Biodiversity Profiles

In partnership with several of the state implementation committees (SIC) for the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Forests for Watersheds and Wildlife is developing a series of profiles that provide landowners with locally-based information on critically imperiled, and imperiled, species and communities.

The SFI is the forest certification program for members of the American Forest and Paper Association, the trade association for the forest, paper and wood products industry. To become certified under SFI, members must follow a system of principles, objectives and performance measures that were developed by a group of professional foresters, conservationists and scientists. These measures aim to ensure long-term forest productivity and conservation through promoting reforestation, soil conservation, protection of water quality, and management and protection of wildlife habitat.

Participating SFI members who procure wood from other sources—primarily land owned by one of the over 10 million private forest owners—must engage in efforts to educate these private landowners on sustainable forestry and work with them to ensure they utilize best management practices.

The biodiversity profiles developed by F2W2 help SFI members meet a performance measure for this standard by providing regionally-appropriate information on critically imperiled (G1) and imperiled (G2) species and communities.

The profiles encourage family forest owners and other landowners to identify and protect these important species and communities. In addition to a brief summary and photo of a species or community, contact information for local sources of technical and financial assistance for work with imperiled wildlife species is provided.

Profiles have been developed for the following states:
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.