BALANCING ECOLOGY and ECONOMICS

BALANCING ECOLOGYand ECONOMICS

A Start-up Guidefor Forest Owner Cooperation

Revised and Updated Second Edition

Cooperative Development ServicesUniversity of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives

Community Forestry Resource CenterCooperative Development Institute

BALANCING ECOLOGYand ECONOMICS:A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

Revised Second Edition

October 2002Madison, Wisconsin

This publication was made possible by financial support from

Mutual Service FMutual Service FMutual Service FMutual Service FMutual Service Fund of the MSI Insurance Fund of the MSI Insurance Fund of the MSI Insurance Fund of the MSI Insurance Fund of the MSI Insurance Foundationoundationoundationoundationoundation

Wisconsin DNR FWisconsin DNR FWisconsin DNR FWisconsin DNR FWisconsin DNR Forest Stewardship Grantorest Stewardship Grantorest Stewardship Grantorest Stewardship Grantorest Stewardship Grant

FFFFFord Ford Ford Ford Ford Foundationoundationoundationoundationoundation

Cooperative Development FCooperative Development FCooperative Development FCooperative Development FCooperative Development Foundationoundationoundationoundationoundation

National Cooperative Business AssociationNational Cooperative Business AssociationNational Cooperative Business AssociationNational Cooperative Business AssociationNational Cooperative Business Association

Cooperation WCooperation WCooperation WCooperation WCooperation Worksorksorksorksorks

U.S. FU.S. FU.S. FU.S. FU.S. Forest Service, Northeastern Areaorest Service, Northeastern Areaorest Service, Northeastern Areaorest Service, Northeastern Areaorest Service, Northeastern Area

Published byPublished byPublished byPublished byPublished by

Cooperative Development ServicesCooperative Development ServicesCooperative Development ServicesCooperative Development ServicesCooperative Development Services131 West Wilson Street Suite 400

Madison, Wisconsin 53703(608) 258-4396

University of Wisconsin Center for CooperativesUniversity of Wisconsin Center for CooperativesUniversity of Wisconsin Center for CooperativesUniversity of Wisconsin Center for CooperativesUniversity of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives230 Taylor Hall

427 Lorch StreetMadison, Wisconsin 53706

(608) 262-3981

Community FCommunity FCommunity FCommunity FCommunity Forestry Rorestry Rorestry Rorestry Rorestry Resource Centeresource Centeresource Centeresource Centeresource CenterInstitute for Agriculture & Trade Policy

2105 First Avenue S.Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404

(612) 870-3407

Cooperative Development InstituteCooperative Development InstituteCooperative Development InstituteCooperative Development InstituteCooperative Development Institute277 Federal Street

Greenfield, MA 01304(413) 774-7599

To order copies of this manual, please contact one of the above organizations.

iii

Acknowledgments

BALANCING ECOLOGY and ECONOMICS: A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

Cooperative Development Services (CDS), the University of WisconsinCenter for Cooperatives (UWCC), the Community Forestry ResourceCenter (CFRC), and Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) would liketo acknowledge the hard work of the literally dozens of people who have contrib-uted to this manual, from the idea stage to its present form. The manual is truly acooperative effort. It is also an ongoing process; as such it will be revised andupdated as needed. While each of the following people made valuable contribu-tions to the manual, CDS, UWCC, CFRC, and CDI take full responsibility for anyerrors or omissions.

Primary Writers and Coordinators

CDS: E.G. Nadeau, Isaac Nadeau, and Mary E. MyersUWCC: Jody Padgham

CFRC: Philip Guillery and Kathryn Fernholz

Major Contributors and Reviewers

Stacy Brown, National Wildlife FederationPaul Catanzaro, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management

Gigi La Budde, Bison Belly FuturesPaul Pingrey, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Michael Whaley, Just Words of Spring Green, editor and designer

Peter Bundy, Masconomo ForestryFred Clark, Clark ForestryJoel Dahlgren, Attorney, Lindquist and VennumGene Francisco, State Forester, WisconsinArchie Hendrick, Upper Peninsula Community Forestry CooperativeBrad Hutnik, Wisconsin DNR ForesterDarcy Klasna, Cooperative Development ServicesMark Lorenzo, National Wildlife FederationChuck Ouimette, Custom Wood ProductsAlicia Peden, Community Forestry Resource CenterJulie Zuehlke, Communications Consultant

Additional Contributors

iv BALANCING ECOLOGY and ECONOMICS: A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

Mark Adams, Cook County Forestry CooperativeRoger Allbee, Cooperative Development InstitutePaul Bader, Kickapoo Woods CooperativeLynn Benander, Cooperative Development InstituteGreg Beirne, Sustainable Woods CooperativeRichard Bolen, Western Upper Peninsula Forest Improvement DistrictDavid Brynn, Vermont Family ForestPaul Catanzaro, Massachusetts Department of Environmental ManagementMarc Champagne, Societe sylvicole des LaurentidesColin Donohue, Rural ActionKevin Doran, Maine Department of ConservationArthur Eve, Massachusetts Woodlands CooperativeWarren Gaskill, Sustainable Woods CooperativeAmy Luebke, Wisconsin Family ForestsRoss Morgan, Adirondacks Park Sustainable Forestry ProjectLukata Mjumbe, Federation of Southern CooperativesBarbara Morford, Sustainable Woods CooperativeWarren Murley, Athol Forestry Co-operativeGreg Nolan, Headwaters Forestry CooperativeAnnett Pagan, Winrock InternationalDon Peterson, Partners in ForestryMartin Pionke, Wisconsin Family ForestsKent Prather, Sustainable Woods CooperativeCharly Ray, Living Forest CooperativeEli Sagor, University of Minnesota ExtensionClyde Samsel, Wisconsin Family ForestsKaren Stettler, Hiawatha Sustainable Woods CooperativeBrian Stone, Vermont Forests and ParksTom Thieding, Sustainable Woods CooperativeCharlie Thompson, New England Forestry Foundation

Photo Credits:Photo Credits:Photo Credits:Photo Credits:Photo Credits:

We sincerely thank all the people and organizations whogenerously contributed photographs to this publication.

Special Thanks To:

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

Part I : Introduction to Forest Owner Cooperation

Chapter 1 The Challenges Facing Forest Resources

Chapter 2 Forest Owner Cooperation—Part of the Solution

Chapter 3 Realizing a New Land Ethic through Forest OwnerCooperation

Part II : Forming Forest Owner Organizations: Ten Steps

Step 1 Establishing the Steering Committee and Developinga Vision

Step 2 Assessing Landowner and Community Interest

Step 3 Becoming a Legal Entity

Step 4 Recruiting Members

Step 5 Making an Informed Decision on Whether andHow to Proceed

Step 6 Preparing a Business Plan

Step 7 Holding a General Membership Meeting andElecting a Board of Directors

Step 8 Securing Financing

Step 9 Recruiting Personnel

Step 10 Beginning Operations

Conclusion to Part II

viii

1

5

9

21

23

25

29

31

35

37

39

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45

47

49

51

vBALANCING ECOLOGY and ECONOMICS: A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

Table of Contents

Part III : A Closer Look at Key Issues and Lessons

Chapter 1 Effective Governance and Management

Chapter 2 Lessons Learned

Chapter 3 Forest Owner Education

Chapter 4 Forest Management

Chapter 5 Marketing

Conclusion

Appendix A: Documents

A-1 Sample Membership Survey

A-2 Legal Documents Needed for the Developmentof a Cooperative or Association

Appendix B: Sustainable Forestry Cooperatives andAssociations

Appendix C: Sustainable Forestry Resources: AssistanceOrganizations, Publications, and Websites

Glossary

Index

53

55

59

67

71

79

89

A-1

A-7

B-1

C-1

G-1

H-1

vi BALANCING ECOLOGY and ECONOMICS: A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

Table of Contents

BALANCING ECOLOGY and ECONOMICS: A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

This publication is available online. Please visit:

http:wwwhttp:wwwhttp:wwwhttp:wwwhttp:www.forestrycenter.forestrycenter.forestrycenter.forestrycenter.forestrycenter.or.or.or.or.org/manualg/manualg/manualg/manualg/manual

for information on ordering and downloading

“Balancing Ecology and Economics:A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation”

The land area of private, non-industrial forestland in the United States is truly vast.Nationwide, nearly 10 million private landowners hold approximately 380 million acres

of forestland. These small woodland owners face a variety of challenges in managing theirforests: forestland is shifting into smaller parcels as more people want to own woodland; thecomposition of our forests is changing with age and disturbance patterns; the demandsplaced on forests for recreation and biological reserves are growing; and land values andproperty taxes are skyrocketing.

The purpose of this manual is to assist these diverse small woodland owners tomanage their forests in a sustainable manner. Even in Wisconsin, in which state

foresters serve nearly 10,000 landowners a year through a relatively robust private forestryassistance program, at least 60% of non-industrial private forest acreage has not benefitedfrom professional forest management. The difficulties are even greater in some northeasternstates that do not have the forestry infrastructure or steadfast economic and political supportenjoyed here.

To push beyond barriers and broaden sustainable forestry, innovators throughout theU.S. and Canada are promoting new initiatives based on landowner cooperation.

Some have formed non-profit landowner associations or forest management and marketingcooperatives while others have ventured into value-added processing. Each model has itsstrengths, depending upon the needs and interests of the landowners it serves. Some ofthese ventures have experienced growing pains while others have flourished. I am pleasedthat this new edition of Balancing Ecology and Economics, first published for a Wisconsinconference in October 2000, will help all of us benefit from the lessons learned from theseearly ventures in landowner cooperation.

The concept of landowner cooperation holds tremendous promise. People workingtogether creates a synergy – landowners sharing solutions, pooling resources, hiring

viii BALANCING ECOLOGY and ECONOMICS: A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

Foreword

expertise, developing markets, and accomplishing work that might be impossible alone.Private cooperative efforts can offer alternative land management systems that may providea better fit for an individual’s interests than can be found in the general marketplace forforestry services. Landowner cooperation can more easily leverage resources availablefrom public funding and can organize volunteers with a deep ethical commitment to sustain-able land use to assist with one-time projects. Cooperation also helps landowners to lookbeyond their own boundaries and consider larger regional and landscape-scale issues.Private landowner cooperation may also appeal to many people who are reluctant tobecome involved in traditional governmental programs.

Making people our strength is what forest owner cooperation is all about. It requires a degree of courage as independent groups are given the freedom to

address sustainable management in their own ways and for their own communities. Theymay offer interpretations, emphases, or expressive styles that differ from one another.Therein, however, is the source of originality that can help us reach beyond the past con-straints of traditional private forestry assistance programs.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is pleased to join our northeasternpartners in sponsoring this manual and the 2002 Forest Owner Cooperation Confer-

ence. Empowering landowners to face the challenges of resource management together iseven more essential now that we as a state and a nation have finally come to recognize theimmense value of private forests to our well being.

Gene FranciscoChief State ForesterWisconsin Department of Natural Resources — Division of Forestry

ixBALANCING ECOLOGY and ECONOMICS: A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

1Part One: INTRODUCTION TO FOREST OWNER COOPERATION

Introduction

Balancing Ecology and Economics:A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

The purpose of the second edition ofthis manual is to show how private

landowners can work together to improvethe ecological and economic value of theirwoodlands and, at the same time, benefitthe communities in which their forestland islocated.

Whom is the manual for?Of the 10 million private, non-industrialwoodland owners in the United States, 4.2million hold title to 10 or more woodedacres. These forest owners with 10 ormore wooded acres own over 360 millionacres. They are the primary audience forthis manual. The guide is also addressed topublic and private forestry professionals,and cooperative and community develop-ment professionals who work with theseforest owners.

Landowners with smaller parcels and akeen interest in the many forest benefitstheir woodlots offer will also find the manualuseful. In addition, the guide should behelpful to managers of forests owned bycounties and other local public entities, bymanagers of Native American forest

holdings, and by non-profit organizationsthat own forestland, including The NatureConservancy, forestry foundations, andlocal land trusts.

Why a second edition of the manual?The forest owner cooperation movement inthe United States has grown steadily sincethe first edition of this manual was publishedin December 2000. Although the numberof forest owner organizations is still rela-tively small (perhaps 25 in mid-2002), thecollective experience of these groups hasgrown dramatically in that time. We havelearned many new lessons about whatworks and what doesn’t work in theformation and operation of these organiza-tions. Since the first edition of the manual,

2 Part One: INTRODUCTION TO FOREST OWNER COOPERATION

Introduction

we have also learned a great deal from theexperiences of forest owner groups inEurope and Canada. As a result, more thanhalf of that edition has been significantlyrevised to help landowners, foresters,conservation organizations, and cooperativedevelopment professionals benefit from thesuccesses and avoid the mistakes of thesepioneering groups.

What is forest owner cooperation?In this manual, the word “cooperation”refers to a variety of formal and informalways in which landowners can learn andwork together for mutual benefit. Thepurpose of these joint efforts is to takebetter care of forests and to increase theeconomic, recreational, social, ecological,and aesthetic benefits that landownersreceive from their woodlands.

Despite their limited role in the UnitedStates during the past three decades, forestowner co-ops and associations are not anew phenomenon. They date back almost100 years in the United States and havebeen a prominent form of forestry organiza-

tion in Finland, Sweden, Norway, otherEuropean countries for over half a century,and in Canada for over a quarter of acentury. In the United States, the WesternUpper Peninsula Forest ImprovementDistrict (WUPFID) was organized inMichigan in 1985. It includes both privatelandowners and small, publicly ownedforests, with a total of about 190,000wooded acres. WUPFID and the Cana-dian and European organizations clearlyshow that forest owner cooperation canprovide long-term benefits to their mem-bers. Different approaches to cooperationare described in Part I, Chapter 2: Forest

Owner Cooperation — Part of the

Solution.

Why is cooperation important?Although private non-industrial landownersown almost half of all the woodlands in theUnited States, only about 10% of theselandowners actively manage their forests.Private ownership is so significant that anymovement toward sustainable forestry mustaddress how to motivate and assist privatewoodland owners to do their part. It isessential that sound forest management beviewed as relevant by private woodlandowners.

Landowner cooperation may be one of themost effective ways to achieve that goal.This neighbor-to-neighbor approach canprovide trustworthy information, low-cost

[Because of fragmentation and smaller par-cels] “forestry will become less and lessrelevant to more and more people”... Wewill lose vital forests that can produce bothenvironmental and economic benefits. Weneed new approaches and technologiesdesigned for small parcels.”Lester DeCoster — Journal of Forestry


and high-quality management services, andthe social benefits of people workingtogether toward common goals.

