Certified For Sustainability

Forest industry cuts path to success

Zach Wood

Zach Wood is a public information officer in the DNR’s Office of Communications.

Since the days preceding our statehood, Wisconsin's forests and their products have been central to the state's economy.

By the 1830s, America was growing rapidly, and the demand for lumber was almost limitless. So, too, was the supply of trees to provide that lumber, especially in the state's northern half. Or so it seemed to many at the time.

Consequently, loggers harvested an astronomical amount of Wisconsin's trees. The volume of pine harvested from the Black River Valley alone could have built a boardwalk 9 feet wide and 4 inches thick around the entire world, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

From the 1840s to 1910s, most of Wisconsin's famous northern forestlands were cleared through repeated harvests or clear-cutting to supply needed lumber and convert the land to farms. The images of these barren stump fields, commonly seen in textbooks and at local historical societies around the state, are jarring, to say the least.

NEW GROWTH, NEW APPROACH

Today, northern Wisconsin is again home to towering pines and millions of acres of forests. Simultaneously, Wisconsin's paper industry leads the nation in output, and our forest products industry contributes over $24 billion to the state's economy, employing more than 60,000 people annually.

At first glance, those two facts would seem conflicting — how could forests recover, producing twice as much growth compared to what is harvested, while concurrently supporting a multibillion-dollar industry? The answer lies in the implementation of what is known as sustainable forestry.

“It’s a holistic and intentional approach to forest management that aims to maintain forests as healthy ecosystems that can provide economic, ecological and social benefits for years to come,” DNR forest products team leader Scott Lyon said of sustainable forestry.

“That means strategically harvesting trees to balance the public’s interests in wildlife habitat, aesthetics, soil and water quality, native biological diversity, recreation and forest products.”

DNR lands and county forest programs, totaling nearly 4 million acres in Wisconsin, are dual certified under the standards of both the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, North America's two most widely accepted forest certification systems.

“These independent third-party certifications are renewed each year and subject to annual audits,” Lyon said. “They verify that the management of Wisconsin's forests meets strict ecological, social and economic sustainability standards.”

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Sustainable forestry doesn't just make environmental sense, it can be good for business, too.

“From cardboard sleeves for your coffee cup to the cardboard boxes showing up at your doorstep, you interact with these products every day,” Lyon said. “Businesses see the value in purchasing sustainably sourced forest products.

“That's especially true when those products have the certifications to prove their sustainability, and that's why you see so many of those products coming from Wisconsin.”

Certifications are not limited to products from public lands, Lyon added.

“Perhaps the best example of sustainable forestry in the world, much less in Wisconsin, can be found within the Menominee Tribe’s land in the northeastern part of the state,” he said.

Menominee Tribal Enterprises, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, has harvested nearly 200 million cubic feet of timber from tribal land since the 1850s, Lyon said. MTE supplies consumers around the globe with products such as premium lumber, pulp for paper, firewood and wood byproducts like chips and sawdust.

MTE wood is some of the most sought-after in the world thanks to its quality and commitment to sustainable forestry. It’s so highly regarded that MTE maple was chosen for use as the basketball court at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum.

Wisconsin’s chief state forester Heather Berklund sums it up well: “Independent, third-party certification of sustainable forestry practices helps Wisconsin’s businesses meet their triple bottom line goals for economic, environmental and social success and assures we will have a healthy forest and industry into the future.”

LEARN MORE

For details on how the DNR incorporates sustainable forestry in its forest management efforts, check dnr.wi.gov/tiny/2221.