• DNSH 1 Climate change mitigation

    1. Afforestation plan and subsequent forest management plan or equivalent instrument 1.2 Preferably through the afforestation plan, or if information is missing, through any other document, detailed information is provided on the following points: (a) description of the area according to its gazetting in the land registry;

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    Performance Measure 2.1. Certified Organizations shall promptly reforest after final harvest.

    Indicator 1. Documented reforestation plans, including designation of all harvest areas for either natural, planted, or direct seeded regeneration and prompt reforestation, unless delayed for site-specific environmental or forest health considerations or legal requirements, through planting within two years or two planting seasons, or by planned natural regeneration methods within five years.

    Indicator 2. Clear criteria to judge adequate regeneration and appropriate actions to correct understocked areas and achieve acceptable species composition and stocking rates for planting, direct seeding, and natural regeneration.

    Indicator 3. Plantings of native or non-invasive naturalized tree species are preferred. In exceptional circumstances where exotic tree species are being planted, they should not increase risk to native ecosystems.

    Indicator 4. Protection of desirable or planned advanced natural regeneration during harvest.

    2

  • DNSH 1 Climate change mitigation

    1. Afforestation plan and subsequent forest management plan or equivalent instrument (b) site preparation and its impacts on pre-existing carbon stocks, including soils and above-ground biomass, in order to protect land with high carbon stock (8);

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    Performance Measure 2.3. Certified Organizations shall implement practices that protect and maintain forest and soil productivity and soil health.

    Indicator 1. Process to identify soils vulnerable to compaction, and use of appropriate methods, including the use of soil maps where available, to avoid excessive soil disturbance.

    Indicator 2. Use of erosion control measures to minimize the loss of soil and impacts to site productivity.

    Indicator 3. Post-harvest conditions conducive to maintaining site productivity (such as: retained down woody debris and minimized skid trails).

    Indicator 4. Retention of vigorous trees during partial harvesting, consistent with scientific silvicultural standards for the area.

    Indicator 5. Practices that address harvesting and site preparation to protect soil productivity and soil health.

    Indicator 6. Road construction, skidding layout, and harvest plans designed to minimize impacts to soil productivity and soil health.

    2

  • DNSH 1 Climate change mitigation

    1. Afforestation plan and subsequent forest management plan or equivalent instrument (c) management goals, including major constraints;

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    Performance Measure 2.3. Certified Organizations shall implement practices that protect and maintain forest and soil productivity and soil health.

    Indicator 1. Process to identify soils vulnerable to compaction, and use of appropriate methods, including the use of soil maps where available, to avoid excessive soil disturbance.

    Indicator 2. Use of erosion control measures to minimize the loss of soil and impacts to site productivity.

    Indicator 3. Post-harvest conditions conducive to maintaining site productivity (such as: retained down woody debris and minimized skid trails).

    Indicator 4. Retention of vigorous trees during partial harvesting, consistent with scientific silvicultural standards for the area.

    Indicator 5. Practices that address harvesting and site preparation to protect soil productivity and soil health.

    Indicator 6. Road construction, skidding layout, and harvest plans designed to minimize impacts to soil productivity and soil health.

    2

  • DNSH 1 Climate change mitigation

    1. Afforestation plan and subsequent forest management plan or equivalent instrument (g) measures deployed to establish and maintain the good condition of forest ecosystems;

    OBJECTIVE 1. FOREST MANAGEMENT PLANNING

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    OBJECTIVE 3. PROTECTION AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER RESOURCES

    OBJECTIVE 4. CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

    OBJECTIVE 5. MANAGEMENT OF VISUAL QUALITY AND RECREATIONAL BENEFITS

    OBJECTIVE 9. CLIMATE SMART FORESTRY

    OBJECTIVE 10. FIRE RESILIENCE AND AWARENESS

    Performance Measure 1.1. Certified Organizations shall ensure that forest management plans include long-term harvest levels that are sustainable and consistent with appropriate growth-and-yield models.

    Performance Measure 1.2. Certified Organizations shall not convert one forest cover type to another forest cover type unless an assessment has been conducted to determine ecological impacts and provide appropriate justification.

    Performance Measure 1.3. Certified Organizations shall not have within the scope of their certification to this SFI Standard, forest lands that have been converted to non-forest land use.