Why is forest management planningimportant?Sustainable forestry management provides awide range of ecological, economic, andsocial benefits for both forest owners andthe general public, and preserves thesebenefits for future generations:

! Protection of watersheds and watersupplies

! Habitat for wildlife! Protection of soil from erosion! Wood for construction, paper, furniture

and hundreds of other uses, supportinga $209 billion per year wood productsindustry in the United States 1

! Non-timber forest products, includingmedicinal products, mushrooms, nuts,and maple syrup

! Recreational opportunities such ashunting, hiking, camping, climbing,skiing, and horseback riding

! Absorption of carbon dioxide, bufferingthe effects of global warming

Forest management planning helps forestowners evaluate the current state of theirproperty, develop their vision for the future,and identify the tools and resources neededto realize that vision. Simply put, forestowners have the opportunity to step backand ask the questions: “What do I valueabout my forest? What do I want it to looklike in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years ormore?” Answering these “what” questionsis the first step in forest management. The

The Cates Family Farm in northern Iowa County, Wisconsin. Members of Sustainable Woods Cooperative,Dick and Kim Cates, together with their children, raise and market natural Angus beef.


next step is to answer the “how” questions:“How do I develop and implement a planthat achieves my goals for my forest?”

Forest owners who don’t pose and act onthese questions are foregoing the opportu-nity to be good stewards of their land.Such inaction may result in a reducedeconomic return from the land as well as areduction of its value as a recreational andenvironmental resource.

What is “good” forest management?Following are a few general principles oftenassociated with “sustainable” forestry. It isprinciples like these that guide the develop-ment of a sustainable forest managementplan.

! Address the goals that each landownerhas for his or her forest.! Conserve the ecological integrity of theforest ecosystem in perpetuity.! Maintain or improve the short- andlong-term economic well-being of forestowners and others who work in the forestindustry.

! Maintain or improve the quality ofcommunity life.

A more detailed discussion of forest man-agement is presented in Part III: Chapter

4: Forest Management.

The three primary objectives of Balancing

Ecology and Economics: A Start-up

Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

are:

1. To explain the benefits of cooperationamong non-industrial private forest owners;2. To provide a step-by-step guide fordeveloping successful forest owner co-opsand associations; and3. To provide an overview of the keyissues involved in successful approaches toforest owner cooperation and forestmanagement.

Parts I, II, and III of this manual corre-spond to these three objectives. Theappendices include bibliographical andwebsite references; a list of forestry coop-eratives and associations; and a list ofresource people and organizations.

Introduction


The ChallengesFacing Forest ResourcesChapter1

Forests are among the largest and mostwidespread of the earth’s ecosystems.

In the continental United States, forestscover 33% of the total land area. In thegeographical eastern half of the country,600 species of trees and shrubs produce adiverse forest that covers 40% of the land,from the boreal forests in northern Minne-sota to the subtropical forests of Florida.

As noted in the Introduction, privateforest owners face a variety of challenges inattempting to manage their forests responsi-bly. One of the biggest challenges is thecomplex pattern of woodland ownership.Across the United States, about 46% offorested land is in the hands of non-indus-trial private owners, about 42% is publiclyowned, about 10% is owned by industrialwood product companies, and 2% is inNative American reservation holdings.2

These figures make clear that sustainableforestry is not a goal to be pursued exclu-sively by government agencies and industry.

Rather, it is critical that private landowners,who own more forested land than any othergroup, take a leading role.

A second challenge is the fragmentation offorestland into smaller and smaller parcels.In 1978, there were 11 million acres offorestland in parcels with fewer than 10acres. By 1994, this number had jumpedto 17 million.3 Forest management—especially landscape level management—becomes more difficult as the number ofsmall parcels increases.

A third challenge is the accelerating conver-sion of productive forest to other land uses,due in part to a growing population. From1992 to 1997, an average of 2.3 millionacres of forestland was converted eachyear to housing and other uses.4 With theever-increasing spread of urban andsuburban areas, these conversion rates areexpected to increase.

Introduction to Forest Owner Cooperation

!" #

$Ipart


The ChallengesFacing Forest Resources

Chapter1

Coupled with these challenges is theincreasing level of consumption of forestproducts worldwide, and the continuingpressure to meet that demand.

What is particularly sad about this situationis that trees and other forest products arerenewable resources. We already knowhow to extract wood and other productswithout degrading forests; and we alreadyknow how to manage forests so as toincrease the volume of large, healthy treesand provide a rich habitat for a variety ofplant and animal species. There are pock-ets around the world where forests havebeen and are being successfully managedfor sustainable growth, and where theprotection of habitat and biodiversity iscombined with good management foreconomic benefits. (As an example of oneof these “pockets,” see the description ofMenominee Tribal Enterprises on Page

20.) But this delicate management balanceis by far the exception rather than the rule.

The Deerfield Alliance is a chapter of theWisconsin Family Forests (See the de-scription of WFF on Page 33). The Alli-ance is an association of neighboring land-owners in Deerfield Township, WausharaCounty. It was formed with two goals in mind:1) to encourage planned, sustainable man-agement of woodlots in the township, and 2)to help absentee landowners with theirwoodlot management. “We’re a small localgroup that’s trying to get people involved intheir woodlands so they won’t be so quick tosubdivide them. We’re helping them man-age their woods a little better and maybe geta little more return out of it,” says Martin Pionke,a local dairy farmer and chairman of theDeerfield Alliance.

Duane (left) and Martin Pionke on their dairy farm in Waushara County.Martin is the President of Wisconsin Family Forests’ Deerfield Alliance.


Multiple benefits of forest manage-ment.The rewards of ecological stewardship aremany: a healthy forest, improved plant andanimal habitats, increased recreationalopportunities, and a legacy for futuregenerations. In the absence of sustainablemanagement and landowner cooperation,forest fragmentation on private lands willcontinue to accelerate, and a host ofassociated economic and ecological prob-lems are likely to deepen.

Balancing economics and ecology in theforest has never been more critical. Andthe complexity of forestry issues, as outlinedabove, requires creative approaches tofinding that balance.

One very promising approach involves thedevelopment of organized cooperativeefforts among woodland owners. Theseefforts vary quite a bit – from legallyincorporated cooperatives and other forestowner businesses to non-profit memberassociations, to informal groups of land-owners.

The following chapter introduces severalways in which landowners, working to-gether, can organize and empower them-selves to improve the management of theirforests.

1 National Research Council. 1998. ForestedLandscapes in Perspective. National Acad-emy Press.

2 Ibid3 Ibid4 Sampson, Neil and Lester DeCoster. 2000.

“Forest Fragmentation: Implications forSustainable Private Forests.” Journal ofForestry. Vol. 98 No.3 March 2000.

The Adirondacks Park Sustainable For-estry Project began in 1999 and now has11 members with over 6,000 acres ofcertified forestland. The Project has fourprimary goals:

1) To work with landowners to developforest management plans, and to bringtheir forestry management practices intocompliance with those plans, in order tobecome certified through SmartWood,an FSC-approved certifying organization.2) To achieve Resource Manager Cer-tification status with SmartWood so thatthe Project can assist landowners tomaintain their certification on an ongoingbasis.3) To spread the word to other landown-ers about good forestry practices throughpublic outreach, and to recruit more mem-bers to the Project over time.4) To develop a landowner organiza-tion that will, through the sale of certifiedwood products, both promote good for-estry practices and bring revenue backto the landowners.

The Project has successfully met its firsttwo goals: it now has 6,000 FSC-certifiedlandowner acres; and in the summer of2002 it was certified as a Resource Man-agement Organization by SmartWood.


Friends, neighbors, and fellow members join forces for a controlled burn on a memberlandowner’s oak woods in Richland County, Wisconsin.


Forest Owner Cooperation— Part of the SolutionChapter2

The previous chapter identified anumber of major problems with the

current condition of forestland in the UnitedStates. This chapter describes how forestowner cooperation and, especially,community-based forest owner organiza-tions can be an important part of thesolution to these problems.

Why should private woodland ownersgo to the trouble of working with others– let alone organizing with others – inorder to take care of their forests?

♦ Education and information-sharing.Most forest owners care a great deal abouttheir land and want to “do the right thing.”An organization of forest owners canprovide its members with the informationthey need to develop a vision for their landsand identify knowledgeable professionals tohelp them achieve their goals. Mostimportantly, these organizations provide aforum – whether formal or informal - forforest owners to share information, helpingeach other with both their success storiesand their mistakes.

♦ Coordinated planning with otherlandowners. Furthermore, landownersworking together can have a beneficialimpact on the environment at the “land-scape level”—in other words, as far as the

eye can see rather than only as far as theproperty goes. There are numerous waysthat neighbors can coordinate the manage-ment of their lands for the benefit of wildlifeor to improve recreational opportunities intheir area. In fact, working together,landowners can raise the local standard ofmanagement for forestland in their area.

♦ Management plans tailored tolandowners’ goals. Many forest ownerorganizations assist their members todevelop forest management plans. A planis most successful when it incorporates thelandowner’s values as well as outlines astrategy for economic and ecologicalsustainability of the forest. There are nowmany professional foresters, ecologists, andloggers who can be trusted to work withthe landowner to develop and implement aplan that reflects the owner’s vision.

Some landowners, however, prefer a“hands-off” approach to forest manage-ment, or may be apprehensive about cuttingtrees on their property given the damagethey have seen done to other woodlands by

“Organized group efforts, which expressboth social responsibility and public-privateeconomic cooperation, create and sustainmuch of the infrastructure and institutions werecognize as central to modern society.”

Mark Lorenzo — Across the Fences

I Introduction to Forest Owner Cooperation

part


Forest Owner Cooperation— Part of the Solution

Chapter 2

irresponsible harvesting. Sustainable forestmanagement involves the use of both activemanagement strategies (sound silviculture)and passive management techniques whenappropriate. Neither active nor passivetools are in themselves “sustainable”; theissue is how the tools are applied and howwell the situation is monitored to assure thatthe desired results are achieved. Sustain-able management asks landowners not todefault to passive management becausethey are afraid to do anything. The wholeidea is to apply a balance of managementtools in order to keep the economic andecological systems running in harmony.

Forest owners have found that by workingtogether, they can gain a number of benefitsthat would not be available to them indi-vidually, including:

! Landowners can more effectively reapthe economic rewards of forest ownership;

! Landowners and community residentscan participate in a wide range of educa-tional opportunities;

! Local communities can experience thelong-term aesthetic and recreational benefitsof healthy forest ecosystems;

! Communities can enjoy the economicrewards of forest products businesses andnon-profit associations that are home-grown and locally controlled;

! Loggers, foresters, and manufacturerscan partner with landowners to help ensurea dependable, sustainable resource base.

Forest Owner OrganizationForest owners can organize themselves in avariety of ways to receive economic,recreational, and ecological benefits fromtheir forests. This manual promotes allthree kinds of forest owner organization:informal cooperation, non-profit associa-tions, and cooperatives (and other forestowner businesses).

The different forms of forest owner coop-eration are discussed below. A chart ispresented on Page 13 that shows the mostlikely activities for each type of organiza-tion.

Informal Cooperation. Groups oflandowners get together as friends andneighbors to learn more about woodlandmanagement or to help each other withclearing brush, adding recreational trails, orother work-party activities.

Non-profit Associations. Landownersform a member-controlled, non-profitcorporation for the purpose of coordinating

part III, chapter 4has detailed information about theelements of a forest management

plan.

“By including people who are in the woodslogging, those who are sawing, and the land-owners, it creates a team that can achievemore by working together than by separat-ing the parts. For me, (this) makes sensebecause being on our own at the farm, wedon’t have the ability to do all these thingsby ourselves.” —Karen StettlerHiawatha Sustainable Woods Cooperative


educational, service, and volunteer activi-ties. For example, a forest owner associa-tion may organize workshops, “walks in thewoods”, and other educational events for itsmembers. It may also establish a formalsystem for referring association members toforestry professionals and for bringingmembers together for joint work and socialactivities.

Some non-profit organizations obtain501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from theInternal Revenue Service that allows themto receive public and foundation grants andtax-deductible donations. This can be a bighelp in providing affordable educational andother services to members and otherwoodland owners.

Non-profits may also engage in “business”activities such as helping their memberspurchase goods and services, providingresource management services, and mar-keting members’ forest products. Engagingin these business activities, however, canpose problems because, by law, profitsgenerated by non-profits can’t flow throughthe organization to the members. Anyprofits generated must be retained by theorganization, granted to another non-profit,or turned over to a government entity.Thus, if a non-profit forest owner organiza-tion is moving in the direction of providingbusiness services, it should consider settingup a “sister” cooperative to carry out theseactivities.

Cooperatives. A forest owner coopera-tive is an incorporated business that isowned and democratically controlled by thepeople who use its services – the woodlandowners themselves. Its primary purpose isto provide services and benefits to itsmembers, including but not limited toeconomic benefits.

Forest owner cooperatives can be furthercharacterized by the kinds of services andbusiness activities they engage in:

! Educational activities! Resource management — preparationof management plans, assistance withimplementing management plans (timberstand improvement, tree planting, markingof trees to be harvested, and harvesting oftrees) or contracting for these services onbehalf of members with other providers! Sale and rental of forestry-relatedsupplies and equipment to members andothers – for example, chain saws, chaps,seedlings, skidders, etc.

Landowners clear and burn red cedar on a prairie restoration project.


! Timber aggregation and sales;! Wood processing and marketing –sawing, kiln drying, manufacture of flooring,paneling, and other wood products; orcontracting for these services on behalf ofco-op members! Non-timber (specialty) forest productprocessing and marketing

Although a cooperative may provide thesame kinds of educational and coordinatingservices as a non-profit organization, it ismore difficult for a co-op to access publicand private grants for these activities. Onthe other hand, as mentioned above, a co-op is better designed than a non-profit tocarry out “business” activities on behalf ofits members, such as joint purchasing of

equipment and professional services, woodprocessing, and marketing. Unlike a non-profit, a co-op can divide up the profitsgenerated from these activities among themembers, based on the amount of businesseach member does with the co-op.

Other Forest Owner Businesses. Theseinclude Limited Liability Companies (LLC)and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP).Both of these are incorporated businessesthat can function much like a cooperative ifthe forest owners choose to structure themthat way. In this manual, the term “coop-eratives” includes these businesses that areowned and controlled by forest owners.

Sustainable Woods Cooperative plays host to the Baraboo Range Preservation Association outside SWC’s solarkiln facility in Lone Rock, WI.


