DEC Marks 11 Years of Forest Certification on State-Owned Forests

To become certified, the forest management program was evaluated against rigorous criteria.

The DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos announced today that DEC has achieved 11 consecutive years of dual forest certification for more than 780,000 acres of State Forests under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and Forest Stewardship Council forest management standards.

The Commissioner said:

DEC's Division of Lands and Forests continues to lead by example through their commitment to forest certification and maintaining the health, productivity, and overall integrity of New York's State Forests. For more than a decade, products derived from wood harvested off State Forests have had the distinction of being labeled 'certified.' This assures consumers that the raw material came from forests managed in a way that protects water quality, respects indigenous people's rights, provides public recreation and wildlife habitat, and complies with all state, national, and international laws

During the most recent audit, the Division of Lands and Forests excelled in a number of areas, including:

• Establishing and maintaining recreational opportunities for multi-user access and educational kiosks in recreational areas
• Incorporating aesthetic conditions, such as leaving a buffer, into management decisions where visual impacts are a concern
• Completing comprehensive reviews of rare species and ecosystems in an area prior to conducting management activities

For more information, visit the DEC's website.