• Ecosystem Services & Impacts

    RR-FM-160a.4: Description of approach to optimising opportunities from ecosystem services provided by forestlands

    OBJECTIVE 1. FOREST MANAGEMENT PLANNING

    OBJECTIVE 3. PROTECTION AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER RESOURCES

    OBJECTIVE 4. CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

    OBJECTIVE 5. MANAGEMENT OF VISUAL QUALITY AND RECREATIONAL BENEFITS

    OBJECTIVE 6. PROTECTION OF SPECIAL SITES

    OBJECTIVE 9. CLIMATE SMART FORESTRY

    OBJECTIVE 12. FORESTRY RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

    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.

    Indicator 1. Forest management planning at a level appropriate to the size and scale of the operation, including: a. a long-term resources analysis; b. a periodic or ongoing forest inventory; c. a land classification system; d. biodiversity at landscape scales; e. soils inventory and maps, where available; f. access to and use of growth-and-yield modeling capabilities; g. up-to-date maps or a geographic information system (GIS); h. recommended sustainable harvest levels for areas available for harvest; and i. consideration of non-timber issues such as recreation, tourism, pilot projects and economic incentive programs to promote water protection, carbon storage, bioenergy feedstock production, or biological diversity conservation, or to address climate-induced ecosystem change.

    Indicator 2. Documented current harvest trends fall within long-term sustainable levels identified in the forest management plan.

    Indicator 3. A forest inventory system and a method to calculate growth and yield is used to determine annual and/or periodic harvest levels.

    Indicator 4. Periodic updates of forest inventory and recalculation of planned harvests to account for changes in growth due to productivity increases or decreases, including but not limited to: improved data, long-term drought, fertilization, climate change, changes in forest land ownership and tenure, or forest health.

    Indicator 5. Documentation of forest management (such as: planting, fertilization and thinning) consistent with assumptions in harvest plans.

    Indicator 6. Assessment of the local or regional social, environmental, and economic effects of forest management operations contained in the forest management plan.

    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

    Indicator 1. Program to implement federal, state, or provincial water quality best management practices during all phases of management activities.

    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.

    Indicator 1. Program addressing management and protection of water quality of rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, other water bodies and riparian areas during all phases of management.

    Indicator 2. Program to protect water quantity during all phases of management.

    Performance Measure 4.1. Certified Organizations shall conserve biological diversity.

    Indicator 1. Program to incorporate the conservation of biological diversity, including native species, wildlife habitats and ecological community types at stand and landscape levels, through the use of best scientific information including the incorporation of research results.

    Indicator 2. Development of criteria and implementation of practices, as guided by regionally based best scientific information, to retain stand-level wildlife habitat elements such as snags, stumps, mast trees, down woody debris, den trees and nest trees.

    Indicator 6. Identification and protection of non-forested wetlands, including bogs, peatlands, fens and marshes, and vernal pools that are ecologically important

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

    Indicator 2. Incorporation of aesthetic considerations in harvesting, road, landing design and management, and other management activities where visual impacts are a concern.

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

    Indicator 1. Program implementing the green-up requirement or alternative methods.

    Performance Measure 6.1. Certified Organizations shall have a program to identify special sites and manage and protect them in a manner appropriate for their unique features.

    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.

    Indicator 2: Based on best scientific information, Certified Organizations shall identify and address opportunities to enhance ecosystem resilience for the forests they own or manage via effective implementation of the SFI 2022 Forest Management Standard requirements.

    Performance Measure 12.1. Certified Organizations shall individually and/or through cooperative efforts involving SFI Implementation Committees, associations or other partners provide in-kind support or funding for forest research to improve sustainable management of forest resources, and the environmental benefits and performance of forest products.

    Indicator 1: Financial or in-kind support of research, collaboratives, or knowledge transfer to address key themes of relevance in the region of operations as identified by Certified Organizations, local stakeholders, communities and/or Indigenous Peoples. Examples could include, but are not limited to, the following topics: f. ecosystem services or non-timber forest products