Forest management certification is gaining acceptance in New Zealand with a number of plantation forests and one indigenous forest certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) system. Tomorrow’s Forests has the expertise for developing, installing, and maintaining the systems necessary for certified forest managers to gain and maintain certification.

With forest certification, a forest manager can market and sell logs and timber with an assurance that they have been produced in a forest which has achieved a recognised standard of forest management. Certified forest products can then be branded with the certifier’s logo and a product tracking device thus providing the evidence to customers and consumers of good management.

Tomorrow’s Forests believes the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) system is the most robust and credible of the world’s forest certification systems. Roger May has been a member of the FSC since 1998 and has direct experience in setting up forest management systems and procedures for the certification of small and medium sized forest enterprises.

These systems are the foundation for gaining and maintaining forest certification. The components of the system include documenting forest management policies, procedures and guidelines, developing mapping systems, stakeholder registers, communication logs, silviculture and yield control tools, monitoring and reporting systems as well as assistance with the mandatory annual audits performed by the independent third party certifying bodies.

Forest and woodlot managers who are seeking forest certification for the first time or who are already certified but wish to improve their management systems will benefit from Tomorrow’s Forests experience and expertise.