ABOUT

Jay Francis is forest manager for the California forest lands of the Collins Companies, a timber corporation based in Portland, Oregon. Francis manages 100,000 acres of evergreen forest which is completely FSC-certified. Collins was the first US company to be certified.

INTERVIEW

"I think everyone should know about Collins Pine."

I think everyone should know about Collins Pine. We are doing great things here. But it's amazing how few people know that this is actually going on in an industrial forest.

In 1941 Truman Collins came to the Almanor basin to start the operation and build the sawmill. He envisioned an operation that would be sustainable in perpetuity, which meant that the land would always support the timber that would supply the saw mill. Although Truman had a very strong environmental ethic, I think it was the social ethic that inspired him. He felt responsible for the families that would come and make their home here in the Almanor basin. He did not want an operation that would deplete the resources and provide only a limited amount of work.

Truman hired some very progressive, professional foresters who had been experimenting with the concept of sustained yield. Those foresters created the system that we have been operating under for the last 60 years. The initial inventories showed a volume of about 1.5 billion-board feet of standing timber on the ownership. In September 2005, we harvested our 2 billionth board foot of the Collins Almanor forest, and our latest estimates of inventory show that we have 1.5 billion board feet of standing timber in a variety of sizes and species trees.

"We are trying to defer some of the income from the forest for future generation."

The difference between Collins certified forestry versus non-certified forestry is we focus on what is left in the forest standing, rather than product that we are removing. The retention of large trees, the sugar pines, the mix of species that we have here, and the diversity we have in the large and small trees, all contribute to a diversified forest, which provides homes for a variety of wildlife and protect the soil and water. It continues the natural forest cycle, which is what we are trying to perpetuate here.

You can see the amount of ponderosa pine trees that we have left in this area. They are starting to regenerate, and that is what we are looking for. Even though the pines are the most valuable species and pure economics would say to cut those trees today and get them to the saw mill, we are trying to defer some of the income from the forest for future generation.

"Our owners are dedicated to maintaining the forest as a forest and not just as a tree farm."

Our owners are dedicated to maintaining the forest as a forest and not just as a tree farm. We are here to do more than just grow fiber. One of the major components of the forest is growing habitat for the native wildlife species that inhabit these areas, but also for the critters, which can be productive and helpful in forestry activities.

We have the squirrels do most of our planting for us. They will hide cones and never come back for them. The seeds in those cones will eventually germinate and turn into new trees. Other species will eat seeds and transport them to someplace else and deposit them, doing their part to maintain the diversity of species throughout a given area. As foresters we like to look at a forest and see wildlife. It gives you a sense of pride, knowing that you are providing habitat and homes for lots of different critters.

We also work to maintain continuous forest cover, over as much of the property as possible, and within that you want to have some diversity. Diversity is best. Instead of focusing our wildlife management activities upon one particular species, the idea is to try to maintain a large enough habitat base so that many different types of species can live in here, even with their conflicting needs and requirements.

"Another very important non-timber issues is water."

Another very important non-timber issue is water. Good clean productive water comes from healthy watershed, and so we focus on protecting those forests as much as possible.

We have an area that was heavily grazed for the last 100 years and we were seeing that a lot of the stream was cutting under the bank causing stream bank collapse. Even though there was no timber action taking place in this riparian corridor, we felt there were things we could do to restore and enhance the watershed.

We worked in partnership with the California Department of Forestry and the Department of Corrections to install this cedar rail fence to act as exclusion area for the cattle that have historically and continue to graze in this meadow. Excluding the cattle has allowed the riparian vegetation, the willows, the cotton woods, the shrubs to grow up, and they have helped to stabilize the bank so that when we get some peak flows of water, there are not excessive amounts of sedimentation that fill in the salmon spawning beds. It is also providing habitat for other species, such as willow flycatchers and beavers.

We also try to incorporate shade canopy that will insure at least 85% cover over the streams. It is very important to keep the streams cool, especially in the hot summer months when the fish require a cooler temperature in the streams. Shade canopy also allows large woody debris recruitment in the streams, which is essential for structure and maintaining the health of the riparian areas. We have a very conservative approach to maintaining the area within the stream management corridor.

"I feel like I have the best job in the world. I feel extremely blessed to work for a company that not only expects but demands that we take good care of the forest for the long term."

I feel like I have the best job in the world. I feel extremely blessed to work for a company that not only expects but demands that we take good care of the forest for the long term. The forest that we have here today is the product of decades of extreme care and hard work.

It is my job during my watch on this forest to ensure that process continues and is handed on to the next generation. I am the envy of all my peers. I have a lot of freedom to use my professional judgment to try different things, to try to do the best thing for the forest.

"Certification did not inspire us. We were already operating in a sustainable way. But what the certification does do is that it helps to validate what we are doing."

Certification did not inspire us. We were already operating in a sustainable way. But what certification does do is that it helps to validate what we are doing. It helps to prove to our customers, who do not get the opportunity to come out and see the forest everyday, that we are doing a good job of managing the entire forest, not just for the timber aspect but for the other values that are associated with it.

