Conifex Inc. - Fort St. James Division

Forestry

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Sustainable Forest Management

Conifex Inc. is committed to practicing sustainable forestry. The goal of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is to ensure that we meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. We practice a land stewardship ethic that integrates the reforestation, growing, nurturing and harvesting of trees for useful products, with the conservation of soil, air and water quality, biological diversity, wildlife and aquatic habitat, recreation, aesthetics, and the protection of special sites and unique resources. Our commitment to sustainable forestry is implemented using our Environmental Management System (EMS).

Sustainably managed forests provide many benefits to society including employment for thousands of workers, a viable tax base for communities, essential building and paper products, recreational opportunities, and key environmental and aesthetic values important to the quality of life in our society. Conifex’s social responsibilities include the need to focus on health and safety in the workplace; provide training and education for our employees; protect water quality, air, soil, wildlife and special resource features; and communicate the benefits of the practice of sustainable forestry to the general public. Meeting these objectives is part of our commitment to sustainable forestry. In keeping with this commitment we support the fourteen basic principles of sustainable forestry defined in the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)2010-2014 Standard SFI Standard and outlined below:

To practice sustainable forestry
To maintain and improve long-term forest health and productivity
To protect water resources
To protect and to promote biological diversity
To manage for aesthetics and recreation
To manage special sites to take into account their unique qualities
To use and promote responsible fibre sourcing practices in North America
To avoid wood fiber of controversial source including illegal logging in off-shore fibre sourcing
To maintain legal compliance will all applicable laws and regulation
To support forestry research
To continually improve the practice of sustainable forestry through training and education.
To broaden the practice of sustainable forestry through public involvement.
To maintain public transparency in our certification audit process’s.
To review and report our performance to promote continual improvement in our practices toward our commitment to sustainable forestry.

Conifex’s commitment to the SFI Standard covers all our forestry operations in the Fort St. James Forest District under Forest Licence A77955. Operations covered include forest development planning, road construction, timber harvesting, and silviculture activities. Plans we are required to prepare for the management of this licence will comply with the SFI Standard.

As part of Conifex’s commitment to sustainable forestry we must meet the requirements outlined in the 14 Principles, 20 Objectives, 38 Performance Measures and 115 Indicators of the SFI Standard. We achieve each Indicator through the implementation of one or more program that defines the processes necessary to fulfill the commitment. Where dictated by the scope of an Indicator, or by the legislative framework of forest management in British Columbia, we rely on external programs in which we maintain appropriate levels of involvement.

Conifex will take all reasonable care to comply with all applicable federal and provincial laws and regulations that protect workers, workers rights, the environment and the communities in which they live and operate. In British Columbia the government sets the basic rules for forest management, sets the Allowable Annual Cut (AAC), and monitors our performance and compliance with all forestry, environmental and workplace laws. Our role is to implement the forest practices mandated by the laws and our operational plans. Working with government agencies and experts in the fields of biology, ecology, forestry and allied sciences, we develop sustainable forest management strategies for our operating areas which we implement through our strategic, operational and site-level plans.

Compliance with the SFI Standard requires us to take our commitment to responsible stewardship beyond the bounds of the lands we manage by encouraging others to adopt the Principles and Objectives of the SFI Program. We work with our private timber suppliers to encourage them to meet program goals for best management practices. We will continue to invest in research to improve the practice of sustainable forestry, to augment scientific knowledge, to improve forestry practices and to increase the overall productivity of forests.

Conifex’s performance in meeting our sustainable forest management goals will be monitored through our EMS field and office inspections and supervision of forestry operations. An annual audit of the program evaluates our performance in meeting the indicators of sustainable forest management. Evidence used to assess performance will be based on a combination of:

the existence of internal plans and documentation;
field evidence that a performance measure is being carried out;
interviews with knowledgeable personnel in the company or community;
a review of compliance records or internal monitoring; and,
independent assessment and investigation.

Conifex will utilize the results of our inspection and audit information to evaluate our performance in meeting the requirements of the SFI Standard. We will complete an annual review of our programs to assess their effectiveness in meeting the SFI Standard. The review will include revisions to our programs that are warranted to reflect new research and inspection and audit information.

Conifex will maintain our commitment to the continual improvement in the performance of our forestry operations and our strong record of good stewardship on the lands we manage. We work to integrate modern forest science for wood and fibre production with the conservation of biological diversity.

We believe that to be sustainable, our forest practices must be economically viable, socially acceptable and protective of the environment. Our forest management plans are open to comment from interested parties including the public, First Nations, government agencies, our customers and conservation agencies. We are committed to providing interested parties with opportunities to inquire about and provide input to our forest management planning activities; if you wish more information, please complete the Public Information Form and send it to the address below.

The SFI Standard makes provisions for the public to report practices that are inconsistent with the Standard. The Western Canadian SFI Implementation Committee (WCSIC) maintains the primary responsibility for receiving such complaints in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The public may contact Conifex directly to report any of our forestry activity that does not comply with the SFI Standard or direct complaints to the WCSIC.

More information about Conifex’s Sustainable Forest Management commitments and forest management activities is available by contacting the Forestry department at:

Conifex Inc., P.O. Box 254, 300 Takla Rd., Fort St. James, BC, V0J 1 P0
Phone: 250-996-5462
Fax: 250-996-5425
e-mail: sandra.valk@conifex.com
website: www.conifex.ca