Chapter 2


The word “liability,” used in the chart on thepreceding page, requires some explanation.The key point in the chart is that incorpo-rated entities (non-profits, co-ops, LLCs,etc.) enjoy limited liability protection by thevery fact of being incorporated. In general,this means that officers, directors, members,and owners of these entities are not heldpersonally responsible for “damages,settlements, fees, fines, penalties, or othermonetary liabilities of the organization.”Examples of exceptions to this general ruleare an individual’s willful misconduct or aviolation of criminal law. Informal groups oflandowners, sole proprietors, and partnersdo not have this protection.

Forest owner associations and cooperativescan work as “sister” organizations at thelocal level. For example, the Massachu-setts Woodlands Institute and the Massa-chusetts Woodlands Cooperative worktogether to provide educational and busi-ness services to landowners in westernMassachusetts. In northern Wisconsin,the non-profit association Partners inForestry is considering the formation of asister co-op in 2003 to provide timbermarketing services for its members. (SeePage 33 for more on these partnerships.)

One of the special features of all threecategories of cooperation discussed aboveis that the individual member chooses theextent to which he or she wishes to beinvolved in joint activities. Although coop-

eration is not for every landowner, workingtogether is often more effective and enjoy-able than trying to go it alone. Knowledge,economic strength, and community-buildingincrease exponentially when woodlandowners work together.

The adage, “There’s strength in numbers,”is certainly true of co-ops and associations.In most cases, the individual landownerdoes not have the volume of wood, theequipment, the marketing expertise, or thetime to process and sell his or her ownwood or other forest products. Poolingefforts and resources, however, makes for adifferent equation. Consulting foresters andlow-impact loggers may give priority to co-op or association members because, as agroup, they represent a large volume ofbusiness. Members may be able to getdiscounts on the purchase of chain saws,logging chaps, and other equipment bypurchasing in quantity.

Co-ops can provide wood processing andmarketing services, allowing members toreceive a good return on their wood withoutthe high costs and hassles involved in goingit alone. Informal groups, associations, andco-ops provide opportunities for commu-nity and social events—training sessions,field days, work parties, picnics, etc.—thatcan be fun, energizing, and educational.Through co-ops and associations, individuallandowners can have a positive impact onthe forested landscape in which their


Chapter 2


properties are located, effectively undoingearlier damage. As more and more co-opsand associations develop, sustainableforestry practices will have a cumulativeimpact at the regional and even nationallevels. This impact will affect not only theforest resource; it will also strengthencommunities through locally based forestbusinesses and jobs.

Working together can provide a variety ofeconomic and non-economic benefits to for-est owners and, at the same time, improvethe quality of the environment and the qualityof community life.

The Western Upper Peninsula Forest Im-provement District (WUPFID) began as aproject funded by the state of Michigan in1985. A few years earlier the Michigan Legis-lature had commissioned a study by a Finnishconsulting firm to determine what could bedone to improve the condition of Michigan’sforests, over half of which are privately owned.The firm recommended the establishment ofForest Improvement Districts patterned afterthose in Northern Europe that have had a longand successful history of assisting small land-owners to improve the management of theirwoodlots.

WUPFID is governed by a board of directorselected from seven sub-districts. By the end of2000, WUPFID had over 900 members with atotal acreage of 170,000. Since 1995, the Dis-trict has been self-supporting.

WUPFID has three major areas of operation:forest management services; marketing of for-est products harvested from members lands;and developing industrial sites to utilize mem-bers’ forest products.

District staff supervise harvests to ensure theyare carried out in a manner consistent witheach member’s management plan. Duringthe last 15 years, WUPFID has marketed nearly300,000 cords of pulpwood and 28 millionboard feet of sawtimber and veneer. Staff esti-mate that members receive a net return ap-proximately 15% higher than they would get ifthey sold standing timber to buyers.

In an independent review, WUPFID receivedhigh marks for improving the quality of forestmanagement practices and for the carefuladministration of wood sales.

Dick Bolen, Chairman of WUPFID, describes how a recent timber sale wasconducted on a member’s property to participants in a National Network ofForestry Practitioners conference held in the Upper Peninsula.


The Forest Management Trust is a non profit organization promoting forest conservationthrough the sustainable use of forest resources. Since 1997, the Trust has coordinated thedevelopment of forest management standards for the Southeast region based on the principlesand criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). It is also working to establish ‘modelforests’ that demonstrate Sustainable Forest Management. The Trust has also provided someeducational support for the development of forest owner co-ops and associations in the region.

The Mississippi Association of Cooperatives’ mission is “to use cooperative developmentas a strategy to enhance the quality of life and economic opportunities of rural Mississippi resi-dents.” Its primary work has been to help farmers grow and find markets for produce. How-ever, because many of the farmers that the Association works with have forested land, staff andvolunteers have also been educating these landowners about forest conservation and federal andstate programs that provide incentives for good forestry practices. MAC is considering thefuture development of a forestry co-op or association.

The National Demonstration Program in Community-Based Forestry is an initiative ofThe Ford Foundation assisted by the Community Strategies Group of the Aspen Institute, theCommunity Forestry Program of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, and the Institute forPolicy Research and Evaluation of the Pennsylvania State University. Two of its 12 demonstra-tion projects involve groups of landowners in the South.

""""" The Mandingo Legacy Forestry Program of the Federation of Southern Cooperativesin Epes, Alabama is strengthening local economies by promoting the retention and managementof privately owned forestlands and the development of forest-related industries and non-timberenterprises by African-American landowners in a ten-county area of Alabama and Mississippi.

""""" The Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina is empowering African-Ameri-can families to research opportunities for collecting non-timber forest products, develop enter-prises, and establish flexible manufacturing networks as long-term revitalization strategies. Theseincreased economic benefits should better equip landowners to retain their land and combatdevelopment pressure.

Winrock International’s Arkansas Rural Enterprise Center has been involved in a num-ber of forest-related projects over the past decade. Two of them relate directly to forest ownercooperation.

""""" Ozark Landowners Association. The Center worked closely with the Ozark Resourceand Conservation Development District in the mid-90s to help form the Ozark LandownersAssociation. The Association educates small and medium-sized landowners about the value oftheir forests and helps them to get good prices when selling timber.

""""" Carbon Offset Project. The goal of the project is to convert about 350 acres of mar-ginal cropland owned by private landowners in the Mississippi River Delta to bottomland hard-wood forest in order to offset carbon dioxide emissions. This experimental project is intended toset the stage for future forest-based, carbon sequestration projects on private lands in the UnitedStates. This project will become especially important when formal markets are developed forthe exchange of carbon credits.

Forest Owner Cooperation in the South


Chapter 2


A Silvopasture Fencing Training workshop held at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives (FSC) RuralTraining and Research Center (RTRC) on August 8 and 9 of 2002. From left: Ralph Noble (TuskegeeUniversity), Khalil Shahyd (Youth Development Director, FSC RTC), and Eugene Hall (Training Participant)

On the left, a low-lying field belonging to a private landowner in Arkansas. It will be planted with mixed bottomland hardwoodspecies this winter and then managed for 80 years to maximize carbon offsets. The photo on the right was taken close to thisproject site and shows what the forest will look like at maturity. (Winrock’s Carbon Offset Project)


Forest technician marking a watercourse to protect it during a thinningoperation, winter 2002. (Sociétésylvicole des Laurentides)


Chapter 2

Headquar ters of the Athol ForestryCo-op in Nova Scotia. The carving ofthe logger was done to commemo-rate Athol’s 25th year of operation.


There is a long history of forest owner cooperation in Canada, particularly in Quebec andthe Maritime Provinces where there is a high percentage of privately owned forestland.Following are a few examples.

Athol Forestry Co-operative recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. The Co-op is oneof 6 group ventures in the Province of Nova Scotia providing woodlot management andmarketing services to private woodlot owners. It has 215 members and manages 365woodlots covering 49,000 acres.

RESAM (a French acronym for Federation of Forest Management Associations) has44 member associations with more than 21,000 woodlot-owner members who own over2.6 million forest acres. Some of RESAM’s member associations have been in operationfor over a quarter of a century. For further information, see RESAM’s French languagewebsite: http://www.resam.org/

Société sylvicole des Laurentides is a good example of a RESAM member. Theforestry association has over 400 landowner-members who own about 50,000 forestedacres. The association provides these forest owners with a wide array of services, includ-ing: tree planting, thinning, selective cutting, salvage cutting, construction and improvement offorest roads, construction of wildlife shelters, and timber marketing. In conjunction withRESAM, the association is in the process of becoming an umbrella organization for ForestStewardship Council Certification.

Woodlot Stewardship Co-operative is a newly formed organization in the Province ofNew Brunswick. Its mission is “to provide assistance to landowners in a) developingsustainable forest management strategies that maintain the long-term social, ecological, andeconomic benefits from our forests, and b) applying for third party certification by theForest Stewardship Council.”

Forest Owner Cooperation in Canada



Chapter 2

The Menominee Forest in north central Wisconsin encompasses 220,000 acres of land,with 9,000 timber stands and over 16 different hard and softwood species. TheMenominee Indian Tribe’s traditional land once covered millions of acres in NortheastWisconsin, but in 1854 the U.S. Congress confined the Tribe to the current reservation.Although the forest resource has always been utilized by the Menominee, it has been anespecially important foundation of the Tribe’s economy since a timber sawing operationstarted there in 1908.

According to inventory estimates by Menominee Tribal Enterprises (MTE), theMenominee Forest has about 30% more standing sawtimber volume today than it didwhen the first inventory was taken in 1854. More than 2.25 billion board feet havebeen harvested from the forest during that period. These figures demonstrate a strongcommitment to sustainable forestry on the part of MTE and the Tribe which governs theoperation. The forest has been certified as “well managed” by SmartWood.

The Menominee Forest is managed by MTE, an independent corporation governed bya 12-member board elected from tribal members at large. MTE employs about 300people, about half of whom work in the sawmill. Their goal is to manage the forest forlong-term quality and quantity sawtimber production while maintaining a forest that ishealthy, productive, and diverse. Their land ethic and forest management philosophy,which they call “sustained yield management”, has evolved and been passed down overmany generations. Their commitment to this philosophy enables the Tribe to maintain aforest that is ecologically viable, economically feasible, and socially desirable.

Menominee Tribal Enterprises“It is said of the Menominee that the sacredness of the land is their very body,the values of the culture their very soul, the water their very blood. It follows,then, that the forest and its living creatures are food for their existence.”

— Marshall Pecore, MTE Forest Manager


Realizing a New Land Ethicthrough Forest Owner CooperationChapter3

Sustainable forestry cooperatives and associations have the potential to play a major rolein protecting and improving forest ecosystems in the United States during the 21st

century. Working together, non-industrial private landowners may very well lead the way ina dramatic shift in forest management toward an ecologically and economically sustainablefuture.

As more landowners become involved with sustainable forestry organizations, the kindof commitment to the land that Aldo Leopold envisioned more than 50 years ago is againbrought into focus. In Sand County Almanac Leopold wrote:

Through sustainable forestry cooperatives and associations, landowners are beginning tobuild a relationship to the land that is both ethical and economically rewarding. The successof these locally-based organizations will not only set a precedent for the formation of otherslike them; it may someday have an impact on the way all of us as citizens, consumers,industry officials, and governmental agencies view our relationship to and use of the land.

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability,and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tendsotherwise. It of course goes without saying that economic feasibil-ity limits the tether of what can or cannot be done for land... [but]an innumerable host of actions and attitudes, comprising perhapsthe bulk of all land relations, is determined by the land-users’ tastesand predilections, rather than by his purse. The bulk of all landrelations hinges on investments of time, forethought, skill, and faith,rather than on investments of cash.”

Introduction to Forest Owner CooperationIpart

23Part Two: FORMING A FOREST OWNER ORGANIZATION

TenSteps

As Part One of this manual shows, there is great potential for forest owner coopera-tives and associations to benefit non-industrial private woodland owners in a variety

of ways. Part Two provides a step-by-step guide to forming a forest owner cooperativeor association.

As discussed in Part I, Chapter Two: Forest Owner Cooperation—Part of the

Solution, there are three broad categories of services that a sustainable forestry organiza-tion can provide its members: education, woodland management, and processing andmarketing. Most of these services can be provided by both associations and cooperatives;however, co-ops are best suited to carry out processing, marketing, and other activities thatgenerate economic returns to members.

Remember that cooperatives are businesses that are owned and democratically controlledby the people who use their services and, as such, can distribute profits directly to theirmembers. Non-profit associations, on the other hand, are required by law to either reinvestany profits they make into their own operations or donate them to other non-profits orgovernment agencies

There are ten main steps in the formation of a forestry association or cooperative. Note thatthese steps are not a “recipe.” Every group charts its own path from the idea stage to anoperating organization. Also keep in mind that these steps do not have to be carried out inthe order they are presented; and that work can be done on more than one step at a time.

&forest ownerorganization

benefits services

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Forming a Forest Owner Organization

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24 Part Two: FORMING A FOREST OWNER ORGANIZATION

Ten Stepsin Forming Forest Owner Cooperatives and Associations

Step 1 Establishing the Steering Committee andDeveloping a Vision

Step 2 Assessing Landowner and Community Interest

Step 3 Becoming a Legal Entity

Step 4 Recruiting Members

Step 5 Making an Informed Decision on Whether andHow to Proceed

Step 6 Preparing the Business Plan

Step 7 Holding a General Membership Meeting andElecting a Board of Directors

Step 8 Securing Financing

Step 9 Recruiting Personnel

Step 10 Beginning Operations

Provide reliable infinfinfinfinfororororormamamamamationtiontiontiontion about sustain-able woodland management, management

personnel, and financial assistance programs.

forest owner organization

benefits services&

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Establishing the SteeringCommittee & Developing a VisionStep1

Think of the steering committee as agroup of five to ten people who are

enthusiastic about an idea and are commit-ted to meeting regularly to pursue a com-mon vision.

There are two ways to establish a steeringcommittee. A small group of people mightcome together to explore the idea offorming a forest owner organization andthen establish themselves as a steeringcommittee in order to pursue the ideafurther. Or, an initial organizing group mightconvene one or more meetings of potentialco-op or association members to test outthe level of interest in the idea, with thesteering committee being drawn from thislarge group of meeting participants.

However the steering committee is formed,it is important for its members to be repre-sentative of local landowners—both thosein attendance as well as those who might beattracted to the endeavor in the foreseeablefuture.

Even though the steering committee doesnot start out as a formal board of directors,

it makes sense for it to operate in a some-what formal manner by designating:

! a chair (or rotating chair) to facilitatethe meetings and set the agendas (Establish-ing an agenda helps provide structure to ameeting so that it runs efficiently);! a secretary to record the minutes ofmeetings and keep track of other actionstaken by the group;! a treasurer to handle finances. (At thisstage, one person may be able to handle theroles of secretary and treasurer.)

