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WS and SFI Exchange Views in Maine On March 9, Julie Wormser, the Northeast Regional Director of The Wilderness Society, contributed a lengthy op-ed piece to the Bangor [Maine] Daily News with the provocative title "Timber Industry's SFI Pure Greenwash," in response to several recent BDN features alluding to the industry's Sustainable Forestry InitiativeSM. Ms. Wormser alleges that "SFI companies set their own forestry goals on which to be audited, choose who conducts the audits and avoid having to release results to the public. In fact, there is no way for a timber company to fail the SFI program." She goes on to praise the Forest Stewardship Council alternative: "Unlike the industry program, the FSC standards require that wood is not harvested faster than it grows, that wildlife and forest ecosystems are protected and that information on a company's standards and performance are made available to the public." On March 17, BDN published a response from SFI's Independent Expert Review Panel, led by Panel Chair Paul Hanson of the Izaak Walton League of America, ably rebutting the claim that SFI standards are self-achieving, that SFI is not subject to third-party audits, and that it lacks a disciplinary mechanism. "If anyone observes an incident, or a pattern of activity that violates the SFI Standard," state Mr. Hanson and ten co-signers, "they should document and report it. . . . A simple form can be downloaded from www.afandpa.org. Each claim will be investigated, and the results reported back to the person who lodged the claim." To view this exchange, consult the Bangor Daily News archive at http://www.bangornews.com/cgi-bin/archives/archives.cfm, and enter the search term "Julie Wormser," which brings up both articles. (We note, by the way, that both the Georgia and New York SFI implementation committees have recently launched their own "hot line" systems for registering comments about practices inconsistent with SFI principles, and that New York is encouraging the posting of signs at harvest sites, inviting responses to its hot line number.) Back to "News" Forest Resources Association
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