Outstanding management earns King County’s Vashon Island Center Forest green certification

A nearly 400-acre forest that shelters the headwaters of Vashon Island’s largest salmon-bearing stream and provides miles of recreational trails has received national recognition for its ecologically sound management.

Island Center Forest was recently certified as a well managed forest by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).  Forest certification is a market-based, voluntary system similar to organic certification for farmers and food processors.

The certification consisted of an audit process including field inspection of the forest and a review of the written forest stewardship plan and determines if pre-defined regional, national and international management standards are being met.

Island Center Forest is managed by the King County Parks and Recreation Division, the county’s Water and Land Resources Division’s Forestry Program and a citizens advisory group, the Friends of Island Center Forest.

“It’s a great honor to receive this certification,” said Theresa Jennings, director of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. “Sound stewardship of county land is our top mission, and our partnership with the Friends of Island Center Forest helps ensure continued proper management of this tremendous land.”

The certificate notes that Island Center Forest “is recognized as a well managed source of wood products whose forest management practices adhere to strict environmental and socio-economic standards in accordance with the Principles and Criteria of the FSC.”

The certification was completed by Northwest Certified Forestry, a regional group certifier in Port Townsend. http://www.nnrg.org/nw-certified-forestry.

“The combination of ecological, social and economic considerations that King County applies to the management of its forestlands exemplifies the type of forestry that Forest Stewardship Council certification recognizes and promotes,” said Kirk Hanson, South Sound Regional Director of the Northwest Certified Forestry Program for the Northwest Natural Resource Group.

Island Center Forest was also certified under the American Tree Farm System through the Washington Tree Farm Program (http://www.watreefarm.org/).

The mission of the tree farm system is to promote growing renewable forest resources on private lands while protecting environmental benefits and increasing public understanding of all benefits of productive forestry.
 
The Friends of Island Center Forest includes representatives from the Vashon Land Trust, Vashon Forest Stewards, Vashon Audubon, Vashon Equestrians and other community members.

King County coordinated with the group to develop a long-term site and forest management plan in 2006, including commercial thinning and small-scale tree harvests. Community forest grants have supported the Vashon Forest Stewards and their work with local students to replant the harvest sites and remove invasive vegetation.
 
A certified forest is sustainably managed to meet or exceed existing regulations so that environmental, social, and economic factors are balanced to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the forest to meet future generation’s needs.
 
Certification provides consumers with a way to support sustainable practices with their purchasing decisions. Certification provides the landowner with both verification and recognition that they are conducting sustainable forest management. More information is available at http://www.nnrg.org/wood-products.

The first certified products will be harvested from Island Center Forest when the market for forest products improves.

“The fact that King County has decided to go forward with FSC certification, which is the highest standard of green forestry certification, suits the Vashon community,” said David Warren of the Vashon Forest Stewards, a non-profit community forest business. “Our purpose is to help landowners with good forestry practices to get extra value out of the wood they sell on a small scale, and FSC serves that purpose.”

The Vashon Forest Stewards’ mission is to restore, enhance and maintain healthy native forest ecosystems, and to manage a sustainable ecological business that provides forestry services and island-grown wood products.

King County decided to seek third party certification of Island Center Forest as a pilot project to evaluate the costs and benefits of certification.

King County owns and manages six working forest sites totaling more than 3,200 acres. In addition, the county’s Natural Resource Lands Program manages easements on roughly 150,000 acres of privately owned forests and agricultural lands. The easements remove development rights from privately owned lands to ensure that they remain as working forests and farms in the long term. More information is available at http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/waterandland/natural-lands.aspx.

Related information

Island Center Forest

Natural resource lands

King County Water and Land Resources