Important considerations for the steeringcommittee early on may include:

! Developing a vision for the forest ownerassociation or cooperative, including thekinds of services to be provided (seeCreating a Vision on Page 26);! Determining the level of interest of arealandowners in the organization;! Identifying potential obstacles to early-stage development of the organization;! Developing an inventory of skills ofpotential members and community re-sources.

The most important role of the steeringcommittee is to provide leadership as theorganization proceeds through its formativestages.

Developenvironmentally

responsible woodlandmanagement plansmanagement plansmanagement plansmanagement plansmanagement plans.


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Establishing theSteering Committee

Step1

The Mission Statement should state, infew words, the over-arching purpose of theorganization: what it does, why, and forwhom. It should not change dramaticallyover a long period of time; however, it mustbe re-visited regularly, perhaps at the an-nual meeting, board retreat, or other ap-propriate time. The mission statement isnot the place for long, rambling sentencesabout philosophy, rationale, beliefs, andspecific procedures. An example of a con-cise mission statement would be: “To pro-vide assistance to area landowners in de-veloping ecologically and economically sus-tainable woodland management strategies.”

Goals are also short statements, a littlemore detailed than the overall purpose, thatcommit the co-op to activities that sup-port the mission. Goals are “long-term” andshould not change frequently. One of thegoals the Living Forest Cooperative lists inits brochure is “to provide a responsible,member-owned and controlled means forforest owners to manage, harvest, process,and market their timber.”

Objectives support particular goals andbecome “task statements” that form thebasis—the “how to”—for getting the workdone. Objectives must: 1) be specific, 2)be measurable, and 3) contain a timeframe. Objectives change over time, de-pending on how they work out and howwell they support a particular goal.

An example of an objective for a sustain-able forestry cooperative might be: “To holdthree informational meetings in the next sixmonths for area woodland owners and thepublic. The major topic of these meetingswill be sustainable management, and guestspeakers will include resource managers andrepresentatives from other sustainablewoods cooperatives.” This is specific(“hold three informational meetings”), mea-surable (did the three meetings take place?)and contains a time frame (“over the nextsix months”).

Outcomes work both to clarify the objec-tive as it is being composed (predictiveoutcomes) and to evaluate the objective“after the fact” (evaluative outcomes).They answer the question, “How will weknow that this objective: a) has beenachieved, and b) was a worthwhile objec-tive for us to pursue?” (Think of tangibleoutcomes: what will you see as a result?what will have changed? etc.) If, for ex-ample, the three meetings are held withinthe six months, as per the objective, but donot produce the desired results, then per-haps the objective needs to be reconsid-ered. These outcomes provide informa-tion for future planning, possibly setting newgoals, or restructuring objectives to be moreachievable.

Creating a vision for the organization is one of the first and most importantof the steering committee’s tasks. A clear vision helps to focus the efforts ofeveryone involved in getting the organization started. Julie Zuehlke, Ph.D.,a board member of Hiawatha Sustainable Woods Cooperative, outlinesfour basic components of strategic planning or “visioning”.

Creatinga

Vision


An Example of Early Stage Development in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperativeserves forest landowners in western Massa-chusetts. In 1999, a group of landowners andother interested parties met several times todiscuss the possibility of starting a forestowner cooperative. A Steering Committee wasformed as a result of the positive response atthese meetings. The Steering Committee es-tablished a three-fold task:

! To explore the idea of a forest owner coop-erative in greater depth;

! To determine the extent of interest amonglandowners in western MA; and! To develop an initial set of guidelines forthe cooperative.

The initial guidelines (or vision) developedby the steering committee were later ex-panded into a comprehensive set of “valuesand beliefs.” A document such as this helpsto communicate the co-op’s purpose to cur-rent and prospective members.

Arthur Eve, chair of Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative, has a stream on his tree farm and several of his grandchil-dren in the stream. From left, Julianna Eve, Leah Eve-Cowles, and Kira Eve.


Assessing Landownerand Community InterestStep2

See Appendix A-1 for asample membership survey.

The success of a locally based forestowner organization depends on the

interest and involvement of the forestowners in that area. At this very early stageit is vitally important for the steering com-mittee to assess the level of interest in thecommunity and to seek input from potentialmembers when deciding the direction inwhich the organization should go.

An effective way to do both these things isto hold one or more informational meetings.These meetings serve to explain to thecommunity any work that has been done bythe steering committee, and to provide aforum for public discussion of the idea offorming the organization. It may be helpfulto invite a board member from an estab-lished sustainable forestry organization orother resource person to share his or herexperiences.

In advance of the meeting, be sure toidentify and invite any key landownerswhose presence at the meeting will make adifference—not necessarily those who ownthe most acreage, rather those to whomother landowners and members of the

public are likely to pay attention. Also, besure to publicize the meeting in multiple andappropriate ways. A poster at a popularlocal diner may generate as much or moreinterest as a notice in a local newspaper.

It is often useful to prepare in advance ofthe meeting(s) a survey that can be handedout to everyone in attendance. The surveycan help to answer several key questionsrelating to the particular needs and interestsof the members, as well as to gather moredetailed information about their woodlands.

Raising money from potential members is animportant step at this stage. Many co-opshave established a basic membership fee orstock purchase of $100. Non-profitassociations often set lower fees, e.g. $25per year. In addition to demonstratingpeople’s commitment to the development ofthe organization—thereby sending a strongsignal to other prospective members—this“first stage fundraising” can cover initialcosts for mailings, phone calls, travelexpenses, legal fees, feasibility research,

Provide access to ForestStewardship Council

cercercercercer tiftiftiftiftificaicaicaicaicationtiontiontiontion throughindependent third-party

certifiers such as SmartWoodand Scientific Certification

Systems, Inc. (See Part III,Chapter 4, page 76)


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Assessing Landownerand Community Interest

Step2

Note: Charter membership feesshould be raised with a disclaimerstating that their purpose is to deter-mine the feasibility of forming a co-op and that charter members will notnecessarily receive any direct benefitsfrom their membership fees.

and other administrative tasks. These fundscan also serve as “matching funds” forgrants from foundations and governmentprograms.

The Adirondacks Park Sustainable ForestryProject began in 1999 with four primary goals:

1. To work with landowners to develop forestmanagement plans; and to bring the Project’s for-estry management practices into compliance withthose plans in order to become certified throughSmartWood, an FSC-approved certifying orga-nization.2. To achieve Resource Manager Certificationstatus with SmartWood so that the Project canhelp landowners to maintain their certification onan ongoing basis.3. By means of public outreach, to spread the

An Example of Early Stage Development in New Yorkword to other landowners about good forestry prac-tices and to recruit more members to the Project.4. To develop a landowner organization that,through the sale of certified wood products, willpromote good forestry practices and bring revenueback to the landowners.

As of this writing the Project has 11 members—representing over 6,000 acres of FSC-certifiedforestland—and has successfully met its first twogoals by helping a core group of landowners toreceive FSC-certification for their woodlands andby having been certified as a Resource Manage-ment Organization by SmartWood.

Phil Guillery of the Community ForestryResource Center at a workshop spon-sored by the Residents’ Committee toProtect the Adirondacks


Becoming a Legal EntityStep3In order to conduct business, both

cooperatives and non-profit organiza-tions have to be incorporated under appro-priate state statutes. Incorporation is theprocess by which an organization is recog-nized by the state as a legal entity.

Most states have separate statutes forcooperatives and non-profit organizations.Others have more general corporatestatutes. For information pertaining to aspecific state, contact the secretary ofstate’s office or the county register of deedsin that state.

The articles of incorporation describethe kind and scope of the association’s orcooperative’s activities, and must be filedwith the secretary of state. There is a smallfee for filing—usually less than $100.Although articles of incorporation are easyto fill out, it is a good idea to ask an attor-ney to review them before they are filed.You may be able to find an attorney who iswilling to review the articles for free (probono) or for a minimal charge ($100 or so).Once the secretary of state approves thearticles, the organization becomes a legal

entity and the steering committee becomesan interim board of directors.

The bylaws are an internal document thatdescribes the basic governance and opera-tion of the organization: who can be mem-bers; how the board of directors andofficers are elected; how decisions aremade by the board and members, etc. Theinterim board of directors does not have toprepare bylaws right away. Both associa-tions and co-ops can develop basic bylawsand refine them at a later date. It is a goodidea to have detailed bylaws drafted in timefor the first general meeting of the organiza-tion (see Step 7). As with articles ofincorporation, an attorney should review thedraft bylaws.

Examples of bylaws and articles of incor-poration can be found on the website ofthe Community Forestry Resource Cen-ter, at www.forestrycenter.org/legaldocuments. Also, please refer to Appen-dix A-2 for descriptions of the necessarylegal documents.

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As noted in the Introduction to Part II,these steps don’t have to occur in the orderin which they are presented here. Forexample, some steering committees maydecide to wait until they have a better ideaof their purpose and direction before theyincorporate.

In general, the steering committee’s decisionto incorporate should be based on severalconsiderations:♦ Are there grants and loans for whichthe steering committee may apply thatrequire the organization to be incorpo-rated?

♦ Would some steering committeemembers’ concerns about legal liabilityissues be lessened if the organizationwere incorporated?♦ Is the organization planning tocollect funds from potential membersprior to completion of the business plan?(Members and other investors will feelmore secure if their money is going into acorporate—rather than a personal—bankaccount.)

If one or more of these situations apply, theorganization should incorporate before thebusiness plan is completed. If none of theseapply, incorporation may be deferred.

Becoming a Legal EntityStep3

Provide consultation and field trainingconsultation and field trainingconsultation and field trainingconsultation and field trainingconsultation and field trainingin habitat restoration andprotection of biodiversity.


benefits services&


There are several options for structuring forestowner organizations. Here are three examplesto consider:

1. Wisconsin Family Forests (WFF) is a non-profit, statewide organization made up of localcommunity forest owner groups called alli-ances. An alliance is an informal, non-threaten-ing “association” of neighbors who are interestedin working together to improve the managementof their forests. By participating in meetings orfield days organized by their alliance, neighborscan share work and information without a lot ofexternal structure. Each alliance is locally controlled and self-governing but not separately incorporated. Partof the membership fee in each local alliancegoes to WFF to pay staff and operating expenses.(WFF has a part-time executive director.) Thepurpose of the statewide organization is to coor-dinate activities among the existing alliancesand to foster the development of additional alli-ances around the state. This “bottom up” ratherthan “top down” approach also serves to buildcommunity among forest owners.

2. Organizers in Massachusetts formed both acooperative and a non-profit as two separate en-tities. Massachusetts Woodlands Institutewas organized as a tax-exempt, non-profit orga-

nization to carry out educational and other ser-vice activities for woodland owners in westernMassachusetts. Massachusetts WoodlandsCooperative (MWC) was formed to operate asa business that adds value to members’ timberand markets those value-added products onbehalf of the members. Any profits generated bythe cooperative’s business operations will be re-turned to the members in proportion to their useof the co-op. MWC currently has over 20 mem-bers with aggregate holdings of more than 2,000acres of forestland. The co-op’s goal during thenext three years is to grow to 150 members andmore than 20,000 acres.

3. Partners in Forestry, a group located innortheastern Wisconsin, is now in the processof forming a tax-exempt non-profit organizationfor the purpose of providing educational and for-estry management services to it members. Thesteering committee decided to incorporate as anon-profit in order to qualify for grant funding.However, the organization also wants to marketits members’ timber, so they are consideringforming a cooperative “sister organization” in2003. This sister cooperative will be able toengage in profit-making business operationsand distribute those profits to its members.

Examples of Three Different Organizational Structures


Recruiting MembersStep 4Membership recruitment is an ongoing

process. Laying the groundworkfor the association’s or co-op’s membershipbase begins at the time the steering commit-tee first meets. Many forest owner associa-tions and co-ops in the process of beingformed:

" hold informational meetings for potentialmembers;

" sponsor forestry events such as selec-tive harvesting demonstrations and“walks in the woods”;

" conduct membership surveys;" mail organizing updates; and" collect membership fees.

All of these activities provide a goodindication of the level of interest in theorganization and keep people informed

about the development process. Thus,when the time comes to make a long-termcommitment, members will be ready to actwithout a lot of last-minute promotion andeducation.

Membership outreach and recruitmentcontribute to the development of thebusiness plan in several ways:

! The information gathered from themembers helps determine the direction ofthe business plan;! The collected membership fees helppay for the writing of the business plan; and! These fees indicate to potential mem-bers, grantors, and lenders that there is acore commitment to the organization by anestablished membership.

Members get together for workand fellowship at a recent CookCounty Sustainable ForestryCooperative field day.

IIpart



Kickapoo Woods Cooperative (KWC), locatedin the Kickapoo Valley of southwestern Wis-consin, has a diverse membership made upof farmers, retirees, others who reside on theirland, and absentee owners. The co-op actsas a land management organization provid-ing forestry, marketing, and educational ser-vices to member landowners.

In the last year or so, membership recruitmenthas been a major focus of the cooperative.KWC’s main strategy has been to invite thegeneral public to attend workshops on vari-ous forestry-related subjects. The workshopsare relatively low-cost because presentersusually contribute their time or are supportedwith grant funds. A short presentation on thepurpose and goals of the co-op is included inevery workshop. The co-op generally addsa few new members as a result of each work-shop. In addition, the co-op enters workshop

attendees’ names in a database and later mailsbrochures and newsletters to them. Thesefollow-up mailings have also proven to be aneffective method of gaining new members.The co-op has conducted 10 workshops inthe last year, and has successfully expandedits membership from about 25 to 50 members.KWC’s next recruitment efforts include con-ducting an ad campaign in local newspapersand asking every current member to recruitone new member.

The Cook County Forestry Co-op has alsoused educational services as a recruitmentstrategy. Although the Co-op currently has onlyabout 10 members, it recently held a field daythat attracted over 30 participants. One of theCo-op’s steering committee members recom-mends asking people to sign up right at theworkshop: waiting to recruit until a few daysafter the event is a mistake.

Member Recruitment in Southwestern Wisconsin and Northeastern Minnesota

Provide timber stand improvementtimber stand improvementtimber stand improvementtimber stand improvementtimber stand improvementand tree planting services.


benefits services&

Recruiting MembersStep4


Making an Informed Decision onWhether and How to ProceedStep 5

Both cooperatives and non-profitorganizations need to pause at this

point in the development process anddetermine whether there are any insur-mountable obstacles to the developmentand success of the organization. Ifinsurmountable obstacles are discovered,the development of the organization shouldbe abandoned or shelved before too muchtime or money has been invested.