    Performance Measure 1.4. Certified Organizations shall not afforest in locations which negatively impact ecologically important natural communities, threatened and endangered species, or native natural communities which could be at risk of becoming rare.

    Performance Measure 2.1. Certified Organizations shall promptly reforest after final harvest.

    Performance Measure 2.2. Certified Organizations shall have a program to minimize chemical use required to achieve management objectives while protecting employees, neighbors, the public and the environment, including wildlife and aquatic habitats.

    Performance Measure 2.3. Certified Organizations shall implement practices that protect and maintain forest and soil productivity and soil health.

    Performance Measure 2.4. Certified Organizations shall manage to protect forests from damaging agents, such as environmentally or economically undesirable levels of wildfire, pests, diseases, and invasive species, to maintain and improve long-term forest health, productivity, and economic viability.

    Performance Measure 2.5. Certified Organizations that deploy improved planting stock, including varietal seedlings, shall use best scientific methods.

    Performance Measure 3.1. Certified Organizations shall meet or exceed all applicable federal, provincial, state and local water quality laws and meet or exceed best management practices.

    Performance Measure 3.2. Certified Organizations shall implement water, wetland, and riparian protection programs based on climate, soil type, terrain, vegetation, ecological function, harvesting system, state best management practices (BMPs), provincial guidelines and other applicable factors

    Performance Measure 4.1. Certified Organizations shall conserve biological diversity.

    Performance Measure 4.2. Certified Organizations shall protect threatened and endangered species, critically imperiled and imperiled species (Forests with Exceptional Conservation Values), and natural communities, and old-growth forests.

    Performance Measure 4.3. Certified Organizations shall manage to protect ecologically important sites in a manner that takes into account their unique qualities.

    Performance Measure 4.4. Certified Organizations shall apply knowledge gained through research, science, technology, field experience and the results of monitoring of the effectiveness of conservation-related programs to manage wildlife habitat and contribute to the conservation of biological diversity.

    Performance Measure 5.1. Certified Organizations shall manage the impact of harvesting on visual quality

    Performance Measure 5.2. Certified Organizations shall manage the size, shape, and placement of clearcut harvests.

    Performance Measure 5.3. Certified Organizations shall adopt a green-up requirement or alternative methods that provide for visual quality.

    Performance Measure 5.4. Certified Organizations shall support and promote recreational opportunities for the public.

    Performance Measure 9.1 Certified Organizations shall individually and/or through cooperative efforts involving SFI Implementation Committees or other partners identify and address the climate change risks to forests and forest operations and develop appropriate adaptation objectives and strategies. Strategies are based on best scientific information.

    Performance Measure 9.2 Certified Organizations shall individually and/or through cooperative efforts involving SFI Implementation Committees or other partners identify and address opportunities to mitigate the effects associated with its forest operations on climate change.

    Performance Measure 10.1 On the forests they own or manage, Certified Organizations shall limit susceptibility to undesirable impacts of wildfire, promote healthy and resilient forest conditions through management techniques, actions and/or policies, and support restoration of forests following wildfire damage.

    Performance Measure 10.2 Certified Organizations shall individually and/or through cooperative efforts involving government agencies, SFI Implementation Committees, Project Learning Tree, or other partners, engage in efforts to raise awareness of and take action towards benefits of fire management and minimization of undesirable impacts of wildfire.

    2

  • DNSH 1 Climate change mitigation

    1. Afforestation plan and subsequent forest management plan or equivalent instrument (i) assessment of forest related risks, including forest fires, and pests and diseases outbreaks, with the aim of preventing, reducing and controlling the risks and measures deployed to ensure protection and adaptation against residual risks;

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    OBJECTIVE 10. FIRE RESILIENCE AND AWARENESS

    Performance Measure 2.4. Certified Organizations shall manage to protect forests from damaging agents, such as environmentally or economically undesirable levels of wildfire, pests, diseases, and invasive species, to maintain and improve long-term forest health, productivity, and economic viability.

    Indicator 1. Program to protect forests from damaging agents.

    Indicator 2. Management to promote healthy and productive forest conditions to reduce susceptibility to damaging agents.

    Indicator 3. Participation in, and support of, fire and pest prevention and control programs.

    Performance Measure 10.1 On the forests they own or manage, Certified Organizations shall limit susceptibility to undesirable impacts of wildfire, promote healthy and resilient forest conditions through management techniques, actions and/or policies, and support restoration of forests following wildfire damage.

