TUESDAY, MAY 20: PRE-CONFERENCE SESSION

AFTERNOON

1:00 – 4:30 pm  |  Powering Local Impact: SFI Implementation Committee General Session

Open to SIC members and partners. SFI responds to local needs through SFI Implementation Committees (SICs) at the state, provincial, and regional levels. The SIC General Session offers a forum for SIC members to share ideas and best practices about community outreach through social media, logger training, and partnering with local businesses and community leaders.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21

MORNING

8:00 – 9:00 am  |   BREAKFAST

9:00 – 10:00 am  |   INNOVATING FOR FORESTS AND COMMUNITIES: TRADITIONAL WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS

Sustainability requires innovative solutions to local, national, and global environmental challenges—solutions strengthened through forest-focused collaboration. Join us for a traditional welcome and opening remarks to kick off the 2025 SFI Annual Conference and set the stage for this year’s theme, Innovating for Forests and Communities.

10:00 – 10:30 am  |   PRESENTATION OF PRESIDENT’S AWARD AND DR. SHARON HAINES MEMORIAL AWARD

10:30 – 11:00 am  |   BREAK

11:00 – 12:00 pm  |  SFI @ 30 YEARS: CELEBRATING PROGRESS, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

SFI is celebrating 30 years since its founding, marking three decades of achievements that will propel us into a new era of innovation and engagement. Hear from forest sector leaders, including past and current SFI Board members, who helped lay the foundation and are building the future of sustainable forestry.

AFTERNOON

12:00 – 1:15 pm  |  LUNCH

1:15 – 2:30 pm  |  MEASURE THIS! THE VALUE OF SFI IN GLOBAL REPORTING FRAMEWORKS

Nature-related global reporting frameworks are becoming increasingly important in forest supply chains. Learn about recent developments in several key frameworks, including the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and the links to SFI certification.

2:30 – 3:15 pm  |  DRIVING DEMAND: HOW MARKETS PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY

SFI is increasingly recognized for providing supply chain assurances. 93% of consumers who have heard of SFI trust SFI, and 80% of SFI-certified organizations reported steady or increased demand for SFI-certified products in 2024. This session will feature insights into forest sector markets and how market leaders evaluate sustainable forestry.

3:15 – 3:45 pm  |  BREAK

3:45 – 4:15 pm  |  FORESTS IN 4D: DUE DILIGENCE, DEFORESTATION AND DEGRADATION

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and other public and private initiatives are focused on avoiding deforestation and forest degradation. Learn about implementation efforts to comply with policy requirements and recent case studies that analyze compliance in supply chains in the U.S. South.

4:15 – 5:00 pm  |  PLANTING THE SEED: PARTNERSHIPS TO GROW FOREST LITERACY

Building a generation of leaders who will take responsibility for solving environmental challenges and market needs is one of the best investments a society can make. Explore how Project Learning Tree (PLT) and forest sector organizations can collaborate to increase forest literacy in K-12 education and knowledge about sustainably managed forests.

EVENING

5:00 – 7:00 pm  |  CONNECT, COLLABORATE, CELEBRATE: WELCOME RECEPTION

THURSDAY, MAY 22

MORNING

7:00 – 8:00 am  |  5 K FUN RUN/WALK

8:00 – 9:00 am  |  BREAKFAST

9:00 – 9:15 am  |  DAY 2 WELCOME AND PRESENTATION OF SIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

9:15 – 9:30 am  |  SPOTLIGHTING INDIGENOUS STEWARDSHIP: THE STUWIX RESOURCES JOINT VENTURE STORY

9:30 – 10:30 am  |  WHAT’S NEXT: FOREST PRODUCTS INNOVATION TO ADVANCE SUSTAINABILITY

10:30 – 11:00 am  |  GREEN JOBS NETWORKING BREAK

11:00 – 12:00 pm  |  GENERATION “TREE”: FUTURE FOREST WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITIES

AFTERNOON

12:00 – 1:00 pm  |  LUNCH & WOMEN’S FOREST CONGRESS LUNCH MEET UP

1:00 – 1:15 pm  |  PRESENTATION OF CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP AWARD

1:15 – 1:45 pm  |  WHERE THE SIDEWALK STARTS: PATHWAYS TO URBAN FOREST SUSTAINABILITY

1:45 – 3:00 pm  |  SKATING ON THIN ICE: CLIMATE SMART FORESTRY APPROACHES

3:00 – 3:30 pm  |  BREAK

3:30 – 4:45 pm  |  MAGNIFICENT MAPS: HOW SPATIAL DATA AND TECHNOLOGY ARE TRANSFORMING FOREST CONSERVATION

Spatial data and innovative technologies to access and use them offer increasingly important roles in informing sustainable forest management and advancing conservation outcomes. This session will explore multiple spatial datasets relevant to North American forests, highlighting how these tools can be used for forest management, conservation stewardship, and ecosystem resilience across scales.

4:45 – 5:00 pm  |  CLOSING REMARKS

EVENING

6:00 – 9:00 pm  |  OFFSITE RECEPTION

FRIDAY, MAY 23

MORNING

8:00 – 9:00 am  |  BREAKFAST

For Friday Forum/Workshop Participants Only

9:00 – 12:00 pm  |  SFI CONSERVATION IMPACT WORKSHOP

As our forests face growing challenges for resilience, effective stewardship requires innovative management practices, sound data, and strong partnerships. Through technical dialogue with field experts and SFI-certified organizations, this year’s SFI Conservation Impact Workshop will explore practical climate-related interventions and available resources for responsible forest management. The event is organized by the Conservation Pillar at SFI, whose focus is on advancing conservation outcomes of the SFI standards. In this free event, we welcome participation by various natural resource and conservation professionals interested in forests, climate, certification, and conservation. The workshop is divided into two sessions:

• Part I will include expert speakers on various applications of evolving management practices and data that can support alignment with Climate Smart Forestry – Objective 9 in the SFI Forest Management standard.
• Part II will include updates from the Conservation pillar and will have an interactive engagement session to shape the development of our Climate Smart Forestry Initiative and related practices.