Some organizations may choose to conducta formal feasibility study at this point inorder to answer the questions posed below,but a formal study is not always necessary.It’s up to the steering committee to decideon whether a formal approach or aninformal, “check list” approach to address-ing these questions is more appropriate indetermining whether or not to proceed.

The critical “make or break” questions forboth associations and cooperatives include:

# Are there enough potential membersto make the formation of the organiza-tion worthwhile? As discussed in Steps2 and 4 above, the success of the organiza-tion is dependent on the involvement of

"""""

enough interested landowners who arewilling to make a financial commitment.Some groups have set a goal of 25 chartermembers as a measure of adequate interest.Other indicators might be the number ofwooded acres owned by potential mem-bers, attendance and participation atmeetings, and the level of interest expressedin survey results.

# Does it look like the organization hasa realistic potential to provide theservices members and potential memberswant? Can it provide these services in acost-effective manner? There needs to beconsistency between the goals establishedby the steering committee and the desiredservices identified by members and poten-tial members via surveys, meetings, andother means. There needs to be a “servicegap” that the organization has the potentialto fill. That is, there has to be a clear needin the local area for the educational ser-vices, forest management services, and/orforest product processing and marketingservices that the organization intends toprovide. Finally, the organization must havegood potential to cover its costs or to makea profit on these services.

# Does the group have the leadershipnecessary to carry the organizationforward? Is the steering committee orinterim board committed to investing thetime and energy needed to launch the

"""""

"""""

Provide continuingcontinuingcontinuingcontinuingcontinuing

educaeducaeducaeducaeducationtiontiontiontion opportunities

for members and staff.


benefits services

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Making an Informed Decision onWhether and How to Proceed

Step5

association or co-op? Does the group havestrong, capable officers? Are there advi-sors who are knowledgeable about thevarious issues that the organization willface?

# Can the organization realisticallyexpect to raise sufficient funds to be-come operational? The amount of start-up funds will vary dramatically dependingon the kinds of services to be provided bythe organization. An educationally orientednon-profit will cost far less to begin opera-tion than will a co-op planning to processand market paneling and flooring. Sourcesof funding include member fees and loans(and, in the case of co-ops, member stockpurchases), public and private grant pro-grams, and public and private loan pro-grams.

It’s helpful to contact other establishedsustainable forestry organizations to learnabout their experiences in addressing thesecritical questions. In some cases, non-profitdevelopment organizations, federal, state orlocal government programs, or foundationsmay provide financial or technical assistanceto help an organization carry out a feasibilitystudy. Initial payments by charter membersmay also be used to help cover the cost ofa study.

If the feasibility study or informal feasibilityreview identifies no insurmountable ob-stacles, the steering committee may pro-ceed with confidence to the preparation ofthe organization’s business plan.

"""""

It’s not uncommon for a forest owner organizationto find itself at this critical juncture in its develop-ment: the initial excitement of starting the organi-zation has dissipated; the steering committee isburning out from having to do all the work; andforest owner interest seems to be lagging. Hereare two examples of how organizations in this po-sition got themselves back on track:

Kickapoo Woods Cooperative (KWC) originallystarted in 1999. However, due to the initial orga-nizers’ no longer being able to invest enough timein the project, the co-op began to lose steam afterthe first year of development. In 2001, Coopera-tive Development Services used funds from aUSDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) topay for a coordinator for KWC. With the help of thissavvy, energetic coordinator, the group has madesignificant progress: membership has grown to50 members with about 7,000 acres of landowned. The organization has incorporated anddrawn up bylaws, conducted its first general mem-bership meeting, elected a board of directors, andprepared a business plan. In this case, hiring acompetent, paid coordinator was the key.

The Cook County Forestry Co-op in Minne-sota started out with a small number of leaderswho had a good vision for the co-op, but lackedthe time to implement the vision. This group oflandowners, after meeting for over a year, realizedthat they needed a paid coordinator with appropri-ate skills to move the co-op forward. CooperativeDevelopment Services used RBEG funds to hire apart-time coordinator, in this case a forester withthe University of Minnesota Extension. Assisted bythe coordinator, the group began to grow, both interms of its membership base and in terms of theday-to-day activities that make an organizationfunction effectively: meeting agendas, minutes,mission statement, preparation of legal docu-ments, etc. The RBEG grant has now run out,and, for the time being, interim board membersare providing coordination services on a volun-teer basis. However, the co-op is now on a muchmore stable footing and expects to have follow-upgrant support in the fall in order to make the transi-tion to a self-supporting organization.

Examples of Getting Unstuck


Preparing the Business PlanStep 6If the feasibility study results are favor-

able, the next step for the cooperative orassociation steering committee is to carryout (or commission) a detailed businessplan. The business plan serves two primarypurposes:

A) to provide a blueprint for the develop-ment and initial operation of the organiza-tion; and

B) to provide supporting documentationfor potential members, financial institutions,and other investors.

In general, non-profit organizations don’trefer to their development planning docu-ments as “business plans.” For the sake ofsimplicity, however, this chapter employsthis term for both co-ops and non-profits.

It is important to keep in mind that eachforest owner group has its own uniqueresource base, organizational structures,member needs, and other circumstances towhich the business plan must be tailor-made. “Business planning” is never com-plete; it is continuous with the operation andgrowth of the organization, and shouldevolve over time to fit its changing needs.

A typical business plan includes:

! An executive summary that providesa brief synopsis of the major points of thebusiness plan.! A description of the organization: itslocation, its goals, and the activities itproposes to carry out.! A resource analysis that providesdetailed information about the resourcebase of the organization (e.g., the potentialmembers—including the acreage and thecharacteristics of the woodlands they own).! A market analysis that identifies andquantifies the organization’s market poten-tial and its products and services. (Note

IIpart


Note: Strategic planning — as de-scribed in “Creating a Vision” onPage 26 — is not the same as a busi-ness plan. Strategic planning is amore general activity that can beapplied in a wide variety of settings.It involves the identification of mis-sions, goals, objectives, an actionplan, and a procedure for measuringresults. Business plans incorporatestrategic planning components, butthey contain many other elements aswell, as described below.


that the term “market” as used here appliesto non-profits as well as co-ops. Forexample, if a local association is planning tocarry out educational activities, what will bethe topics and delivery system? Who arethe projected participants? In other words,to whom will the organization be marketingthese educational events? What are theeducational needs of these participants?! Research and development relatedto the organization’s products and services,including educational services, forestmanagement services, and other servicesfor which members may or may not berequired to pay.! A marketing and sales plan thatdescribes how the organization will goabout marketing its products and services.! A description of the organizationalstructure and key personnel, includingresumJs of key personnel.! A financial analysis that providesdetailed information on how the start-up ofthe organization will be financed and theexpected costs and revenues to be gener-ated by the organization after it is in opera-tion. The financial analysis section of abusiness plan often includes projectionsover the first three years of operations.

Sustainable forestry organizations canengage in educational and other serviceactivities, in purchasing, processing andmarketing activities, or a combination ofthese, depending on the needs and interestsof the members. The capital investmentrequired by the organization will vary,depending on which of these activities itundertakes. (Please refer to the analysisof different kinds of locally-based forest

organizations presented in Part I, Pages

10 - 12.)

Most groups find it useful to seek outsideexpertise for writing all or parts of thebusiness plan. For example, the marketsurvey, cash flow analysis, and three-yearfinancial projections are all specialized areasof knowledge that may require professionalassistance. The cooperative developmentorganizations listed in Appendix C providebusiness planning assistance, as do theSmall Business Development Centerslocated in each county, local SCORE(Service Corps of Retired Executives)programs, and various other non-profit andgovernmental organizations.

One Non-Profit Organization’sBusiness Planning Process

Wisconsin Family Forests, a non-profit organi-zation, held a development planning session inMarch of 2001, attended by the organizers, keymembers, and several advisors. A number of out-comes resulted from that session, including a vi-sion and values statement and a plan for hiringstaff to do the work that the steering committeecould not do on its own. In addition, the groupagreed to develop a website and a magazine, andadopted goals for the number of new alliancesthey wanted to develop by the end of the year. Theorganization is evolving quickly. The organizersplan to hold another development planning ses-sion in 2003 to update WFF’s organizational goals.Although WFF does not refer to the results of thisplanning session as a “business plan,” it containsmany of the elements of a business plan describedin this chapter.

Preparing the Business PlanStep 6


Kickapoo Woods Cooperative has devel-oped a business plan with an initial focus onforestry education, resource management,and timber marketing. The co-op has beenproviding workshops and other educationalservices for more than two years. Beginningin the latter half of 2002, the co-op managerbegan to coordinate timberstand improve-ments, management planning, marking oftrees for harvests, harvesting, and timber salesfor members. The co-op receives fees forthese services. The plan calls for the co-op toreach a break-even point on these servicessometime in 2003. In the future, KWC willdecide whether to have its own timberstandimprovement and logging crews or to continueto contract out for these services; and it willdecide whether to engage in value-addedwood processing.

Provide educational services and programson a wide range of topics.


benefits services&

Chuck Ouimette, a forestry business con-sultant with over 30 years of experiencein the industry, has helped several “value-added” forest owner cooperatives de-velop their business plans. He has de-veloped a financial model that projectsall aspects of a value-added co-op’s op-eration. Its interactive design allows aco-op to use the model to periodicallyupdate its business plan. As the businessgrows and new information and resourcesbecome available, the co-op can modifythe financial projections to reflect thesenew conditions, giving it revised expec-tations for profitability, etc.

In Chuck’s experience, three “lessonslearned” jump out from the business plansof new value-added cooperatives:

1. Marketing, not processing, should bethe primary focus of a value-added co-operative. All other services can be con-tracted out, at least for the first few years,but the co-op must market its own prod-ucts.2. Of the three primary functions that avalue-added cooperative could engagein—sawing, drying, and milling—millingis the least capital intensive and has thehighest margin.3. Start out by concentrating on mar-keting, then slowly add other aspects ofoperations like sawing, drying, or millingas the business is capable of handlingthem. As you make these decisions, re-vise your financial projections to reflectthe new operation.

Business Planning Advice for “Value-Added” Co-ops


Duties and Responsibilities of a Board

" Legal responsibility to protect the assets of themembers

" Representation of the members’ interests

" Long range and strategic planning

" Oversight of management personnel

" Communication with the membership

part III, chapter 1has more information on the elements

of a successful board.

Holding a General Membership Meetingand Electing a Board of DirectorsStep 7

The first general membership meeting isconvened when the steering commit-

tee decides that enough members havejoined the organization and when thebusiness planning process is far enoughalong so that a clear direction for theorganization has been established.

The first general membership meeting oftentakes place about a year after the formationof the steering committee. At this meeting,the members:

! vote on the co-op’s or association’sbylaws,

! elect a board of directors,! vote on a plan for the development of

the association or co-op, and! conduct other business.

This meeting marks the transition from aninterim board of directors and an interim setof bylaws to a formally elected board andformally approved bylaws. In general, it isa good idea for a number of interim boardmembers to continue on the elected boardin order to preserve continuity and momen-tum.

The board of directors is the beating heartof any organization. Members should picktheir directors carefully, to ensure that theyare both representative of the membershipand committed to doing the work needed tomake the association or co-op successful.Board members are legally required to actin “good faith” and with “reasonable careand skill.” Being part of the democraticgoverning of a cooperative or an associa-tion can be a challenging but very fulfillingand exciting experience.

IIpart



The purpose of a forest owner associationor cooperative is to serve its members’mutual needs. The board of directors hasthe authority and the responsibility to makedecisions that ensure those needs are metas efficiently and effectively as possible –that is, to use the resources of the organiza-tion for the benefit of its members. It is avery good idea for a new board of directorsto receive training in how to be an effectivedecision making group. The cooperativedevelopment organizations listed in Appen-

dix C offer such training and/or can referorganizations to board trainers.

One common stumbling block is the transi-tion from a steering committee or interimboard that has been actively managing theorganization to an elected board of direc-tors whose job is to develop policy while ahired manager oversees the day to dayoperation of the organization. Educationand training for the board is particularlyhelpful in making this transition, and canspell out specific areas of separate respon-sibility for the board and the management.(See Part III, Chapter One for a moredetailed discussion of board and man-ager responsibilities.)

Living Forest Cooperative was incorporated in May of 2000 and now has 68 members. This co-op has found that education is the key for an effective relationship between the board and its generalmanager. Both sides must be clear on what their roles are and what areas they should not beinvolved in. This co-op used materials and advice from the University of Wisconsin Center forCooperatives (UWCC) to define the board’s role of governance and policy making and the GM’srole of day to day management.

Living Forest held its first general membership meeting in August of 2001. Charly Ray, the generalmanager of the cooperative, has a few suggestions for conducting general membership meetings:

" Because your organization’s bylaws may contain information related to meeting agendas, besure to check them before developing your agenda. (State law may also have some requirementsin this respect.)

" For its first meeting Living Forest Co-op brought in a facilitator who was experienced withforestry co-ops. Because so few of the Co-op’s members and staff had experience in this area, thefacilitator was very helpful in keeping the meeting on track.

" Don’t worry if your organization doesn’t have a lot of members, or if not many show up for thegeneral meeting. The important thing is to have the meeting and follow a reasonable process.

An Example of a Co-op’s Board Trainingand First General Membership Meeting

Holding a General Membership MeetingStep7


Securing FinancingStep 8

Appendix Ccontains a list of financial and

developmental resourceorganizations.

Provide assistance in harharharharhar vvvvvesting timberesting timberesting timberesting timberesting timber.


benefits services&

Forest owner organizations vary greatlyin the amount of capital they need in

order to get up and running. The businessplan should include the amount and type offinancing needed by the organization as wellas a strategy for obtaining it. The board ofdirectors and its advisors are responsiblefor implementing this strategy.

Financing needs vary depending on whetherthe organization is providing educationalservices, resource management services,raw product marketing services (i.e. timberor non-timber product marketing), value-added product processing and marketingservices, or some combination of theabove.

Forms of member financing include stockpurchases (for cooperatives) and member-ship fees and loans (for both co-ops andnon-profits). Member financing providesmoney for the organization and makes otherinvestors and contributors feel more secureabout investing in it.

In addition to member financing, manyorganizations need to seek out grants or

loans to get started and to maintain theiroperations until they are able to supportthemselves from membership fees andservice revenues. Grants and/or loans cancome from banks and other financialinstitutions, local, state, and federal govern-ment programs, and various private for-profit and non-profit organizations, includingfoundations.

IIpart



Recruiting PersonnelStep 9Most non-profit associations need

only a small staff to coordinate theorganization’s activities. In some cases justa part-time or full-time manager will do,depending on the size and complexity of theassociation’s activities. Some cooperativesmay need a full-time manager in addition toother staff to manage the co-op’s opera-tions.

