Certifying that forestlands are sustainably managed for wood supply, wildlife and the surrounding communities makes immediate sense to most people, especially those who experienced Maine’s debates in the 1990s over clear-cutting and other forest practices. Rather than trying to decide these issues by referendum, it makes sense to let forestry experts look over a specific forest area and judge whether it is being properly treated.

So it was good news last week when Gov. John Baldacci announced that Maine would have the first state-led voluntary forest certification program, with a goal of increasing the number of acres certified from 6.5 million to 10 million by 2007. There are nearly 18 million acres of forestland in Maine, and raising the amount certified could make them more sustainable and produce other environmental and social benefits if the certifiers use rigorous standards.

Certification programs – they are run by industry, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations – send experts in forestry, wildlife biology and natural-resource economics to inspect forest lands. Under the Forest Stewardship Council, the certification system favored by environmentalists, landowners must demonstrate that their cutting practices are indefinitely sustainable; they must prove that their work does not imperil the health of the ecosystem, and that it provides social and economic benefits to the community. Seven Islands was the first landowner in Maine to meet these standards; Irving this spring decided it wasn’t worth the effort and expense and returned its certification to FSC.

It remains certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, a program begun by industry, which focuses more heavily on forest health.

The mixed reaction could be cured by a strong market for certified wood; and if the market became sophisticated enough to distinguish among various certifiers, it would also cure a question sidestepped by the state last week over which of the standards is the preferred. The governor wisely brought to his press conference David Refkin, who manages paper purchasing for AOL Time Warner and who said his company would like to purchase 80 percent of its paper from green-certified forests. That makes for an excellent incentive.

So too does a new program from the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, which through a trust would give small landowners a place to contact skilled loggers, have their land assessed by experts to develop a harvest plan and meet cutting standards for FSC and SFI. This is a crucial plan for reducing the barriers that keep small landowners from meeting measures to enhance the quality of their land while protecting water quality and wildlife habitat and encouraging native species – as the trust plan asserts “demonstrating the land ethic of mutual benefit and challenging others to do the same.”

Gov. Baldacci and Conservation Commissioner Pat McGowan are to be commended for their goal of 10 million certified acres. And the more companies they can persuade to commit to buying green the more likely they will be to meet that goal.