For over a decade, the Eastern Ontario Model Forest (EOMF) has been building a Forest Certification Program within the settled landscape of eastern Ontario, Canada. It started long before certified products were abundant in retail markets and when few people had any idea what a certified forest was all about. As forest certification was only beginning to draw attention as a potentially useful tool in advancing sustainable forestry, the EOMF embraced the modest goal of recruiting 20 forest owners in the pursuit of FSC certification.
In 2003, the EOMF received its first FSC certificate, which covered an area of 1,700 hectares. From this modest start, the EOMF has become a forerunner in furthering the application, uptake and sharing of forest certification approaches and tools.
With the assistance of the FSC Smallholder Fund, the EOMF developed a working group to oversee and advise the ongoing management of the Forest Certification Program. It took the time to host information sessions providing participants with background information. This information dealt with certification, the principles of forest certification, and details of the Forest Certification Program. In addition, the EOMF held extensive one-on-one training on forest certification in the forest. It went a step further by developing informational products to promote forest certification. And also took the time to redevelop its website – to make it more user-friendly – and created certification signage, to create public awareness and acknowledgement of forest managers’ commitment to forest certification.
Through these extensive efforts, three new community forests (Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority, Grey Sauble Conservation Authority and Halton Regional Forest) were certified to FSC’s standards, resulting in addition of 20,615 hectares of FSC-certified forests in southern Ontario and over 2,400 m3 (annually) of FSC-certified forest products in the marketplace.
The activities related to this project increased the supply of Ontario certified wood products, in particular, southwestern Ontario’s contribution to the certified wood basket, to further satisfy growing domestic and export markets for these products. The establishment of four new strategic clusters and the new certification working group will lay the foundations to grow and advance both the Forest Certification Program and consequently the amount of FSC-certified forest in Ontario in the years to come.
Southwestern Ontario lies within the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence and Carolinian forest regions – and encompasses millions of hectares of very diverse and high-value forest. It is also the most populated area of Canada, with more than 7 million people residing in and around the ‘Golden Horseshoe’ area – which surrounds the northwestern shores of Lake Ontario (near Toronto, Ontario). These forests are vital in providing environmental, social and economic benefits, as well as opportunities for the region’s population.
Although there was an increasing awareness and interest in forest certification across the southern Ontario region, one of the key barriers to attaining FSC certification continued to be the cost of certification and the lack of financial return from the marketplace. Some mills specifically seek out certified wood products, but few provide the forest owners with financial incentives for certified wood to help off-set the cost of certification.
When FSC launched the global Smallholder Fund, the EOMF saw this as an opportunity to help increase the number of hectares of private forests managed under the FSC system and respond to the increasing interest in forest certification within the region. The EOMF also saw the launch as an opportunity to introduce additional certified wood products to the marketplace.
Today, 12 years after it first became FSC certified, the EOMF manages a successful and growing Group Forest Management Certificate for private landowners in eastern and southern Ontario. As of March 2014, the area certified under the Forest Certification Program totaled over 83,650 hectares, consisting of:
- 10,466 hectares of private lands, owned by 136 forest owners representing two distinct groups – the Ontario Woodlot Association and Boisés-Est
- 69,086 hectares comprising 13 community forests and forest lands that are managed by local conservation organizations
- 2,025 hectares of private commercial forest
- 2,073 hectares of private lands managed by independent forest managers.
Participation in certification for community forests continues to be a balance between the financial costs and the environmental and social benefits associated with having the forest certified. The goal of the EOMF Forest Certification Program is to bring these two factors closer together to grow forest certification on private forests in southern Ontario.