The recruitment of personnel is listed as thenext-to-last step in the formation processbecause the organization cannot hire staffuntil the necessary financing has beensecured. However, some groups canidentify key potential personnel much earlierin the organizational development process.One or more key persons can be hired asconsultants at an early stage, sometimeswith the expectation that they will join themanagement staff of the organization once itis formally established. This approach alsohas the effect of making investors feel morecomfortable about loaning money to theorganization. For some lenders and grant-ors, competent management is the mostimportant thing to look at in making a loanor grant decision.

Hiring a good manager is crucial to ensuringthe success of any forest owner organiza-tion. A manager’s job description mightinclude:

! Coordinating educational activities formembers;! Managing and tracking inventory;! Identifying equipment needs andpriorities;! Pursuing financing and making presen-tations to financial groups;! Arranging for SmartWood or otherthird-party certification of members’woodland management plans;! Ensuring “chain of custody” certifica-tion;! Periodically revising and coordinatingthe organization’s business plan with theBoard (please see Step 6 for moreinformation on the business plan);! Organizing and hiring a production team;! Marketing (please see Part III,Chapter 5 for more information onmarketing).

Develop manufactured,value-added wood

products.


benefits services

IIpart



Recruiting PersonnelStep9

Most forest owner organizations have found that their managers must be general-ists with skills in business, personnel, communications, and accounting, along withthe ability to “sell” the organization to potential members, and the expertise, ifnecessary, to bargain with subcontractors (forestry, wood processing, trucking).

Several different models of how to staff a forest owner organization have emergedover the last few years:

! Some organizations, including Wisconsin Family Forests (WFF), have obtainedgrant funding to hire a coordinator or manager. This model works well for a few years;however, most organizations adopt a long-term goal of becoming self-supporting ratherthan continuing to rely on unpredictable grants. The recruiting of personnel in thesecases is relatively straightforward, but note that some grants may require particularaffirmative action recruitment activities.

! At Vermont Family Forests (VFF) a professional forester played a key role inorganizing a non-profit forestry organization. David Brynn, a public forester in AddisonCounty, VT, witnessed numerous examples of forest owners who cared about theirwoodlands but lacked the resources to manage them well. Brynn helped to start VFFto address that problem. With assistance from other local non-profit organizations,VFF began offering educational workshops to landowners in 1995. Since that time,VFF has held numerous workshops on a variety of forestry-related topics that aredesigned to provide non-foresters with the knowledge they need to oversee the practiceof sustainable forestry on their land. The organization also coordinates processing andmarketing of FSC-certified wood for local landowners. VFF has evolved into anorganization whose mission is to provide improved access to education, information,and sustainable forestry to forest owners.

! In the case of Living Forest Cooperative it was local non-profit organizationsthat played a key role in launching the organization and getting it up and running. TheBayfield Regional Conservancy acted as the fiscal agent for a grant from theWeyerhauser Family Foundation. The grant paid the co-op general manager’s salaryfor the first year. Since January of 2002 the co-op has been off of grant funding and istrying to make it on member support and the sale of wood products. However, itwould not have gotten off the ground without backing from the Conservancy and othernon-profits.

Staffing a Cooperative or Association


Beginning OperationsStep 10Experience has demonstrated that

forest owner organizations tend to gothrough many growing pains during the firstfew months and years of operation. It iswell-known that most new businesses fail

during the first three years. The followingkeys to successful operation are designedto help organizations make it through thedifficult early years of operation.

1. Competent, Honest Leadership

! Both the Board of Directors and theManager

2. Careful Financial Management

! Adequate capitalization! Good accounting system and compe-

tent bookkeeper! Objective audits

3. Good Internal Relationships

! Members – Board! Board – Manager! Manager – Staff! Education for both board and manage-

ment to learn their respective roles

4. Good External Relationships

! With business partners, competitors,community, government officials, otherforest owner organizations.

Keys to Success for a Forest Owner Organization(adapted from Cooperatives: a Tool for Community Economic Development by staff of the University of

the Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives and Cooperative Development Services, 1998)

5. Realistic Business Plan

! Achievable goals! Clear, measurable action steps – who

will do what by when

6. Performance Evaluation

! System for measuring performance! Frequent reviews of performance! Changes in operations based on

performance reviews

7. Morale

! Employees should like working for theorganization.

! Members (and non-members) shouldlike using the co-op’s services.

! Celebrate little successes as well as bigones.

Market timber andother forest products

through theorganization.


benefits services

IIpart



Conclusion

These ten steps provide a generaloverview of the organizing process for

forest owner co-ops and associations.Remember that the start-up of each organi-zation is unique, and the needs of non-profitorganizations are different from those ofcooperatives. Thus, the steps outlined hereshould be treated as a set of suggestions tobe adapted as needed. There will alwaysbe bumps in the road. In some cases thebumps may be significant enough to cause asteering committee to decide not to pro-ceed with the development of the organiza-tion. In other cases, the steering committeewill find creative solutions to help them overor around the bumps.

It is often useful to seek out professionalassistance in forming a cooperative or otherforest owner organization. A number oforganizations that provide developmentassistance to forest owner co-ops andassociations are listed in Appendix C.These organizations can also help woodlandowners identify other public and privatesources of technical and financial assistance.

Given the resources and community inter-est, there is no more important factordetermining the ultimate success or failure ofa forest owner organization than a dedi-cated core group of organizers willing to putforth the effort and spend the time to bringthe vision to reality.

Part Three of the manual provides in-depth information on key lessons thatlandowners and forest owner organizationshave learned about the early and develop-mental stages of their organizations.

Network and coordinate activitieswith related organizations.


benefits services&

IIpart


53Part Three: A CLOSER LOOK AT KEY ISSUES AND LESSONS

Parts One and Two of the manualhave introduced the basic whys and

hows of landowner cooperation anddescribed a sequence of steps in theformation of forest owner organizations. Asthe number of forest owner organizationshas increased in North America over thelast five years, and their successes andfailures have come to be known andshared, key issues have emerged andsignificant lessons have been learned.

There are four basic criteria by which asustainable forestry cooperative or associa-tion can judge its success: 1) its ability towork effectively as an organization; 2) itsability to stay afloat (or, in the case of acooperative, to make a profit); 3) its abilityto serve the educational and other needs ofits membership; and 4) its ability to do thesethings within an ecologically, economically,and socially sustainable framework.

With these criteria in mind, the five chaptersthat follow provide a wealth of knowledge

gleaned from the experiences of forestowner organizations that have been “out ofthe starting blocks” for some time. Somehave sprinted, others have stumbled, somehave dropped out of the race; nevertheless,all have something important to say to themany committed landowners who willfollow in their footsteps.

IIIpart

A Closer Look at Key Issuesand Lessons

!"

Chapter 1Effective Governance andManagement

Chapter 2Lessons Learned

Chapter 3Forest Owner Education

Chapter 4Forest Management

Chapter 5Marketing

54 Part Three: A CLOSER LOOK AT KEY ISSUES AND LESSONS


Effective Governanceand ManagementChapter1

Most of the information presented in thischapter was prepared by Jody Padghamof the University of Wisconsin Center forCooperatives (UWCC). The Center hasbeen providing board and managementtraining for over 35 years. Followingare some “lessons learned” from thisexperience.

As mentioned in Part II, Chapter

One, the steering committee is thefirst group to work on the formation of aforest owner organization. At the time ofincorporation, the steering committeebecomes an interim board of directors, thedecision-making body for the organization.Later, at the first general membershipmeeting, an elected board of directors takescharge. No matter which of these phasesthe organization is in – steering committee,interim board, or elected board – thegreatest challenge facing the directors islearning how to work together effectively.

The purpose of a forest owner organizationis to serve its members’ mutual needs. Theboard of directors has the authority and theresponsibility to make decisions that ensurethose needs are met as efficiently and

effectively as possible – that is, to use theresources of the organization for the benefitof its members. Below are some keyelements of board process that can makethe job of an active board easier.

A. Electing a Good BoardA forest owner organization is intended toprovide services to its members and to thecommunity. It is not a social club. It cantake some effort to find people who havethe necessary skills and the seriousness ofpurpose, and who are willing to meetregularly (and without pay).

Many forest owner organizations find ituseful to set up a nomination committee thatis always on the lookout for good boardmembers. The committee can look throughthe membership list and find individuals withparticular skills to bring to the board.Business owners, those knowledgeable inthe industry, and people with experience infinancial or legal matters, communityorganizing, or group process are generallygood candidates. The person “with themost time” is not necessarily the best boardcandidate.

IIIpart

A Closer Look at Key Issues and Lessons


A written set of expectations should begiven to each board candidate. Eachcandidate should write an “application” thatdetails their interest in, and vision for, theorganization; this document can be distrib-uted to all of the members before the vote.A board that has demonstrated that it canhave efficient meetings and good boardprocess will attract better candidates, evenif those candidates already have busyschedules.

B. Elements of an Effective Board! Meeting processRight from the beginning, good meetingprocess skills are critical for effective boardmeetings. Important tools include goodlistening skills, the ability to speak effec-tively and to the point, and respect forothers’ opinions. A clear agenda and strongfacilitator are essential for keeping themeetings on task and on time. Adoptingformal procedures for running the meeting isalso helpful. Clear minutes should be takenand distributed in a timely manner to allboard members. These should be kept inboard notebooks that are organized intocategories and supplemented with copies ofbylaws and committee reports. A shorttraining session or discussion covering the“rules” of good meeting process early onwill save much time and frustration. Basicinformation on effective meeting process,such as Robert’s Rules of Order, can befound at most public libraries or purchasedon line at: http://www.robertsrules.com/.

Local non-profits or education centers mayhave personnel who would be willing toshare their thoughts on running an effectivemeeting.

! Board training or orientationAny new organization undergoes change ata rapid rate. When new people are broughtin to help direct an organization, they needto be brought up to speed. Some boardslike to assign a mentor to a new member, togo over history and help answer the host ofquestions that an incoming board member islikely to have. Training can be done in-house, using more experienced members,or through a formal training program.Training should cover specific issues such asthe organization’s history, the role of aboard member, board policies and meetingprocess, an orientation to understandingfinancial statements, etc. Passing on to newboard members a comprehensive boardnotebook – with minutes, bylaws, andpolicies – is also very important.

! Building trust and creating a visionBoard members – people who may havemet each other for the first time a half-hourbefore the election – should spend timegetting to know and better understand oneanother. Going through a formal vision andvalue-setting process during an annual

!webwebwebwebwebA good summary of Robert’s Rules can bedownloaded from: http://cyberbuzz.http://cyberbuzz.http://cyberbuzz.http://cyberbuzz.http://cyberbuzz.ggggg aaaaatectectectectec h.edu/ah.edu/ah.edu/ah.edu/ah.edu/apo/rpo/rpo/rpo/rpo/roberoberoberoberober t .htmlt .htmlt .htmlt .htmlt .html

!webwebwebwebweb

Effective Governanceand ManagementChapter 1


retreat can be an invaluable unifying experi-ence for the group. Taking time outside ofscheduled meetings is also a good way todevelop common bonds: having dinnertogether, participating in work projects,doing a mailing as a group, or simplyenjoying casual conversation.

! OfficersThe organization’s bylaws dictate thedesignation of officers. Officers are electedby the members of the board from amongtheir ranks. A president, vice president,treasurer, and secretary are standard officerpositions. The treasurer and secretary canbe merged into one position if desired.Clearly defining the roles and responsibili-ties of each officer will strengthen the boardand ease communication.

All officers play an important role. Theyshould be comfortable with responsibilityand should possess good meeting processand communication skills. It is incumbentupon all the officers to keep abreast of andaccurately represent the issues of the boardand the membership. Personal agendashave no place on a board, and are espe-cially dangerous when exhibited by officers.

A responsible and representative presidentcan do much to move the organizationforward in its development. The presidentgenerally facilitates meetings and setsagendas, but perhaps more importantly actsas the liaison between the board, the

members, and the community at large. Thepresident will often be the “point person” asthe organization develops. The vicepresident takes over for the presidentwhen he or she cannot be present, andtakes on other leadership duties that assistthe president.

The treasurer in a young organization willoften be the signer for the checking accountand the responsible party for keeping trackof incoming and outgoing funds. As theorganization matures, hired staff will take onmany of the duties of the treasurer. Thesecretary takes minutes at the meetings andmakes them available to board membersand the general membership. He or shemay also be responsible for coordinating anewsletter or overseeing the production of abrochure.

All officers have a responsibility to commu-nicate on a regular basis with other boardmembers about what they have been doingand what board decisions need to be made.

! PlanningOne of the board’s most important duties isplanning for the future of the organization.Early on, work should have been done todefine a mission and a vision. (See PartTwo, Step One). As the organizationgrows and develops, it is important todevelop a clear and effective strategy formaking the vision a reality. There are manydifferent techniques to facilitate long-range


or strategic planning, but most are based onisolating the board for a carefully preparedplanning meeting or retreat, which can bescheduled (ahead of time!) to last anywherefrom several hours to two or three days.

At this meeting the board members shareinformation, ideas, and opinions about thegeneral membership’s needs and interests,and develop action plans for fulfilling thoseneeds. Background information on compe-tition, market changes, product potential,and anything else crucial to the futuresuccess of the organization should bebrought to the table. Many organizationshire an outside facilitator to assist in thisprocess. This can help to keep the groupon task and to ensure follow-through.Many organizations make one-year andthree-year plans to guide them into thefuture, and meet annually to evaluate theirprogress and adjust the plans accordingly.

! Moving From a Working Board to aGovernance BoardAs the organization matures, the boardshould involve itself in fewer managementtasks and should instead make policies toguide and monitor the activities of the staff.Hired management should take care of theday to day issues of the organization, whilethe board provides oversight and planning.There is a critical distinction between theboard determining what management shoulddo (governance), and doing it themselves(interfering). The board sets policy in order

to guide management, then allows manage-ment to do its job.

Making the transition from a “workingboard” to a “governance board” is an areaof much confusion for many boards andmanagers, especially early in the life of anew organization. A useful guide throughthis “thicket” is Criteria for SeparatingBoard and Executive Decision Areas bythe University of Wisconsin Center forCooperatives: (www.wisc.edu/uwcc/info/criteria/html).

Management personnel regularly reportback to the board on how well they havemet goals. They, in turn, are evaluatedbased on their performance. It is stronglyadvised that the board have clearly articu-lated expectations as to what the manager’sjob is; what the board’s expectations of themanager are; how the manager will becompensated; and how the board willmonitor the manager’s and theorganization’s performance. All of thesecan be articulated as a series of policiesdiscussed and adopted by the board.

