The National Wood Flooring Association’s FSC Procurement Group worked with the White Wood Timber Group to certify 12,000 acres of forest land through the Forest Stewardship Council in October 2011. The acreage included 24 landowners in South Carolina, and represented the first major certification project for the group.

The FSC Procurement Group was established under the direction of the NWFA’s Responsible Procurement Program to explore, review and develop systems for private landowners to adopt FSC certification. The NWFA’s RPP Program recognizes wood flooring companies that practice responsible forest management, and is a step-wise approach to achieving FSC certification, which is considered the leading forest certification program worldwide.

After numerous discussions about certification programs, White Wood Group was able to put together a program of interested landowners to do the initial group certification. That initial amount of certified acreage is expected to grow to 80,000 in just five years by combining the resources of landowners in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

This certification is the first step on behalf of the FSC Procurement Group to significantly increase in FSC-certified wood.

Get more information about the NWFA’s RPP program on the NWFA’s web site at http://www.nwfa.org/member/RPP.aspx.

The National Wood Flooring Association is a not-for-profit trade organization dedicated to training wood flooring professionals throughout the world.  Contact us at 800-422-4556 (USA & Canada), 636-519-9663 (local and international), or on-line at www.woodfloors.org.