Domtar Completes Successful FSC® Certification of the Wabigoon Forest in Ontario, Canada
August 24, 2020
FORT MILL, S.C. (News release) -- Domtar has successfully completed a surveillance audit on the Wabigoon Forest for the new Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) National Standard for Canada. The audit took place the week of July 13th ending with the auditor's recommendation for certification to be maintained under the new Canadian standard. This new standard replaced the previous FSC® Boreal standard and has set the bar high for demonstrating sustainable forest management. The Wabigoon Forest was first certified to the FSC® standard in 2008.
"Our on-the-ground management practices, coupled with a rigorous provincially mandated forest management planning process, helps to hit the mark with FSC®," said Marie Cyr, general manager of the Dryden pulp mill. "We are proud of our record of sustainable forest management. The fact that the Dryden mill has been operating in this forest area for over 100 years demonstrates that we are managing our forests sustainably."
The new FSC® National Standard for Canada requires a comprehensive audit of legal compliance, protection of high conservation values, environmental impacts, management planning and community relations including free prior and informed consent. The audit process, which is designed to identify opportunities for improvement, found 4 minor non-conformance issues, all of which have been addressed with action plans and approved by the auditing body.
"The success of this audit demonstrates progress towards our sustainability goals," said Paige Goff, vice president of sustainability. "Independent third party forest certification like FSC® is important to our customers and reflects our commitment to sustainability."
Domtar is also licensed to manage the Trout Lake forest in Ontario which is on target to undergo an FSC® pre-assessment audit later this year.