    Indicator 1. Program to evaluate the risk of undesirable impacts of wildfire and the role of fire on the forests they own or manage.

    Indicator 2. Use of stand and landscape level management techniques, actions and/or policies to promote forest health and resilience, and to mitigate the likelihood of undesirable impacts of wildfire, such as, prescribed fire, cultural burning, thinning, or hazardous fuel reduction where appropriate based on risk.

    Indicator 3. Use of management techniques to address wildfire damage, mitigate negative impacts to water and soils, and to promote forest restoration and future forest resilience.

    2

  • DNSH 1 Climate change mitigation

    1. Afforestation plan and subsequent forest management plan or equivalent instrument (f) measures deployed to maintain the good condition of forest ecosystems;

    OBJECTIVE 1. FOREST MANAGEMENT PLANNING

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    OBJECTIVE 3. PROTECTION AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER RESOURCES

    OBJECTIVE 4. CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

    OBJECTIVE 5. MANAGEMENT OF VISUAL QUALITY AND RECREATIONAL BENEFITS

    OBJECTIVE 9. CLIMATE SMART FORESTRY

    OBJECTIVE 10. FIRE RESILIENCE AND AWARENESS

    Performance Measure 1.1. Certified Organizations shall ensure that forest management plans include long-term harvest levels that are sustainable and consistent with appropriate growth-and-yield models.

    Performance Measure 1.2. Certified Organizations shall not convert one forest cover type to another forest cover type unless an assessment has been conducted to determine ecological impacts and provide appropriate justification.

    Performance Measure 1.3. Certified Organizations shall not have within the scope of their certification to this SFI Standard, forest lands that have been converted to non-forest land use.

    Performance Measure 1.4. Certified Organizations shall not afforest in locations which negatively impact ecologically important natural communities, threatened and endangered species, or native natural communities which could be at risk of becoming rare.

    Performance Measure 2.1. Certified Organizations shall promptly reforest after final harvest.

    Performance Measure 2.2. Certified Organizations shall have a program to minimize chemical use required to achieve management objectives while protecting employees, neighbors, the public and the environment, including wildlife and aquatic habitats.

    Performance Measure 2.3. Certified Organizations shall implement practices that protect and maintain forest and soil productivity and soil health.

    Performance Measure 2.4. Certified Organizations shall manage to protect forests from damaging agents, such as environmentally or economically undesirable levels of wildfire, pests, diseases, and invasive species, to maintain and improve long-term forest health, productivity, and economic viability.

    Performance Measure 2.5. Certified Organizations that deploy improved planting stock, including varietal seedlings, shall use best scientific methods.

    Performance Measure 3.1. Certified Organizations shall meet or exceed all applicable federal, provincial, state and local water quality laws and meet or exceed best management practices.

    Performance Measure 3.2. Certified Organizations shall implement water, wetland, and riparian protection programs based on climate, soil type, terrain, vegetation, ecological function, harvesting system, state best management practices (BMPs), provincial guidelines and other applicable factors

    Performance Measure 4.1. Certified Organizations shall conserve biological diversity.

    Performance Measure 4.2. Certified Organizations shall protect threatened and endangered species, critically imperiled and imperiled species (Forests with Exceptional Conservation Values), and natural communities, and old-growth forests.

    Performance Measure 4.3. Certified Organizations shall manage to protect ecologically important sites in a manner that takes into account their unique qualities.

    Performance Measure 4.4. Certified Organizations shall apply knowledge gained through research, science, technology, field experience and the results of monitoring of the effectiveness of conservation-related programs to manage wildlife habitat and contribute to the conservation of biological diversity.

    Performance Measure 5.1. Certified Organizations shall manage the impact of harvesting on visual quality

    Performance Measure 5.2. Certified Organizations shall manage the size, shape, and placement of clearcut harvests.

    Performance Measure 5.3. Certified Organizations shall adopt a green-up requirement or alternative methods that provide for visual quality.

    Performance Measure 5.4. Certified Organizations shall support and promote recreational opportunities for the public.

    Performance Measure 9.1 Certified Organizations shall individually and/or through cooperative efforts involving SFI Implementation Committees or other partners identify and address the climate change risks to forests and forest operations and develop appropriate adaptation objectives and strategies. Strategies are based on best scientific information.

