AF&PA Sustainable Forestry Initiative, 1995 Global Fiber Supply Symposium Proceedings

John Heissenbuttel

American Forest & Paper Association

The forest products industry has a strong record of stewardship on the land it owns and manages. Forest industry lands include some of the most productive forests in the world The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) constitutes the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) members’ commitment to sustainable forestry and the measures by which the public can benchmark this commitment. AF&PA members are actively implementing these principles and practices. Their objective is to achieve a much broader practice of sustainable forestry throughout the United States. In this way they will perceptibly improve the performance of member companies, and will set new standards for the entire forest industry as well as for other forest landowners.

Sustainable forestry is a dynamic concept that will evolve with experience and new knowledge provided through research. AF&PA views the Principles and Implementation guidelines of the SFI as the latest of many steps in a progressive evolution of United States industrial forestry practices. Through this step AF&PA members seek to meet the needs of humanity for essential wood and paper products while protecting and enhancing other forest resource values.