We went through the initial certification process in 1993. At that time, certification entailed a week-long evaluation by a team of foresters, biologists, and plant ecologists, who looked at the management activities that we had been doing for roughly 50 years. Many times certification will require a conditional certification, where the forest managers are given the certification only if they agree to some of the conditions of criteria.

"To my knowledge, we are one of the few companies that have never had any conditions placed upon us."

To my knowledge, we are one of the few companies that have never had any conditions placed upon us. So, rather than telling us how to do good forestry management, the certification served as a verification of what we were already doing.

The certification is good for five years. It does not mean that they go away and you never see anyone for five years, because there are annual audits. Typically they are much shorter, one to two days for an ownership of our size, roughly 100,000 acres. An audit can spot check some of the activities that we have worked on in the last year to ensure that they are in full compliance with the Forest Stewardship Council certification guidelines.

"What certification has done for us is that it has given us a place at the table; we have the recognition and respect from a number of environmental groups, as well as industrial suppliers"

The original certification expired in 1997. So in 1998 we went through the process again, and our scores actually improved in all categories: sustainable timber management, sustainable environmental management, sustainable economic management, and social concerns.

What certification has done for us is that it has given us a place at the table; we have the recognition and respect from environmental groups, as well as industrial suppliers. Home Depot would not take the time to talk to a small company like Collins Pine if it were not for certification. It has given us some market openings, but what we have most benefited from is the name recognition, and the opportunity to communicate to the public and environmental groups about what is good forest management.

"A lot of environmentalists whom I take out on the forest, they might be skeptical when they arrive, but they go away supporting our type of forest management."

It is easy to argue about things in the boardroom of a downtown corporate office, but when you get out here on the ground and start walking around the forest, looking at the trees, looking at the amount of the forest that has been harvested, it is a lot easier to convince people that we can do harvesting and still maintain all of these other values-that it is not a mutually exclusive proposition.

I like to consider it a win-win situation, where we can provide a necessary commodity to a marketplace, and yet support the environmental benefits that go along with having a healthy forest. And a lot of environmentalists whom I take out in the forest, they might be skeptical when they arrive, but they go away supporting our type of forest management.

"I do not think there is anyone who enjoys seeing wildlife more than foresters and loggers."

The employees and the contractors take a great deal of pride in the work that they do. They are very pleased and very proud to show their work to visitors who come to the forest. There is an inherent sense of value that the foresters and the loggers go home with, knowing that they have done all they can to protect the forest and that it is going to be here for the generations to come. Just like the folks before them that have left us with the beautiful resource that we have today.

I do not think there is anyone who enjoys seeing wildlife more than foresters and loggers. We are probably the strongest environmentalists as anybody around. We enjoy being in the woods everyday, so much so that we have dedicated our lives to it. We want to make sure that that resource is protected and enhanced, if possible, for the future generations.

"One of the great things about certified forest products is that the public has the opportunity to put pressure on the decision makers"

Forests have not always been managed properly. I do not think you can lay that blame on the field foresters and the loggers. It is the people who are giving the orders. One of the great things about certified forest products is that the public has the opportunity to put pressure on the decision makers and insist that they provide habitat for wildlife and clean water. And those decisions can be made not in every case, but they are in a lot more instances now.

Everyone benefits when we promote responsible forest management: the loggers, the timber land owners, and the general public; this truly is a win-win situation. We have to remember that just as in nature, society needs to maintain a balance that is somewhere between clear cutting everything and zero cut. We need to realize that there is a balance point, and that is what we practice that here in the Collins Almanor forest. We have been doing it for a long time, and hopefully other folks will recognize that.

"The cost of becoming certified is variable."

The cost of becoming certified is variable, depending on what your practices are before you go through the certification evaluation. In our case, the certification validated the processes that we had in place, so there were no additional costs. The cost of the certification process can range anywhere from 35 cents to a dollar per acre. Depending upon the economies of scale and the ownership magnitude, there are some additional costs for processing the product through the mill, record keeping, and things like that.

"The certifiers need to recognize that this is a business."

To date certification has been a mostly positive experience. Collins Pine has received suggestions from the certifiers, some of which I would agree with, some of which I do not. They do not tell us how to manage our forest. There is certainly the potential to create a preponderance of burdensome paper work. I hope this process does not get laden down with it because it will turn a lot of companies off to the certification process.

The certifiers need to recognize that this is a business; we try to be as efficient as possible and we really try, through the chain of custody process, to verify to the consumers that their products really did come from certified forests. But we can't make it such an onerous task that it discourages folks from trying to incorporate certification into their activities.

"I am cautiously optimistic about this entire process."

I am cautiously optimistic about this entire certification process. I have seen some tremendous successes with this process. There is also tremendous potential for it to trip and fall flat on its face, and I am sure that there are folks both in the environmental community and in the industrial community that would like nothing better than to see that happen. We need to be smart and make sure that there is not too much pressure from either side. This is a give and take process. We need to make sure that what we are doing is the right thing for the land and for the people, and for all involved.

One of the benefits of certification is that it brings people from the environmental side and the industrial side to work together to manage the forests with consideration for wildlife, water, recreation, and soil productivity. In the United States over the last decade, we have seen such a diverse opinion of forest management schemes and activities, and such a dichotomy of goals. Certification simplifies the process. It is not a compromise; it's more of a collaborative process.