The Great Lakes Region: A Forest Certification Hub - 6-month Status Report

In November 2007, Dovetail Partners issued a report that highlighted the results of 10-years of forest certification leadership in the Great Lakes Region. Over the past decade the Great Lakes Region, including the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and the Province of Ontario, has become a hub for forest certification.

As of late 2007, the three states included in this region, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, represented 29% of the certified forestland in the United States, including 50% of the land certified through the FSC program and 19% of the SFI-Certified lands. Similarly, in Canada, the Province of Ontario alone represented 49% of the FSC-Certified lands and 19% of the SFI-Certified lands in Canada. Taken together, these three states and one province encompassed 30% of the forestlands certified under these programs in North America.

In the 6-months since that report, certification activities in the Great Lakes Region have undergone another wave of growth, and further accomplishments are expected before the end of 2008.