Forest Stewardship Council: Community & Family Forest Workshop

The Forest Stewardship Council U.S. is hosting a 2.5-day workshop to explore opportunities to make FSC certification more accessible to community forests and family forests.
 
We hope you will join us!

When: July 18-20, 2023
Where: Aloft Minneapolis; 900 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55415

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sets standards for responsible forest management and manages a global voluntary certification system that allows manufacturers and consumers of forest products to directly contribute to the health of forests and forest communities.

This in-person workshop will convene U.S. community and family forest managers and related stakeholders to review existing FSC resources and tools available to community forests and family forests. The workshop goals are to increase awareness of these resources, confirm their relevancy to U.S. forest managers, and identify any gaps or additional resources that may yet need to be developed. The desired outcome is to reduce the costs and/or increase the benefits of FSC certification for community and family forests in the United States.

The following documents provide additional details:

• Workshop Overview
• Agenda
• Logistics

Currently, forests that meet one or more of the following criteria would be eligible for the resources and tools that will be introduced during this workshop [NOTE: One agenda item explores whether any of these criteria should be adapted to better serve a U.S. context]:

• Forests smaller than 2471 acres (any ownership)
• Either: a) the rate of harvesting is less than 20% of the mean annual increment (MAI) and the annual harvest is less than 1379.5 cords; OR b) the average annual harvest is less than 1379.5 cords/year during a 5-year cycle (any ownership)
• Only non-timber forest products are collected or harvested (any ownership)
• Both: a) the legal right to manage the forest is held at communal level; AND b) the members of the community actively manage the forest or have authorized someone else to manage it 

The workshop duration will be two full days and one half day, offered free of charge. Prior to the workshop, attendees will be given access to a shared drive with background materials. This information will be summarized by presenters and event facilitators during the workshop. During the workshop, facilitated discussions will include review of resources and structured collection of feedback through small and large group discussion. Take-away resources will also be shared.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided on site, but dinners and lodging will not be provided. A limited number of travel stipends may be available – contact Amy Clark Eagle (a.eagle@us.fsc.org) at FSC US for more information.