!webwebwebwebweb

Effective Governanceand ManagementChapter 1


Lessons LearnedChapter2Monday morning quarterbacking may

not change the outcome ofSunday’s game, but it can provide valuablelessons for future games and for otherteams.

The purpose of this chapter is to learn fromthe experiences of locally-based forestowner organizations in the United Statesand other countries by looking both at whathas worked and what has not worked sowell. These lessons can help the organizersof new co-ops and associations makebetter choices, save time and money,reduce frustration, and avoid “reinventingthe wheel” when developing and imple-menting plans for their organizations.

The ten lessons presented below build oninformation presented in two previoussections of the manual:

♦ The discussion of different kinds offorest owner organizations and servicespresented in Part One, Chapter Two;and

♦ The presentation of keys to successfuloperation in Part Two, Chapter Ten.

Keep in mind that this start-up guide is

based on the premise that there is no oneright way for local landowners to worktogether to improve their forest manage-ment and to maximize the economic andother benefits they receive from being forestowners. There are, however, many wrongways—or ways that haven’t worked aswell as others. When examples of “wrongways” are presented below, we don’t referto specific organizations by name.

Lesson One: Learn from the knowl-edge and experience of others.People have a tendency to charge ahead,heedless of useful guidelines:

! Guys who’d rather drive around forhours rather than ask for directions; or whotoss away the assembly instructions beforetrying to put together their kids’ newbicycles; or

! A group of landowners that “justknows” that its approach to developing theorganization is unique and better thananybody else’s; or

! The leaders of one forest owner co-opwho systematically ignored the businessstart-up advice of a number of “outsiders”related to the need for adequate start-upcapital and competent management. Thatco-op is no longer in operation.

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Lessons LearnedChapter 2

Now that there are 25 or so local forestowner co-ops and associations in theUnited States, and over 50 in Canada,there are numerous opportunities for peopleinvolved in these organizations to share theirknowledge and experience with oneanother. They can also share their experi-ences with new landowner groups throughthis manual as well as through conferences,site visits, the internet, and other means.The only condition is that we must be willingto stop and ask for directions in order tobenefit from this rich array of resources.(Please refer to Appendix B for con-tact information for forest owner organi-zations.)

Lesson Two: Have good local leadersand trusted advisers.Leadership was listed as the first “key tosuccess” in starting up a forest ownerorganization. It’s also a critical first stepwhen the organization is just a glimmer of anidea. When a knowledgeable persondescribes a good leader, these are some ofthe things one might hear:

! Trustworthy! Able to listen to others! Not dogmatic! Constructive! Focused! Able to think strategically! Meets deadlines! Willing to make the necessary time

commitment! Good at group decision making

It should quickly be noted that nobodyembodies all of these traits. We’re allimperfect. The goal to strive for is this: tohave a steering committee, board of direc-tors, or group of key advisers that estab-lishes a “culture” that is generally consistentwith the above traits.

There are several things that members of agroup can do if they believe that they arelacking this kind of cooperative culture:

! Bring in a facilitator or trainer. Forexample, staff from the University ofWisconsin Center for Cooperatives havemet with several forest owner groups inWisconsin and Minnesota to help themimprove the way they conduct their steeringcommittee and board meetings.

! Add people to the group who havegood leadership traits.

! Establish procedures that limit theability of individuals to disrupt thedevelopment of an organization. Forexample, if a committee member or adviseris consistently derailing a group’s efforts tomove forward, put clear time limits on thesedisruptions and stick to the agenda. Inmore serious cases, keep in mind thatindividuals can be voted off of the board ofdirectors and/or their membership in theorganization can be revoked.

One forest owner organization threatened legalaction against a member who falsely claimed tospeak on behalf of the organization. This threatof legal action was successful at least in toningdown his pronouncements.


Lesson Three: Develop a clear actionplan early on.Remember the movie “Groundhog Day”?Every morning, the Bill Murray characterwakes up on Groundhog Day and goesthrough a variation of the same routine overand over again.

Well, some forest owner steering commit-tees do the same thing. Several forestowner organizations have gotten off to anunnecessarily slow start because they spenttheir first few meetings rehashing what theywanted to do in vague, general termswithout getting down to specifics. Devel-oping a clear action plan laying out “who isgoing to do what by when?” can reducethe chances of getting stuck in this kind ofrepetitive rut. Another way to avoid theGroundhog Day syndrome is to have a coregroup of committed steering committee orboard members who show up regularly atmeetings so time isn’t wasted revisiting whatwas decided at the previous meeting. Onefurther measure is to have at hand a con-cise, up-to-date “Basic Information andProcedures” take-home folder for newmembers, so veteran members won’t haveto spend any more meeting time than isnecessary getting new members up tospeed.

Lesson Four: Find out what prospec-tive members want from the proposedorganization.This is where the leadership trait of being agood listener comes in handy. A steering

committee or board can do an excellent jobof gathering information on what locallandowners want from a co-op or associa-tion through surveys, meetings, and informalconversations. But if it doesn’t addressthese “wants” by incorporating them into itsgoals for the organization, the quality of theinformation doesn’t matter.

Lesson Five: Choose realistic goals.The adage that “a journey of a thousandmiles begins with a single step” applies wellto forest owner organizations. Too often,steering committees tend to gloss overweaknesses and obstacles and to overem-phasize strengths and opportunities whendeveloping their goals and action plans.Such Pollyanna thinking can lead to majorsetbacks, demoralization, and even deathfor the organization.

One co-op did a survey of over 100 mem-bers and potential members that clearlyshowed a preferential interest in forestryeducation and forest management ser-vices. The steering committee and its ad-visers, however, were preoccupied with de-veloping the co-op’s wood processing andmarketing capabilities. This resulted inmany dissatisfied and upset members.Why? Because the co-op wasn’t address-ing their primary needs. This co-op hassince begun to reassess its priorities, put-ting a much greater emphasis on what lo-cal forest owners said they wanted in thefirst place.



Lesson Six: As soon as possible, hire apaid coordinator or manager.Organizations that run exclusively onvolunteer energy often operate in fits andstarts and soon run out of fuel or stopfunctioning all together. However, this is notalways the case. Highly committed volun-teers can handle the day-to-day staffingneeds during the preliminary development –and even the operational stage – of anassociation or co-op. But this is theexception, not the rule, and it is an ap-proach that is more likely to work on ashort term rather than long term basis. Ingeneral, it is a good idea to use memberfees – and to seek out other funding at anearly stage – to hire a paid coordinator.

For example, four forest owner organizations inthe Midwest started out with a burst of volunteerenergy, only to settle into a period of near-dor-mancy lasting up to a year. In all four cases Coop-

erative Development Services was able to secureUSDA and other grant funding to pay for local co-ordinators and technical assistance services. Withthe presence of these coordinators, all four groupsgot back into gear. They all held new educationalevents, recruited members, and prepared busi-ness plans.

Lesson Seven: Provide educationalevents early on.Planning alone doesn’t make for a success-ful forest owner organization. In fact, thereis a danger that too much emphasis onplanning in the early stages can drain energyand build frustration. In the first few monthsafter the steering committee begins to meet,it should do something of tangible value forlocal landowners.

Educational events are relatively easy andinexpensive to organize – something that asteering committee and a group of volun-

One example is a co-op and a group of advis-ers who developed an overly ambitious busi-ness plan that required the co-op to accom-plish the following six major objectives—all inthe first year of operation:

! Raise several hundred thousand dollars ininvestment capital from members and lenders;! Hire a competent general manager andseveral other professional employees;! Coordinate the preparation of FSC-certified,forest management plans on several thousandacres of members’ woodlands;! Arrange for the systematic harvesting ofmembers’ timber and its transportation to theco-op’s sortyard;

! Process the wood into value-added prod-ucts such as flooring and paneling; and! Market these products at prices that wouldgenerate a profit for the co-op and its mem-bers.

Not surprisingly, the co-op fell woefully short ofmeeting these first year objectives. However,because of an extraordinarily committed boardof directors and general membership, and be-cause of a recently hired, business-savvy gen-eral manager, the co-op is recovering from thisattempt to do everything at once and is nowdeveloping in a pragmatic, step-by-step man-ner.


teers can pull together effectively. Walks inthe woods with a professional forester orecologist; workshops demonstrating safe,low impact logging; and workshops on taxissues for forest landowners: these are threeexamples of educational events that havebeen very popular in a variety of differentcommunities. (See Part III, Chapter

Three for recommendations on educa-tional events.)

Such events can accomplish multipleobjectives:

" Landowner education" Publicity for the fledgling organization" Information gathering about the services

local forest owners want" A list of potential co-op or association

members" Informal networking among local

landowners and forestry professionals" Perhaps most important: an opportunity

for people interested in the forestresource to get together and have agood time.

Lesson Eight: Build the organization’smembership base from the beginning.Although it’s not hard to see that non-profit associations and co-ops have tomarket themselves to their members andprospective members, some forest ownergroups have shown a “fear of flying”: “Let’snot recruit members until we’ve got thisthing all planned out”; or “We’re not surewhat services we’re going to provide yet soit’s premature to ask people to join andante up.”

In a member-based organization, thistrepidation about member recruitment hasto be overcome if the organization is tosucceed. Speaking frankly—and accentu-ating the positive—is an approach worthtrying: “Join us, fellow landowners, as wemove forward together to chart a course forour organization. At this point, we can’tpromise you specific benefits for yourcharter membership fees, but we can worktogether to realize a common vision for ourforests.” (See Part III, Chapter Five

for information on marketing to mem-bers.)

Following are two contrasting examples ofhow forest owner organizations have ap-proached member recruitment.

Prairie’s Edge Sustainable Woods Coop-erative in northeastern Iowa is pursuing a veryactive membership strategy. Between Octo-ber 2001 and August 2002, the co-op morethan doubled in size from 31 members to about70 members who own 7,000 wooded acres.The co-op is in the process of developing itsbusiness plan and is scheduled to begin op-eration in 2003.

Another Midwest co-op has completed a draftbusiness plan and has hosted several suc-cessful educational events. But so far it hasn’tbeen able or willing to pull the trigger on mem-bership recruitment. After two years, it still hasfewer than 10 members, even though it has alist of over 50 interested landowners. About 25people participated in a June workshop, butco-op representatives did not use the opportu-nity to encourage people to join.


Recruiting members and communicatingwith local landowners are closely relatedactivities. One way for a steering commit-tee or a new forest owner organization to“drop the ball” is to keep members andprospective members in the dark aboutwhat’s going on. Good communication is atthe heart of a successful member-basedorganization. Keeping people up-to-datedoesn’t need to be expensive or time-consuming. A two to four page newslettercan be attractive and inexpensive to pro-duce and mail. Some organizations sendnewsletters by email to reduce costs evenfurther. Effective communications makecurrent members feel included and preparethe way for new members to join.

Lesson Nine: Deliver what you prom-ise to deliver.Promising too much is a quick way to losecredibility—with members, with forestresource people, and with buyers of forestproducts. There are a variety of ways tofall into this trap:

! Setting deadlines, then failing to meetthem;

! Agreeing to provide products andservices that the organization isn’t ready toprovide;

! Providing products or services that areof poorer quality than members or buyershave been led to expect.

Such carelessness leads to a loss of trustthat, once it is lost, is difficult to regain.

In its start-up phase, one co-op developed a repu-tation for producing wood products of uneven qual-ity. At an early stage in its development it had anexcellent opportunity to establish a long term rela-tionship with a builder for flooring. However, theco-op’s second shipment to the builder was re-jected for poor quality. The co-op has not yet re-gained the trust of that buyer. Fortunately, the co-op has learned from that experience and qualitycontrol has become a high priority.

Lesson Ten: Periodically review andrevise the organization’s plans.Strategic plans and business plans shouldnot be cast in concrete. They should betreated as guidelines and benchmarks, notas commandments. Things change overtime. Experience has shown that thefollowing things can change significantly:

♦ What landowners want to learn about.For example, there has been mountingconcern about the rapid spread of invasivespecies in the upper Midwest in recentyears. Several organizations are nowsponsoring workshops on how forestowners can recognize and combat theseinvasives.

♦ The kinds of services members want.For example, a recent change in the prop-erty tax law in Wisconsin, together withrapidly rising property tax rates on forest-land, has prompted strong interest bylandowners in getting some tax relief underthe state’s Managed Forest Law. Co-opsand associations are well-positioned to helpthese forest owners get the managementplans they want.

♦ Economic conditions. The market forcommodity wood and for wood products is



full of peaks and valleys. The demand fordifferent species varies over time. Themarket for forest-grown medicinal productsalso experiences major fluctuations. Forestowners and the organizations to which theybelong shouldn’t blindly sell into a lowmarket just because their business plansproject a certain level of sales. The nicething about growing trees is that you don’thave to harvest and sell them every year.You can sell species that are in demand andwait for the market to improve beforeselling others.

♦ The organization’s performance.Plans should be adjusted based on periodicperformance reviews. The organizationshould have measurable indicators thattrack different aspects of performance. Asa result of these reviews a co-op or asso-ciation can adjust some objectives up ordown, delete some objectives because theyhave been accomplished or are no longer

relevant, or add new objectives. In thisway, planning becomes a useful, flexibletool, and is not a straitjacket hampering thecreative development of the organization.

ConclusionThe best way to conclude this chapter is torefer back to Lesson 1: “Learn from theknowledge and experience of others.” Thatlearning can start with a careful review ofthe ten lessons presented in this chapter.Next, overcome your resistance to askingdirections. Read about the experiences ofyour fellow cooperators. E-mail them.Talk to them on the phone. Visit theirorganizations. Get together at conferences.These kinds of communication are anexcellent way to create a high success ratefor forest owner organizations.

Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. Wood used in the construc-tion of the Hall was provided by Vermont Family Forests. Each of several departmentshoused in the hall is of a different kind of wood.


Forest Owner EducationChapter3The recommendations on forest owner

education contained in this chapter arebased partly on interviews with forestryprofessionals and forest owners and partlyon the experiences of forest owner organi-zations over the past five years.

Workshops and Field DaysFor many members the primary motivationfor getting involved with a forest ownerorganization is the opportunity to learn moreabout their forest ecosystem and its propercare. Members should be encouraged tobe involved with both the planning and theimplementation of sustainable managementon their lands. In fact, member participa-tion is the key to sound, sustainable landmanagement.

Field-based workshops are the backboneof member education programs conductedby forest owner organizations. Hands-on,experience-based learning is the best wayfor members to learn much of what theyneed to know. Typically, a field day is afull- or half-day workshop that takes placeon a member’s land, with between 10 and40 people attending. To cover expenses, a

small fee ($10 or so) may be chargedattendees, though fees should not beallowed to act as a deterrent to eithermembers or non-members.

