The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Fiber Sourcing Standard has long required manufacturers of wood products (such as lumber, plywood, and paper) to acquire raw materials from landowners and forest managers who adhere to best management practices (BMPs) designed to protect water quality and quantity before, during, and after forest management activities take place. The SFI Forest Management Standard also requires adherence to BMPs.
Locations of certified mills (A) and the area within wood baskets of certified mills (B) in 2019. A recent study found that “BMP implementation rates were not significantly different inside, outside, or within multiple wood baskets of mills certified to the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard.”
“Due in equal parts to the establishment and monitoring of BMPs, the tremendous water quality benefits healthy forests provide, and the relatively low impact of forest management activities on water quality, Congress exempted normal forest management practices from Clean Water Act permitting requirements,” reports the National Association of State Foresters.
A recent study in the journal Trees, Forests, and People found high BMP implementation rates within the areas from which manufacturers source raw materials in the Southeast U.S., but also outside such “wood baskets.” The study’s authors found that “BMP implementation rates were not significantly different inside, outside, or within multiple wood baskets of mills certified to the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard. We also find that the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard facilitates the same level of adherence to sustainable forest practices across various levels of biodiversity habitats, regardless of the presence or absence of imperiled species. High compliance rates across the region indicate that all tracts of land, irrespective of biodiversity categories, typically receive the same level of conservation attention. In this context, the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard is broadening the reach of sustainable forest management beyond certified forests in the SE United States”.
“The SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard is broadening the reach of sustainable forest management beyond certified forests in the SE United States.”
“The SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard promotes BMP implementation rates across the Southeast U.S., including outside the areas closer to mills, whether or not imperiled species are present,” said Dr. Darren Sleep, SFI Lead Scientist. “These areas are unlikely to experience forest or water-quality degradation.”
The Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, in partnership with SFI and several other organizations, recently studied the effects of BMPs on soil erosion and sedimentation in the Southeastern U.S. The project is part of the SFI Conservation Impact Project.
