2007 SFI Annual Conference

Snowbird, Salt Lake City, Utah
September 25-27, 2007

SFI Inc wishes to thank all of the attendees, speakers, sponsors and others that made the 2007 SFI annual conference a great success!

• 2007 SFI Annual Conference Closing Release

The theme of this year’s conference was “Certification and the Green Market”—a timely theme given the tremendous growth of certification in this emerging market. From tissue to paper to lumber to doors, our products are front and center in this green market. As such, experts from a number of fields shared their views on the important topics of corporate integrity, procurement, advancements in the carbon market, habitat management, international marketing, chain-of-custody and Greenbuilding.

At the end of the conference, a few key themes emerged, including:

• Green Building: We heard from Green Globes and NAHB, as well as a timely presentation from the USGBC’s Technical Director Brendan Owens who urged attendees to be involved in the process this fall for assessing SFI and other systems for inclusion in the LEED standard.
• Carbon: this issue was discussed from a number of perspectives. It’s apparent, that while challenges remain in accounting methods and establishing a baseline for additionality; managed forests have an important role to play in carbon sequestration. SFI Inc is committed to exploring these opportunities with a variety of stakeholders to ensure the SFI program and our participants are well-positioned to fully participate in this emerging issue.
• Partnerships: presenters also discussed the merits of partnerships as a critical component of the SFI program. For example, David Ledford of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, invited participants to work with his organization to find ways to protect wildlife habitat in the face of forest conversion.
• International Marketing: PEFC Chairman Mike Clark presented his organization’s strategy to increase awareness of PEFC in the market place. SFI will continue to work with and support PEFC marketing initiatives.

SFI President and CEO Kathy Abusow, in her closing remarks, commented that these themes align closely with SFI’s goals for 2008, including:

• Market Acceptance – increase market acceptance and awareness of SFI products with a marketing program, supported by a comprehensive conservation-oriented, science-based program delivered with integrity.
• Continue to Reflect the Integrity of the Standard and its participants – SFI is a world-class SFM program that is positively influencing the markets for certified forest products. A major component of this is the continual improvement of the SFI Standard. The next review of both the SFI standard and labels will begin next year.
• Conservation – the SFI Program continues to enjoy visible, broad support from the conservation community and other stakeholders by collaborating on shared objectives to improve SFM practices through the SFI Standard (SFIS).

Awards

SFI Inc also recognized outstanding achievements in sustainable forest management at the SFI Annual Conference Awards.

This year’s recipients are:

• The Tennessee SIC received the 9th annual SIC Achievement award for its outstanding work in promoting the SFI program. Click here (PDF-36 KB) to see the full press release.
• Graphic Communications and xpedx were both the recipients of the inaugural President’s Award in the category of innovation in marketing and communications. Click here (PDF-32 KB) to view the Graphic Communications release and here (PDF-32 KB) for the xpedx release.
• SFI Inc also announced 2 new awards to be given at next year’s conference:
  • Sharon G. Haines Memorial Award for Innovation and Leadership in Sustainability, in honor her many achievements in forestry. SFI Inc will work with International Paper to develop criteria and then assess candidates over the next year.
  • Achievement in Conservation Award: In 2008 SFI Inc will partner with the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation to develop criteria and select a candidate for an Achievement in Wildlife Management Award. SFI Inc. will work with additional partners in future years to highlight conservation achievements with this award.

Attendees also took a tram ride to the top of Hidden Peak (11,000 ft) one evening where they received a private tour of the night’s sky which included a view of Jupiter and 3 of its moons. It was also a full moon as you can see by the photo taken by Ray LeBlanc, with AT Limited Partnerships, and chair of the New Brunswick SFI Implementation Committee.

2007 SFI Annual Conference sponsored by: