Forest Service to certify logging as sustainable

Private timber companies have been getting “green” certifications for the past decade to boost sales among consumers who want to be assured that forests are not harmed by producing the lumber they buy.

Now the U.S. Forest Service, battered by court battles over balancing logging against fish and wildlife habitat, is looking into it.

A portion of the Fremont National Forest in southern Oregon and the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania will be the first of several national forests to undergo an audit under the standards of two major systems: the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, developed by the U.S. timber industry, and the Forest Stewardship Council, an international group based in Germany that grew out of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The national forest audit will also include Mount Hood and Siuslaw in Oregon, Medicine Bow in Wyoming, Chequamegon-Nicolet in Wisconsin and all national forests in Florida. 

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