Sustainable Forestry Initiative

SFI Community Outreach & Training

Group of people wearing hardhats in a forest

The SFI program responds to local needs and issues across North America through 37 SFI Implementation Committees at the state, provincial or regional level. This unique grassroots network involves private landowners, independent loggers, forestry professionals, local government agencies, academics, scientists, and conservationists.

SFI Implementation Committees promote the SFI forest standard as a means to broaden the practice of responsible forestry and achieve on-the-ground progress. They offer a forum to provide information or answer questions about local forestry operations, and most have a process to respond to questions or concerns about forestry practices on SFI-certified lands.

Through SFI Implementation Committees, program participants work with local organizations and individuals, providing leadership and sharing best practices to improve forest management on both certified and uncertified lands. The committees work with local conservation groups, government agencies, forestry and professional associations, landowner groups and many others in landowner outreach and community involvement activities.

Since 1995, SFI program participants have contributed $52.1 million to support local programs through SFI Implementation Committees. This includes logger and forester training to reach the thousands of independent contractors that are the key to the quality of forest harvesting operations. By the end of 2008, more than 117,000 loggers and foresters had completed SFI-approved training programs.

One of the ways the SFI program addresses the immense social value of forestry to North American communities is through partnerships with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity. SFI program participants have volunteered hundreds of hours of their time, and donated thousands of dollars worth of products to Habitat for Humanity projects in the United States and Canada. Through these partnerships, the SFI program helps to build North American communities using wood from these communities. It is a natural fit because Habitat for Humanity is increasing its emphasis on sustainability, and products donated by SFI program participants are from responsible sources.

The SFI program and its SFI Implementation Committees have partnerships with Habitat for Humanity affiliates in Minnesota, Maine, Tennessee, Manitoba and Ontario. Projects include Canada’s first Habitat home in a First Nation community in Alderville, northeast of Toronto, Ontario, and energy-efficient homes for Métis families in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The SFI-sponsored home in Maine is the first Habitat for Humanity home to meet the National Green Building Standard™.

The SFI program was among the sponsors of North House, a solar-powered prototype home, which placed fourth in the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.