This is a unique opportunity for the public to insert itself into this otherwise private process. Currently, a majority of state forest lands are committed as commercial tree farms while even state Wild Areas are not given permanent protections from some extraction-related activities such as pesticide use and salvage logging. We suggest that folks make the following points: - Public lands should not be certified. Certification presumes that lands are properly used primarily for commercial timber production. Whether or not timber production is appropriate on public lands is one decision best left to a public debate within our Constitutional system. -Commercial tree farming of black cherry and oak tree species is entirely inappropriate on state forest lands and should not be deemed permissible let alone certified as appropriate sustainable management. - Resource extraction on Pennsylvania state forests should not be certified as long as logging and drilling projects are allowed to proceed without public comment and without detailed environmental impact statements that are distributed for public review. - Management plans for Pennsylvania State Forests should be deemed inadequate as long as they are not bound by regulatory/statutory rules and can be ignored at the state forester's discretion. Send your comments to: Dave Wagner, Director of Forest Management Certification; Scientific Certification Systems; 145 Park Place; Point Richmond, CA 94801; dwager@scscertified.com |
In
addition to the state's review of its state forest management plans,
there is an ongoing review of the conditional certification given
to Pennsylvania State Forest timbering five years ago. Scientific
Certification Systems, who is auditing the state forest management
bsaed upon Forest Stewardship Council guidelines, is soliciting
public input on the process.