Dogwood Alliance: Working to save endangered forests

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Dogwood Alliance Working to save endangered
forests
Red Salamander Photo WKU
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WHAT IS AT RISK
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Southern Forests

• Highest concentration of tree species diversity
  in North America.
• Highest concentration of aquatic diversity in the
  continental US, including the richest temperate
  freshwater ecosystem in the world.
• Highest concentration of wetlands in the US (75
  of which are forested).

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No where in America is there a greater variety
of native plant communities, native plant species
or rare and endemic plants USFS 2002
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Longleaf Pine/Wiregrass Forest
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Mixed Hardwood Forest
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Cumberland Plateau Southern Appalachia
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Cumberland Plateau Southern Appalachia
Mixed Hardwood Forest
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Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee
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The Green Swamp and Southeast Coast
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No where in America is there a greater variety
of native plant communities, native plant species
or rare and endemic plants USFS 2002

• More than 150 tree species
• 1400 herbaceous species
• 2,250 total plant species identified

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• What are Endangered Forests?

• Outstanding ecological values
• Irreparably harmed by industrial logging and
  mining.
• Priority areas for focused conservation efforts.
  
• Areas that should be off limits to industrial
  logging.
• Set aside as ecological reserves.

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The Ecological Values that Define Endangered
Forests

• Intact Forest Landscapes
• Forests that remain intact at a large scale -
  e.g. the Boreal forest in Canada and Russia,
  temperate rainforests of Alaska, the Amazon
• Relatively Intact Forest Landscapes
• Forests that represent the most intact
  ecosystems in a region, providing important
  habitat for countless species that depend on
  large forest areas e.g. The forests of the
  Cumberland Plateau region, some US National
  Forests

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• Rare forest types forest types that exist in
  relatively small amounts on the landscape. Some
  of these are naturally rare (e.g. Southern
  Appalachian Spruce Fir) and others are rare due
  to human activity
• Forests with high biodiversity -- Forests that
  contain high concentrations of biodiversity
  (species richness, endemism) or represent core
  habitat for focal conservation species (e.g.,
  threatened and endangered species, keystone
  species)
• Remnant natural forests in highly degraded
  landscapes remnants of natural forests that
  exist in regions degraded by industrial logging,
  conversion to plantations, and development, which
  represent high ecological value at a landscape
  level and should be afforded some protection from
  further loss.

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Approximately 90 percent of the land in the
South is privately owned.  The protection and
management of species habitat can no longer be
relegated solely to public land. USFS 2002
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The destruction continues
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The expansion of paper production in the South

• Since 1985, more than 100 industrial-scale wood
  chipping facilities have been constructed in the
  South.
• Overall paper production increased by one-third
  from 1983 to 1998.

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14 forest community types across the South have
been reduced to less than 2 of their original
range.
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The South produces more timber than any other
single country in the world, and it is projected
to remain the dominant producing region for many
decades to come. USFS SFRA draft 2001
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Pine plantations are generally poor wildlife
habitat. SFRA 2001
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This is something you wouldnt have dreamed of
25 years ago. Its that new the land being
devastated like this. Herbert Volner, saw
miller in Parsons, TN
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Converting Wetlands to Plantations
The conversion of bottom land wetland forests
to plantations is the leading cause of freshwater
forested wetlands loss in the South. USFWS (2000)
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We need to protecting our endangered forests from
becoming
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Nearly 50 of all landfill waste is paper or wood.
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We need to use all of the Tools in the Toolbox to
protect forests

• Forest Watch
• Grassroots Organizing
• Litigation
• Corporate or Markets Campaigns
• Legislation
• Regional National Networks

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What is a Market Campaign?

• Creates leverage and
• pressure to protect endangered forests
• Uses the leverage we have against public
  companies to pressure the logging companies they
  buy from
• Works to end the market for wood products from
  endangered forests
• Aims to create a market for alternatives

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Why does a market campaign work?

• Focuses on a public company who is buying,
  selling, or using wood/pulp coming from an
  endangered forest(S) that we want to protect or
  an industry we want to change (or both).
• Uses image against a company ie no one wants to
  be known as the forest destroyer
• Pressures public target to change their policies
• Once the policy is changes gets the public target
  to use its clout to pressure the logging company
• Uses the new policy to pressure the rest of the
  industry into changing.
• Goal is to make the environmental standard the
  norm

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Benefits to Market Campaigns

• Some real changes in store policies
• Creates leverage that can be used to protect
  forest on the ground
• Can create pressure to stop destruction
• Increase consumer demand/knowledge for
  environmentally sustainable products
• Regional National Solidarity
• Links local forest destruction to forest
  destruction around country and abroad
• Site for education on links between corporate
  policies, environmental destruction, and global
  trade
• Site for pro-active organizing and vision when
  legislative angles arent viable

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Components of a markets campaign

• Chain of Custody Research- figuring out what
  products come out of an area, where they go, who
  buys them, and who sells them.

• To identify product output for paper mills in the
  region, and begin to identify major customers of
  each mill

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Our Forests
Loggers
Wood Dealers
Chip Mills
Sawmills
Pulp and Paper Mills
Lumber
Residual Chips
Chips
Paper
Pulp
Converting Facility
Distribution Centers
Stores
Consumers
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Components of a markets campaign

• Communications with companies This includes
  negotiation of policies.

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Components of a markets campaign

• Public campaigning coalition building ,
  organizing, media, materials, actions, events,
  and ect..

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Components of a markets campaign

• Implementation- Follow through to make sure they
  do what they committed to do

• For Example
• Comprehensive Report Detailing Environmental
  Progress Within Office Supply Industry
• To Be Released in 2007
• Bowater Annual Implementation Report

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Components of a markets campaign

• Identifying and mapping endangered forests in
  your region

Dogwood Alliance, NRDC, and the Conservation
Biology Institute are teaming up to produce
comprehensive maps of Endangered Forests
throughout the South
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Mapping Endangered ForestsSouthern US

• Dogwood Alliance, NRDC, and the Conservation
  Biology Institute are teaming up to produce
  comprehensive maps of Endangered Forests
  throughout the South

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Staples Campaign Victory!
Office Depot Campaign Victory!
OfficeMax Campaign Victory!
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Campaign Demands

• Phase out products originating from endangered
  forests, including endangered forests in the
  Southern US, the Canadian Boreal and US National
  Forests
• Immediately commit to increasing the average post
  consumer recycled content in all paper products
  to 30 and set a goal for achieving an average of
  50 post consumer recycled content in all paper
  products
• Work with suppliers to end unsustainable forestry
  practices such as the conversion of forests to
  plantations and to ensure any virgin wood fiber
  comes from well-managed forests

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Bowater

• Historically one of the largest landowners in the
  South
• Have agreed not to sell the most ecologically
  sensitive areas
• Working with the State of Tennessee to protect
  those areas
• Agreed not to buy from land that has been
  converted to pine plantations after 2007
• Implementation becomes key

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Over packaged world
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Packaging is a problem.
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Chopped down
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Chipped
up
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Volunteer and Internship Descriptions

• Grassroots Outreach Media and Communications
•  
• Media and Communications
•  
• Development and
• Non-Profit Management
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• Research and
• Implementation

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OR
The choice is ours.
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• P.O. Box 7645
• Asheville, NC 28802
• 828-251-2525
• www.dogwoodalliance.org