Editor:
September 22 to September 28 is National Forest Week in Canada.
It can be easy to take our vast natural resources for granted, but our forests provide us with security and sustainability unmatched anywhere else on Earth.
As one of the world’s largest forest products manufacturers, our company’s current and future success depends on sound forest management, and National Forest Week is a great opportunity to reflect on how we all rely and benefit from our vast forest resources.
Our forests have a big part to play in providing for our expanding world, and Canfor is proud to be producing truly sustainable building products for markets around the world.
As global populations continue to grow, governments will need to meet those housing needs in a way that is affordable, renewable and safe – and lumber is the only building material that meets all three criteria. B.C. lumber is shipping across North America and across the Pacific to fill these needs already, and that’s good news for our future in British Columbia.
A thriving forest products industry can meet building needs around the world, but here in Canada it opens doors for young people and families to create rewarding lifestyles in their own communities.
Lumberjacks are a thing of the past – at Canfor, biologists, professional foresters and nursery specialists are all part of how we manage forest sustainably.
Our success depends on sustainable forest management to keep our woodlands strong and vibrant, and we are proud of the high standards we’ve put in place over the last decade.
Third-party certification of best practices ensures that our forests are benefitting from rigorous re-planting, robust measures protecting wildlife habitat and diversity, and conserving recreation opportunities for our communities.
Canfor is one of the few companies in the world able to offer products certified under all three of the major certification programs in North America – the Canadian Standards Association, the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
We are proud of our commitment to forest certification, and the opportunities it provides for the public to participate in and understand how we manage our forestlands.
Innovation is leading the forest industry into the future, as leaps in technology and new ways of thinking allow us to make more out of less, cut down on waste, and convert wood by-products into clean-burning biofuel.
These are the first steps forward as we continue to be more sustainable, more adaptable, and more resilient to changes in our forests and in the world economy.
Canadian forests build our homes, provide jobs in our communities, store carbon from our atmosphere, and are naturally renewable – so they’ll continue doing all that and more for generations to come.
This National Forest Week, take a moment to appreciate our gifted place amongst the greenest forests in the world.
Don Kayne
President and CEO of Canfor