SFI and U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities Spur Collaboration Among Water Utilities and Forest Landowners to Protect Watersheds
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Experts acknowledge the important role of forestlands in protecting ournation’s water quality. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that about two-thirds of our nation’sfreshwater resources originate in forests. Water utilities are increasingly taking responsibility for the health of local watersheds as the best way to ensure a long-term supply of clean water for the community. A new project managed by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment), and supported by a grant from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative ® (SFI®), will engage forest landowners and water utilities to support innovative ways to promote watershed protection and maintenance on privately owned forest lands.
“The most cost-effective way for a community to ensure clean water is to maintain their watershed in a healthy, forested area,” said Kathy Abusow, President and CEO of SFI. “We’reexcited to support new tools that encourage forest owners and water utilities to work together to conserve watersheds. This project will provide us with a greater understanding of what isneeded to advance watershed protection and management.”
“Developing collaboration between water utilities and forest landowners is a unique approachto protecting our nation’s water quality,” said Carlton Owen, President and CEO of the Endowment. “We welcome SFI’s leadership and support helping us to link stakeholders andcommunities to promote innovative new clean water programs.”
The SFI Conservation Grant will help the Endowment educate community stakeholders, water utilities and landowners and ultimately develop a financial instrument that will compensate forest landowners for protecting and maintaining the health of the watershed they manage. One example of this approach has been implemented in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 2011, Raleigh established a “watershed protection fee” of 1 cent/100 gallons, included in customers’monthly water bills. The fee costs homeowners an average of 40 cents/month and generates about $1.8 million annually for land protection and management to protect drinking water quality. This project was supported by a grant from the Endowment and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
This grant builds on SFI’s commitment to water resources through conservation grants awarded in 2012 to the World Resources Institute to examine how SFI requirements related to best management practices result in improvements in water quality, and to the National Association of State Foresters to assess development and implementation of best management practices in all U.S. states and territories.
In 2010, SFI Inc. first invested $400,000 to create the SFI Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant Program to foster partnerships and conservation research that improve forest management in the United States and Canada, and responsible procurement globally. In a few short years, by leveraging partner contributions, SFI has achieved a total investment of $4.8 million in conservation partnerships and research, supporting more than 40 grants with 150 partners across North America.
The SFI program is the only forest certification standard in North America that requires participants to support and engage in research activities to improve forest health, productivity and sustainable management of forest resources.
About the U.S Endowment for Forestry and Communities
About Sustainable Forestry Initiative
SFI Inc. is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that is solely responsible for maintaining, overseeing and improving the internationally recognized Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) program. Across the United States and Canada, 240 million acres are certified to the SFI forest management standard. In addition, the SFI program’s unique fiber sourcing requirements promote responsible forest management on all suppliers’ lands. SFI chain-of- custody (COC) certification tracks the percentage of fiber from certified forests, certified sourcing and post-consumer recycled content. SFI on-product labels identify both certified sourcing and COC claims to help consumers make responsible purchasing decisions. SFI Inc. is governed by a three-chamber board of directors representing environmental, social and economic sectors equally. Learn more at http://www.sfiprogram.org/ andhttp://sfiprogram.org/BuySFI.
Contacts:
Monique Hanis, COO and VP Marketing &Communications Sustainable Forestry Initiative
202-596-3457
monique.hanis@sfiprogram.org
Peter Stangel , Senior Vice President
U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities 404-915-2763
