals and address questions about practices.

Two-thirds of the 150 million acres of SFI-certified lands in North America are publicly owned. Obviously, a lot of this is in Canada where the vast majority of forestland is publicly owned. But a quarter of the SFI-certified land in the United States is also in public hands – our program participants include state agencies from Maine to Indiana to Washington.

Of course public lands are not the same as private lands. That’s why the SFI 2005-2009 Standard has specific requirements around public lands – there’s more emphasis on public involvement and program participants must participate in land and resource management planning. I fully expect this is an area we will be examining in our review process leading to the SFI 2010-2014 Standard (you’ll soon be hearing more about our regional workshops early in 2009)