The MixedWood Blog has been quiet for several weeks.  This is not because things have been quiet and there has been nothing to write about. On the contrary, there's been  lot going on:  The FSC General Assembly; The SFI Annual Conference; interesting and ongoing discussions on ISO CoC, the OCP, and the ILO. We promise to have new content and commentary on most of these and other topics beginning very soon. In the meantime, here is a brief change of perspective. One reason for the recent gap in...

In my last post, I called attention to an important and interesting statement published late last week in the Newsroom section of the FSC-IC website.  It is entitled "Towards a stronger FSC Chain of Custody."  In it,  they provide us with several important and helpful updates; concerning the status of their Online Claims Platform, and a long-promised update to the Chain of Custody (CoC) standard.  The central, underlying theme of the statement, however, reveals a serious flaw in logic that...

  FSC International released a statement yesterday in the Newsroom section of their website.  It is entitled "Towards a stronger FSC Chain of Custody system".  It is fairly short, and includes several important details, so we reproduced it here in full (with some interesting text highlighted and underlined).     Statement from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)  28.08.2014 FSC International recognizes that there is a gap in the current FSC certification scheme – a gap which is...

The SFI program holds their annual conference in two weeks.  Montreal is conveniently located for me, and I have learned over the years the value of personal interaction and face-to-face networking.  I look forward to seeing many friends, colleagues, and readers.  If you are attending, please let me know, or make a point to look me up and say hello. The SFI program deserves a lot of credit for hosting these events every year.  For those of us in the North American SFM certification business,...

In my June 5 article discussing FSC Controlled Wood Risk Assessments, I used two contrasting examples to illustrate the wide disparity in how US companies approach the FSC Controlled Wood (CW) process.  A Risk Assessment (RA) posted by Weyerhaeuser was used to illustrate an unusually rigorous approach. I was very pleased this week to receive a call and written feedback from the person responsible for this RA.  Cassie Phillips is Weyerhaeuser's Vice President for Sustainable Forests and...

It is easy to become overwhelmed with the sheer complexity of FSC policy development lately.  We thought that a reminder about one of the most important of these - the Controlled Wood program -  would be helpful. Here is a quick summary (with key links) of the ongoing revision of the Controlled Wood (CW) program.  In its current form, it consists first of a revision to the current standard intended to address a motion to "strengthen" the current system passed at the last general assembly....