How Certification Promotes Conservation – Presentations from 2014 Forest Certification Workshop

Forest Certification Workshop

March 6, 2014
Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center
Mansfield, Georgia

NCASI, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources hosted a workshop on March 6, 2014, to improve understanding of forest certification and to discuss how certification could be a method to document conservation of at-risk species on working forest lands. Participants in the workshop included representatives of forest landowners, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. (List of participants)

Presentations

The following presentations were offered during the workshop. Click on a title to download a PDF file of the presentation.

• Introduction to Forest Certification
  
  Brian Kernohan, Hancock Timber Resource Group
• Forest Certification and Biodiversity: Verifiable Metrics for Large Working Forests
  
  Kyla Cheynet, Plum Creek Timber Company
• Forest Certification: A Catalyst for Wildlife Conservation and Management
  
  Jimmy Bullock, Resource Management Service LLC
• Case Study: BMP Compliance and Effectiveness
  
  Rob Olszewski, Plum Creek Timber Company
• The Link between Forest Certification and Research
  
  Jessica Homyack, Weyerhaeuser Company and T. Bently Wigley, National Council for Air & Stream Improvement, Inc.
• USFWS Southeast Region Species Assessment Process and Data Needs
  
  Rob Tawes and Erin Rivenbark, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• Forest Certification Auditing: An Overview
  
  Richard Boitnott, Natural Resource Systems, LLC
• Landscape Aquatic Project
  
  Bob Emory, Weyerhaeuser Company
• Gopher Tortoise Conservation, Working Forests and the Potential Role of Forest Certification
  
  Kit Hart, Plum Creek Timber Company

Handouts

The following handouts were distributed to workshop participants. Click on a title to download a PDF file of the handout.

• Forest Certification: A Brief Primer
• How the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Assesses Species Under the Endangered Species Act
• To List or Not: What the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Needs to Know to Make Decisions Under the ESA
• Key Aspects of the Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts When Making Listing Decisions
• Flowchart: Consideration of Conservation Efforts When Making Findings for Listing Petitions
• Conservation Progress in the Southeast

More information

Contact Darren Miller.