Canfor Certified Through M&L IFPA Planning Process

December 2, 2003

The Morice & Lakes IFPA has hit another milestone in its sustainable forest management (SFM) planning process.

As a result of huge efforts in public involvement and data analysis by the IFPA, the Houston Operations of Canadian Forest Products in the Morice Timber Supply Area have been recommended for certification to the Canadian Standards Association’s (CSA) Sustainable Forest Management Standard. An independent registrar made the recommendation following an audit of the company’s woodlands operations in early November 2003. This means Canfor’s forestry operations conducted under their Morice Forest License conform to the principles of sustainable resource management.

“We set out to create SFM plans that were certifiable for partner forest companies,” said M&L IFPA manager Jim Burbee. “This was an especially challenging undertaking because CSA recently raised the standards for certification.” Burbee added that the new SFM plan for the Morice TSA is one of only two SFM plans in Canada that have the new certification.

According to Carl vanderMark, planning superintendent for Canfor, certification through the IFPA is a key accomplishment for the company.

“We have been involved with the M&L IFPA over the years for a number of reasons, including the fact that we could achieve certification through its innovative planning process.” said vanderMark. “ We feel this planning process will continue to provide the framework to meet other higher level planning needs as well.”

The SFM planning process is a collaborative effort between the public, forest licensees and managing government agencies to implement sustainable forest management throughout the landbase, which encompasses 2.6 million hectares.

The M&L IFPA process began in early 2000 to implement operational, on-the-ground measures to achieve long-term sustainable forest management taking into account economic, ecological and social perspectives. To achieve this, the program has been exploring innovations in the core program areas of public involvement, forest productivity and ecosystem-based management.

In developing SFM plans, over 100 meetings have been held with local participants representing a wide range of stakeholder interests. So far, well over 200 people have contributed local knowledge and expertise to the identification of resources and management strategies for the planning area. Public input was received through scenario planning teams and members of public advisory groups. The scenario planning process is a key innovation of the M&L IFPA.

Version 2 of the SFM Plan for the Morice TSA, which details the base case analysis that set the stage for Canfor’s certification, will be published in the coming weeks.