Originally published in International Paper's 2023 Sustainability Report

In 2023, the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) honored International Paper with a Leadership in Sustainability Award for Resilient U.S. Forests. The award recognized our innovative approach to promoting forest bird awareness and conservation within the forest product supply chain in partnership with the American Bird Conservancy (ABC). This multi-year partnership aims to integrate bird conservation into our procurement operations and value chain and provide a measurable contribution towards reversing the decline of forest birds.

One of the significant outcomes of this partnership is targeted work with an iconic bird species in the Southeastern U.S.: the Swallow-tailed Kite (STKI). STKIs are one of North America's most beautiful birds of prey, with distinctive black and white plumage and a long, forked tail. They are also long-distance migrants that spend their spring and summer months in the Southeastern forests of the U.S. and then migrate to their wintering grounds in South America.

Since 2021, working with the Avian Research and Conservation Institute, nine STKIs have been trapped and fitted with radio transmitters near International Paper mills in South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana. This year alone, five STKIs have received transmitters. These transmitters allow us and our conservation partners to follow the STKIs' movements across the landscape so we can further understand their specific habitat needs. Additionally, we can enter that data into our ForSite^TM mapping system to target conservation efforts and outreach in the most strategic areas.

This past year, the transmitters allowed researchers to document the amazing journey made by one of the male STKIs captured in Georgia, named Barrington. The bird's migration started on the Altamaha River, where it led the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to a pre-migration roost of over 600 STKIs - the first of its kind outside of Florida. The trackers then followed Barrington for four months on a long and winding journey over the Gulf of Mexico, including a 48-hour stretch over water, before continuing through South America into Bolivia and central Brazil - a truly incredible flight.

Forest certification

Forest certification underpins our commitment to sustainable forest management. Our procurement systems and mills are certified to the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®), Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification™ (PEFC™) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) chain of custody standards and the SFI Fiber sourcing standard.

To meet the growing customer demand for certified products, our internal FSC forest management group, Certified Forest Management (CFM) LLC, helps small, private landowners become FSC-certified cost-effectively. It has become the largest privately run group of certified landowners in the U.S.

Since 2012, CFM has enrolled and maintained FSC forest management certification for:

920,769 acres in 607 properties across 11 states

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