Imagine one of the most iconic outdoor spaces on earth - Walt Disney World.  This sprawling combination of four theme parks, twenty seven resorts and countless rides and restaurants takes up approximately 25,000 acres of real estate in central Florida.

Now, image all that space multiplied by twenty times!

That’s the amount of land the revolutionary forest management program Domtar helped spearhead, the Four States Timberland Owners Association (FSTOA), recently announced it had enrolled in its system focused on responsible forest management.  The FSTOA now includes over 500,000 acres of Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certified land, a significant achievement given the group started less than five years ago with 70,000 acres.

That’s a big deal for two reasons:

• With less than 10% of the world’s forest certified, every additional acre helps.
• In the southeastern United States, where the FSTOA is based, over 75% of timberland is owned by small private landowners. These landowners often find the financial and technical requirements associated with forest certification too burdensome to pursue.

This announcement means that over half a million acres of land are now being managed to address important economic, social and environmental concerns, including:

• Protecting water quality
• Preventing the loss of natural forest cover
• Prohibiting the use of highly hazardous chemicals
• Limiting clearcuts to defend forest ecology
• Protecting customary rights of indigenous peoples and local communities

This milestone also ensures that Domtar will continue to provide the market with products that help benefit local economies, wildlife and the long-term health of the world’s forests.

Half a million acres of forestland primed to meet the needs of various stakeholders in a historically tough place promote certification.  Perhaps FSTOA should consider adding a corporate tagline - “The place where dreams come true.”

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