Forest certification feature
As part of a LCCMR-funded family forest certification project, a brochure was created and mailed to woodland owners in northeastern Minnesota. The brochure directs recipients to MyMinnesotaWoods.org for further information about certification and how they can get involved.
To prepare for these visits, we created a new feature banner on the homepage (click the image for a better view). The feature will run for about two months from the brochure mailing date (apx. June 30). We also significantly added to the site’s forest certification content, expanding from a single page to three: Overview, How to Certify Your Land, and Certification Systems & Standards. (At the time of this writing, some content is still in development for these pages.)
Why the focus on certification? Certification of private woodlands has been a major issue in Minnesota in recent years. Retail markets are increasingly demanding certified forest products. Although most public and industry lands in Minnesota are certified, very little private (non-industrial) land is.
Many factors may explain low woodland owner adoption of certification. Two prominent factors are lack of awareness of certification and confusion about how to get certified. The brochure and associated web content are designed to address these two factors, making more landowners aware of certification and clarifying the processes and options available to certify their land or to hire a certified logger.
Partners in the LCCMR-funded project include the University of Minnesota Extension, the U of M Department of Forest Resources, Dovetail Partners, Minnesota Logger Education Program, Minnesota Forestry Association, and the Blandin Foundation.
Add comment June 29, 2007
