Columbia Forest Products Awarded Re-Certification

This year, Columbia’s Forest Management program went through a full assessment as part of its third party auditing process.  Columbia is audited by the Rainforest Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization that certifies forestry operations, ensuring that they meet rigorous standards for the conservation of natural resources and the rights and welfare of workers and local communities.  An assessment looks at Columbia’s entire forest management program and evaluates it against all indicators of the Forest Stewardship Council’s® US Forest Management Standard.  Columbia successfully demonstrated compliance with the standard and was recertified for another five years.

Five year assessments and annual audits are part of the process to ensure that certified forest products are coming from well-managed forests.  For Columbia, it starts with management plans that our foresters develop and implement on privately owned forests.  Columbia liaisons with state Natural Heritages programs, state Historic Preservation Offices, and also Extension offices to identify natural resource and management concerns.  Columbia also reaches out to a diverse group of stakeholders in efforts to evaluate High Conservation Value forests and indigenous peoples’ rights.

Columbia employees a staff of professional foresters who can answer questions such as: “Why is this tree losing its leaves?”, or “What bug is this and should I worry?”, or “How can I improve my deer and turkey hunting?”  It is increasingly difficult to find foresters who will actually come out to your forest and walk through it while answering questions face to face.

Columbia works to help landowners’ stewardship of the land and resources by actually getting our boots on the ground.  It’s where our innovative plywood technology starts.