    Performance Measure 9.2 Certified Organizations shall individually and/or through cooperative efforts involving SFI Implementation Committees or other partners identify and address opportunities to mitigate the effects associated with its forest operations on climate change.

    Performance Measure 10.1 On the forests they own or manage, Certified Organizations shall limit susceptibility to undesirable impacts of wildfire, promote healthy and resilient forest conditions through management techniques, actions and/or policies, and support restoration of forests following wildfire damage.

    Performance Measure 10.2 Certified Organizations shall individually and/or through cooperative efforts involving government agencies, SFI Implementation Committees, Project Learning Tree, or other partners, engage in efforts to raise awareness of and take action towards benefits of fire management and minimization of undesirable impacts of wildfire.

    2

  • DNSH 1 Climate change mitigation

    1. Afforestation plan and subsequent forest management plan or equivalent instrument (h) assessment of forest related risks, including forest fires, and pests and diseases outbreaks, with the aim of preventing, reducing and controlling the risks and measures deployed to ensure protection and adaptation against residual risks

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    OBJECTIVE 10. FIRE RESILIENCE AND AWARENESS

    Performance Measure 2.4. Certified Organizations shall manage to protect forests from damaging agents, such as environmentally or economically undesirable levels of wildfire, pests, diseases, and invasive species, to maintain and improve long-term forest health, productivity, and economic viability.

    Indicator 1. Program to protect forests from damaging agents.

    Indicator 2. Management to promote healthy and productive forest conditions to reduce susceptibility to damaging agents.

    Indicator 3. Participation in, and support of, fire and pest prevention and control programs.

    Performance Measure 10.1 On the forests they own or manage, Certified Organizations shall limit susceptibility to undesirable impacts of wildfire, promote healthy and resilient forest conditions through management techniques, actions and/or policies, and support restoration of forests following wildfire damage.

    Indicator 1. Program to evaluate the risk of undesirable impacts of wildfire and the role of fire on the forests they own or manage.

    Indicator 2. Use of stand and landscape level management techniques, actions and/or policies to promote forest health and resilience, and to mitigate the likelihood of undesirable impacts of wildfire, such as, prescribed fire, cultural burning, thinning, or hazardous fuel reduction where appropriate based on risk.

    Indicator 3. Use of management techniques to address wildfire damage, mitigate negative impacts to water and soils, and to promote forest restoration and future forest resilience.

    2

  • DNSH 1 Climate change mitigation

    2. Audit Within two years after the beginning of the activity and every 10 years thereafter, the compliance of the activity with the substantial contribution to climate change mitigation criteria and the DNSH criteria are verified by either of the following: (a) the relevant national competent authorities;

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    Performance Measure 2.2. Certified Organizations shall have a program to minimize chemical use required to achieve management objectives while protecting employees, neighbors, the public and the environment, including wildlife and aquatic habitats.

    Indicator 4. Use of pesticides registered for the intended use and applied in accordance with label requirements.

    Indicator 5. The World Health Organization (WHO) type 1A and 1B pesticides shall be prohibited, except where no other viable alternative is available.

    Indicator 6. Use of pesticides banned under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001) shall be prohibited.

  • DNSH 5 Pollution prevention and control

    The use of pesticides is reduced and alternative approaches or techniques, which may include non-chemical alternatives to pesticides, are favored, in accordance with Directive 2009/128/EC, with exception of occasions where the use of pesticides is needed to control outbreaks of pests and of diseases.

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    Performance Measure 2.2. Certified Organizations shall have a program to minimize chemical use required to achieve management objectives while protecting employees, neighbors, the public and the environment, including wildlife and aquatic habitats.

    Indicator 1. Pest management shall be implemented through the use of integrated pest management.

    1

  • DNSH 5 Pollution prevention and control

    The activity minimizes the use of fertilizers and does not use manure. The activity complies with Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 or national rules on fertilizers or soil improvers for agricultural use

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    Performance Measure 2.2. Certified Organizations shall have a program to minimize chemical use required to achieve management objectives while protecting employees, neighbors, the public and the environment, including wildlife and aquatic habitats.

    Indicator 1. Pest management shall be implemented through the use of integrated pest management.

