J.D. Irving excludes Maine land ‘Green’ endorsement dropped by company

J.D. Irving has withdrawn its Maine land from an international program to ensure sustainable logging because of an ongoing dispute with Canadian environmentalists over forest practices.

As a result, the Canadian company’s Allagash Timberlands, about a half-million acres of forest located primarily in western Aroostook County, will no longer be producing “green” lumber endorsed by environmental groups.

Allagash Timberlands was certified as sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council in 2000 and retained the designation through two FSC audits despite substantial criticism by the environmental community.

Irving had once planned to certify all its land in Canada and Maine through FSC. But over the last few years, disputes over forest practices in the Maritime Provinces has derailed the effort.

During the past six months, the company has been considering abandoning FSC altogether in favor of an alternate certification program, said Chuck Gadzik, who manages Irving’s Maine lands.

“We either had to go forward and put the rest of our lands in the program or just walk away,” he said.

All 4.5 million acres of Irving forestland in Maine and Canada have been certified by the alternative system, Sustainable Forestry Initiative. However, many environmentalists criticize SFI, which was created by the forest products industry, as being less stringent than FSC, which was created by a coalition of scientists, environmentalists and landowners.

Irving attempted in the 1990s to certify its half-million-acre Black Brook holdings in New Brunswick under FSC. The certification was granted in 1999 and immediately criticized by the Sierra Club of Canada, which mounted an unsuccessful campaign to have the designation revoked.

Two years later, however, Irving withdrew its Canadian lands from FSC after a new, more stringent set of standards were adopted for the Maritimes. Despite the fact Black Brook and Allagash Timberlands are located fewer than 10 miles apart, Irving had to meet the local SFC requirements in Canada, which are more stringent than those used in Maine.

“The issue is a double standard, and it’s confusing to our customers,” said Blake Brunsdon, Irving’s chief forester.

The rules for Maritime Canada in effect ban the introduction of exotic species, the use of herbicides and the conversion of natural forest into tree plantations, according to Martin VonMirbach, of the Sierra Club of Canada.

One of the Sierra Club’s major criticisms of Irving, both in New Brunswick and in Maine, is its frequent use of pesticides, he said.

Brundson had been the only industry representative that participated in drafting the Maritime standards. Frustrated, he withdrew part way through the process, he said.

“In a nutshell, the standards in the Maritimes had a strong anti-industry bias … they’re very impractical,” Brunsdon said.

Negotiations with FSC may continue, and Irving could consider rejoining the program some day, Brunsdon said.

Irving officials and company critics both said Tuesday the FSC withdrawal will have little impact on the company’s forest practices in Maine.

Gadzik said that the company’s forest management plan incorporated the requirements of both certification schemes, so for the foreseeable future, Allagash Timberlands will be held to the FSC standards by its ongoing SFI agreement.

But Mitch Lansky, a forest activist from Wytopitlock, said Allagash Timberlands never should have been certified to begin with. Last fall, he helped the Sierra Club write a report criticizing Irving’s practices in Maine, particularly its use of plantations and herbicides, as well as its labor practices.

“I didn’t think it was a good certification,” Lansky said. “Maybe this will give a little bit more credibility to those [certified landowners] who are left.”