WVFA Fall 2018

T R E E F A R M N E W S www.wvfa.org Fall 2018 |  West Virginia Forestry Association Mountain State Forestry 27 National Tree Farm Advocacy Across the U.S., the Endangered Species Act classifies roughly, 7,700 plant and animal species as ‘at-risk,’ or listed as endangered or threatened. What’s more, 60% of all of these at-risk species need private and family forestland to live, eat and thrive. We know that caring for wildlife is a top goal for many, if not, all of you. We all care about the well-being of our wildlife populations. But caring for at-risk wildlife can come with challenges for Tree Farmers, one of the biggest being regulation. The American Forest Foundation’s advocacy team works with federal legislators to enact policies and programs that can help family forest owners care for at-risk species without additional regulation. Particularly, AFF is pushing for these such programs in the new 2018 Farm Bill.  Plitt TF Scholarship Auction Results On behalf of the WV Tree Farm Committee, we report that their Silent Auction raised $3,151.00—i.e., $2,131 from the auction, $520 from the raffle and a $500 contribution from Karl Plitt in honor of his mother who established the Plitt WV Tree Farm Scholarship. Other than the raffle, this is near the same amount as last year.  New SFI, Inc. Board Members The Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Inc. is pleased to announce the election of new members to our Board of Directors: Mike Parr, President, American Bird Conservancy; Jim Irving, Co-CEO, JD Irving Limited; Lennard Joe, President, Nicola Tribal Association; and Jaime Yraguen, President, Associated Oregon Loggers. These new members embody SFI’s three pillars: supply chain assurance, conservation elevation, and education and community engagement.  In other news SFI Aligns Standards with PEFC THE SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY INITIATIVE, INC. (SFI) is aligning its standard revision process with the new revision process adopted by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). The revisions to the SFI Standards are now scheduled to begin in November 2019 and to conclude in November 2021. The new SFI Standards will be released on January 1, 2022. The PEFC revisions are part of a larger meta-standard revision process involving all their technical guides including the PEFC Sustainable Forest Management Standard as well as the PEFC Chain-of-Custody Standard. The new SFI Standards revision timeline enables SFI to incorporate enhancements from PEFC’s meta- standards into our own SFI requirements, as well as other initiatives under development. “By aligning our revision start date with the conclusion of the PEFC meta-standard revision, SFI will be better informed about changes, or potential changes, we may need to make to maintain our PEFC endorsement. We will also have more time to learn from SFI’s new initiatives like the SFI Small Lands Group Certification module and the SFI Small-Scale Forest Management Module for Indigenous Peoples, Families, and Communities. These projects will help inform and guide parts of our standard revision process,” says Kathy Abusow, President & CEO of SFI, Inc. Other SFI led initiatives such as the multi year conservation impact work as well as SFI’s conservation grant program will also provide insight into the SFI Standard revision process. SFI currently has mechanisms in place to address standard related interpretations and guidance should issues arise on clarity or intent of the current standard. This includes issuing SFI interpretations, implementing any revisions to the guidance document, and developing modules specific to emerging issues. 

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