    1

  • DNSH 5 Pollution prevention and control

    Well documented and verifiable measures are taken to avoid the use of active ingredients that are listed in Annex I, part A, of Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 (14), the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade, the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and of active ingredients that are listed as classification Ia (‘extremely hazardous’) or Ib (‘highly hazardous’) in the WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard (15). The activity complies with the relevant national law on active ingredients.

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    Performance Measure 2.2. Certified Organizations shall have a program to minimize chemical use required to achieve management objectives while protecting employees, neighbors, the public and the environment, including wildlife and aquatic habitats.

    Indicator 4. Use of pesticides registered for the intended use and applied in accordance with label requirements.

    Indicator 5. The World Health Organization (WHO) type 1A and 1B pesticides shall be prohibited, except where no other viable alternative is available.

    Indicator 6. Use of pesticides banned under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001) shall be prohibited.

    1

  • DNSH 5 Pollution prevention and control

    Pollution of water and soil is prevented and cleaning up measures are undertaken when pollution occurs.

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    OBJECTIVE 11. LEGAL AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

    Performance Measure 2.2. Certified Organizations shall have a program to minimize chemical use required to achieve management objectives while protecting employees, neighbors, the public and the environment, including wildlife and aquatic habitats.

    Performance Measure 11.1. Certified Organizations shall comply with applicable federal, provincial, state, and local forestry and environmental laws and regulations.

    N/A

  • DNSH 6 Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems

    (b) excluding the use or release of invasive species;

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    Performance Measure 2.4. Certified Organizations shall manage to protect forests from damaging agents, such as environmentally or economically undesirable levels of wildfire, pests, diseases, and invasive species, to maintain and improve long-term forest health, productivity, and economic viability

    2

  • DNSH 6 Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems

    (c) excluding the use of non-native species unless it can be demonstrated that: (i) the use of the forest reproductive material leads to favourable and appropriate ecosystem conditions (such as climate, soil criteria, and vegetation zone, forest fire resilience); (ii) the native species currently present on the site are not anymore adapted to projected climatic and pedo-hydrological conditions;

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    Performance Measure 2.1. Certified Organizations shall promptly reforest after final harvest.

    2

  • DNSH 6 Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems

    (d) ensuring the maintenance and improvement of physical, chemical and biological quality of the soil;

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    Performance Measure 2.3. Certified Organizations shall implement practices that protect and maintain forest and soil productivity and soil health.

    2

  • DNSH 6 Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems

    (e) promoting biodiversity-friendly practices that enhance forests’ natural processes;

    OBJECTIVE 2. FOREST HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

    OBJECTIVE 3. PROTECTION AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER RESOURCES

    OBJECTIVE 4. CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

    Performance Measure 2.1. Certified Organizations shall promptly reforest after final harvest.

    Performance Measure 2.2. Certified Organizations shall have a program to minimize chemical use required to achieve management objectives while protecting employees, neighbors, the public and the environment, including wildlife and aquatic habitats.

    Performance Measure 2.3. Certified Organizations shall implement practices that protect and maintain forest and soil productivity and soil health.

    Performance Measure 2.4. Certified Organizations shall manage to protect forests from damaging agents, such as environmentally or economically undesirable levels of wildfire, pests, diseases, and invasive species, to maintain and improve long-term forest health, productivity, and economic viability.

    Performance Measure 2.5. Certified Organizations that deploy improved planting stock, including varietal seedlings, shall use best scientific methods.

    Performance Measure 3.1. Certified Organizations shall meet or exceed all applicable federal, provincial, state and local water quality laws and meet or exceed best management practices.

    Performance Measure 3.2. Certified Organizations shall implement water, wetland, and riparian protection programs based on climate, soil type, terrain, vegetation, ecological function, harvesting system, state best management practices (BMPs), provincial guidelines and other applicable factors

    Performance Measure 4.1. Certified Organizations shall conserve biological diversity.

    Performance Measure 4.2. Certified Organizations shall protect threatened and endangered species, critically imperiled and imperiled species (Forests with Exceptional Conservation Values), and natural communities, and old-growth forests.

    Performance Measure 4.3. Certified Organizations shall manage to protect ecologically important sites in a manner that takes into account their unique qualities.

    Performance Measure 4.4. Certified Organizations shall apply knowledge gained through research, science, technology, field experience and the results of monitoring of the effectiveness of conservation-related programs to manage wildlife habitat and contribute to the conservation of biological diversity.

    2