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North Slope Criteria for Forest Restoration

NOTE: This is a draft version that is subject to revision.

Purpose and Need for these Criteria:

Purpose: To restore forests of the Northern Rockies to a condition of ecological resiliency. As far as possible under modern constraints, this should resemble the ecological resiliency they possessed in pre–Settlement times and have since lost.

Need: There does not currently exist, as far as we are aware, a system to “certify” wood that specifically focuses on wood harvested from “restoration” forestry projects.

Existing wood–certification systems such as the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and the SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) promote wood harvested from “sustainable” forestry projects. While “sustainable forestry” is a broad term, it typically refers to forests harvested in a commercial manner but forests that, over a long period of time, can provide a steady stream of wood products. This can encompass a wide range of practices, including forest plantations, where forests are logged and replanted with little regard for natural ecological processes.

By contrast, “restoration forestry” takes a forest that has degenerated due to past abuses caused directly or indirectly by humans and works toward restoring it to a condition of ecological resiliency and to natural processes. While it is unrealistic to try to reproduce exactly the forests of “pre–Settlement” times, which in any case were dynamic and–ever–changing, restoration forestry treatments resemble as much as possible natural processes and allow natural processes to reoccur. In short, restoration forestry projects aim to leave the forest in better condition than it was before a project began.

There are existing lists of “forest restoration principles” that address these issues in general terms. But we are not aware of any specific criteria that define “forest restoration” for the purpose of lumber certification. In the North Slope/Treadlight Criteria we have attempted to be both as specific as possible, and yet as simple as possible, for exactly what qualifies as a forest restoration site. It is our hope that the wood harvested from these qualifying restoration sites will be considered as a special category under “green building” programs.

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