A wide range of topics and materials shouldbe made available to members so that theycan tailor their participation to meet theirneeds. In addition, the organization shouldsurvey the members themselves about whattypes of workshops or other educationalopportunities they are interested in.

It may be useful for the board of directorsto set up an education committee early on,to help ensure that the educational needsand expectations of the members are beingmet.

“As an organized group, forest landown-ers can attract expertise and…. supportfor workshops that may be very costly orimpossible to acquire as individuals.These sessions can serve a dual pur-pose: providing current members with theeducation they want and recruiting newmembers.”

Mark Lorenzo – Across the Fences

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Forest Owner EducationChapter 3

Whenever possible, trained professionalsshould be asked to lead the workshops –either on a volunteer or paid basis.

See Appendix CSustainable Forestry Resources

for suggestions on training personnel

As useful as outside experts can be, oppor-tunities for members to learn from oneanother should be encouraged in every waypossible. The collective knowledge andskills of the membership represent a tre-mendous resource that can be “tapped” in avariety of ways.

Familiarity with each other, and with eachother’s land, is the basis for dynamiccooperation among members and helps tobuild fellowship and camaraderie. Land-owner-hosted walk-abouts are a hospi-table and leisurely way to share one’sproperty with fellow members. Workparties in which members lend their laborto other members are popular and wonder-fully productive forms of interaction. Otherrelationship-building activities include socialevents, cooperative workdays andpotlucks, newsletters, and phone trees.

A stewardship newsletter can provide awealth of information on seasonal topics,featured species, management practices,and many other subjects. Forest ownerorganizations can work together to developand share a variety of written material.

Leaders and board members of differentforest owner organizations should beencouraged to communicate with oneanother. The experiences of one group canprovide important lessons for another.

Educational TopicsFollowing is a list of suggested educationaltopics (that is by no means comprehensive).Every organization should determine its owneducational agenda based on the needs ofits membership.

Forest Management# Forestry fundamentals# Tree pruning and timber stand improve-

ment# Game of Logging or other logger safety

training for interested members# Logger education days, open to land-

owners: these will help to develop theimportant relationship between mem-bers and loggers and give members anopportunity to learn some of the nutsand bolts of the logging side of opera-tions.

# Pest management# Non-timber forest products: learning to

identify and cultivate marketable non-tree species

Other Field-Based Topics" Ecology and management of non-forest

communities such as prairies, wetlands,savannas, streams, ponds, including:species identification, invasive species


management, prescribed burns, restora-tion activities, etc.

" Equipment handling and safety" A day at the sawmill – for members

interested in learning about the millingprocess

" Planting seedlings" Bird awareness: identification, habitat,

and ecology of native bird species" Winter shrub and tree identification" Mushroom identification

Non-Field-Based Topics• Forest certification: what it means and

how it works• Developing a Management Plan that

works for you• Taxes and the economic management of

forest resources: What, if any, taxbreaks are available to forest owners?(It may be useful to have a CPA do aworkshop or prepare a pamphlet onthis topic.)

• Workshops on forest owner coopera-tion: What is it? What are differentorganizational approaches?

• Learning to make a plant press and aBurnowski rod.

Miscellaneous Topicso Issues related to sustainable living in

general.o Hunting and/or fishing techniques and

safetyo Snowmobile use and safetyo Animal husbandry

o Gardeningo Pesticide use and alternativeso Regional history/folkloreo Arts & craftso New technologies: geo-caching,

recreational GPS

Member landowners have identified “edu-cational opportunities” as a primary attrac-tion of forest owner organizations; there-fore, the success of the organization de-pends on providing its membership withhigh quality educational services. As moregroups form and develop alliances andother mechanisms for working together,successful educational techniques andresources can be refined and shared over awider network.

Inedible to us, but not to other forest dwellers!


Forest ManagementChapter4This chapter provides an introduction to

forest management planning andimplementation.

As we noted in the Introduction to thisstart-up guide, one of the biggest problemsfacing non-industrial private forestland in theUnited States is that the large majority oflandowners do not actively manage theirwoodlands. This leads to lost economicopportunities for the property owners andpotential negative environmental conse-quences for the forests. A key role oflocally-based forest owner cooperativesand associations is helping landownersrecognize the value of good forest manage-ment and then helping them to develop andcarry out management plans.

There are many ways in which forest ownerorganizations can promote and assistsustainable forest management:

♦ Providing education for both landown-ers and forestry professionals;♦ Screening foresters and loggers on thebasis of their proven commitment to sus-tainable forestry practices;♦ Helping to arrange contracts between

landowners and foresters;♦ Preparing management plans directly byorganization staff;♦ Directly providing forest managementcertification services or coordinating theseservices by public and private foresters;♦ Assisting landowners to carry out theirplans by providing services through theirown crews or contracting out services;♦ Coordinating—or directly providing—the marking, logging, and sale of timber.

Developing a Forest Management PlanOne of the most crucial steps towardachieving a sustainable forest or woodlandis the development of a detailed manage-ment plan. A forest stewardship (or man-agement) plan helps forest owners toevaluate the current state of their property,develop their vision for the future, andidentify the tools and resources needed torealize that vision. The co-op or associa-tion can play an important role in helpingtheir members develop good plans.

To nurture a piece of land toward ecologi-cal and economic sustainability, a land-owner should consider the desired futurecondition of the land and develop specific

IIIpart



objectives for achieving this condition. Insetting sustainable management goals, it isimportant for landowners to understand theecological limits of their lands, and workwithin those limits. Landowners should askthemselves questions such as:

$$$$$ What do I enjoy about my property?$$$$$ What is the history of my land?$$$$$ How does my land fit into the surround-ing landscape?$$$$$ What goals do I have for my land (e.g.recreational use, hunting, protection ofwildlife, return on investment, natural areasrestoration, production of non-timber forestproducts, etc.)? If I have multiple goals,are they compatible?$$$$$ How do I want my property to look in15, 50, 100 and 200 years (e.g., keep it inoak; restore habitat; produce larger, morevaluable trees; return to a pre-settlementstate; let succession take its course)?

Components of a Sustainable ForestryManagement PlanA good management plan is the result of apartnership between a landowner who candescribe his or her goals for the land and aforester or other resource professional whounderstands the ecological characteristicsand limitations of the property and canassist in outlining the steps to realize thosegoals. A quality forest management planshould contain detailed information aboutthe property and the management strategyto be employed, including:

1. A description of the landowner’svalues, objectives, and goals for the land;2. Background ecological informationabout the property and the surroundinglandscape, gathered from a variety ofsources: research into appropriate ecologi-cal databases, a walk though the propertywith a forester or other resource manage-ment professional, etc. (A forester can getmuch of the background informationthrough sources such as the Natural Heri-tage Databases and state Departments ofNatural Resources.)3. Recommendations of specific manage-ment practices and a timeline for completingthem.

Because management goals may varydramatically from one stand to another,depending on the landowner’s vision andthe ecology of the land, a good stewardshipplan will have detailed management strate-gies laid out for each distinct stand withina property. For example, on one site alow-impact thinning might be called for to

“Every forest is in a state ofchange at all times. Thischange is not always apparentthrough direct observation,even to a trained forester....Understanding natural forestdynamics in a particular regionshould be the foundation ofevery management action.”

— John Kotar

Approaches to Ecologically BasedForest Management on PrivateLands

Forest ManagementChapter 4


open up the canopy to allow for regenera-tion and overall stand improvement. An-

other site may require the use of fire to clearthe understory of invasive shrubs. A third

Gigi La BuddeGigi La BuddeGigi La BuddeGigi La BuddeGigi La Budde,who wrote “Be-neath the Trees”, isa consulting ecolo-gist with Sustain-able Woods Coop-erative of LoneRock, WI and withthe CommunityForestry ResourceCenter, Minneapo-lis, Mn.

Beneath the treesIt is the multiple, complex relationships of living and non-living entities thatcreate what we call “woodlands.” Although a forest may be defined as “a siteoccupied by trees,” it is the interaction of the trees with other plants, and withthe feathered and furred creatures and the multitude of tiny beings dwellingabove and below the ground surface, that create the forest ecosystem.

The true test of a forest’s health is discovered in the smallest details. Wemust look not only to the green canopy above our heads, but to the shrub layerbefore us, to the ground layer and the forest floor beneath our feet, and towhat is going on below the soil surface.

Consider the smallest of the forest’s inhabitants. Many soil bacteria increasethe availability of nutrients to the plant. Less well known are the mycorrhizalfungi that inhabit the roots of most trees, wildflowers, and other herbaceousplants. These fungi help the host plant to resist the adverse effects of heat,increase water and nutrient uptake, and provide disease resistance and soiltoxicity tolerance. But perhaps we shouldn’t refer to these as “small”: thelength of fungal hyphae under a single mature tree would wrap around theearth’s equator five times!

Although we are only just beginning to understand how enormously complexforest ecosystems are, we do know that the more robust and diverse theecological health of our forests, the better able they will be to recover fromboth deleterious natural processes and unforeseen disturbance, whether in theform of drought, blowdowns, or gypsy moth attacks.

Albert Einstein once said, “The most beautiful experience in life is to observethe relationship between things.” How apt a statement when thinking of ourforests! Although we are unable to see very much of “who is doing what”amongst and betwixt and beneath the trees, just contemplating the complexityof their relationships serves to make us more respectful of our forests andmore humble about our own place in the woods.


site—with a stream running through it—mayneed native grasses planted along the banksto reduce erosion.

An excellent guide to the basic consider-ations for landowners and resource manag-ers in developing a forest management planis John Kotar’s Approaches to Ecologi-cally Based Forest Management onPrivate Lands (University of Minnesota-Extension, 1997), available free from theUSDA Forest Service office, 1992 FolwellAvenue, St. Paul, MN 55108. It can alsobe found online at: http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/misc/ecoforest/toc.htm

Technical and Financial ResourcesThere are several sources of informationand financial support for landownerspreparing a management plan. Many stateagencies such as the Department of NaturalResources provide cost-sharing for land-owners who hire a public or private foresterto prepare a management plan. TheWisconsin Forest Landowner Grant Pro-gram, for example, provides up to 65% ofthe cost of preparation and implementationof a management plan. Local and federalfunding may also be available. The localDepartment of Natural Resources office is agood place to begin looking for availablecost-share and tax-incentive information.

Many forest owner organizations create adatabase of available technical and financialresources and service providers for mem-

bers in preparing and implementing man-agement plans. It is also important for theorganization to develop a close relationshipwith consulting foresters and loggers whoare trained in and committed to sustainablepractices. A good relationship between thelandowner, the forester, and the logger (incases in which a harvest is to take place) isessential to planning and implementing asustainable forest stewardship plan.

Implementing a Forest StewardshipPlanA good plan isn’t worth anything unless it’scarried out. A local forest owner organiza-tion can be a valuable resource in helping itsmembers put their plans into action. Asdiscussed above, what those actions arewill depend on the goals of the plan. Theycould include any or all of the following:thinning, brush cutting, removal of invasivespecies, controlled burns, reforestation,inoculation of logs with mushroom spores,cultivation of medicinal plants, marking oftrees for harvesting, sound timber harvest-ing, timber sales, marketing cut logs, andmore.

For all of these activities, the forest ownerorganization can play the role of facilitator,coordinator or contractor. The Europeanand Canadian organizations and WUPFIDgenerally provide these services on a feebasis to their members (and often to non-members for a higher fee). In the fledglingorganizations in the United States, forest

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owner organizations are starting out in therole of facilitator or coordinator (often for afee) and are planning to gradually make ashift to providing some or all of theseservices directly.

Developing a Professional Relationshipwith a LoggerOne of the functions of a forest ownerorganization is to help members identifyloggers who understand and follow thepractices of ecologically sustainable har-vesting. In cases where a management plancalls for a harvest, developing a long-termrelationship with an experienced, conscien-tious logger is a key element of sustainablemanagement. A good logger provides thelink between a well-planned harvest and awell-executed one. Often, the logger willbe involved with the landowner and foresterin creating the harvest plan.

There are several training programs thatteach loggers the elements of sustainableharvesting. Basic training provided bygroups like FISTA, Game of Logging, orthe Forest Service’s S212 focus onequipment handling, safety, and minimizingdamage to non-target trees, all of which areimportant foundational skills. A secondlevel of training deals with developing thoseskills that make an operation sustainable.These skills include:

! selection and use of lowest-impactequipment and techniques at all levels ofoperation (except in those cases where a

management plan calls for greater distur-bance, e.g. to aid in oak regeneration);! special safety issues regarding tech-niques used in sustainable forestry;! aesthetic management, and the ability tomonitor and repair or restore damage asneeded; and! basic ecological principles, including therecognition of endangered or sensitiveresources.

The Maine Low Impact Forestry Projecthas put together a comprehensive websitedetailing the important aspects of lowimpact logging:http://www.hcpcme.org/home.html

Key points about the relationship betweenthe forest owner, the logger, and the for-ester/resource manager include:

1. Communication between the threeparties is critical. The logger should beinvolved not only in carrying out the harvestplan, but in developing the managementplan along with the resource manager andlandowner. It should be clear to the loggersthat they’re working with, and not simplyfor, the landowner, forester, or forest ownerorganization.2. It is important for loggers to beproperly compensated for their effortsand skills. Historically, the forestryindustry has pressured loggers to get asmuch wood out of the forest as possible,and as quickly as possible. By eliminatingthese pressures, sustainable forestry practi-tioners can give loggers the time andincentives they need to do the job right forthe long term. The guiding principle shouldbe that loggers will be paid not only for

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what they remove but for the quality ofwhat they leave behind.3. It is of utmost importance that alogger know the rules of safety in low-impact logging. Because so much moremanual labor tends to be required insustainable practices, the safety risks aregreatly increased. Important skills such asagility and hand-eye coordination may begained through practice more than instruc-tion; but developing the ability to “read” atree, to “see” the proper spacing, and to bealways aware of one’s fellow crew mem-bers – these are teachable skills.4. Training in logging practices is notonly for loggers; it can be useful toforesters and landowners as well.

CertificationSeveral local forestry organizations havemade a commitment to certifying memberlands through the Forest Stewardship

Council (FSC). The FSC was set up toreward and promote responsible forestmanagement practices. FSC certification isbased on third-party verification of prac-tices that are outlined in an internationallyrecognized set of Principles and Criteriafor forest management. By committing toFSC certification of their woodlots, andworking with an FSC certified managementplan, landowners are assured of a carefullyand sustainably managed property.

There are three ways for landowners tohave their forests FSC-certified:

1) Direct certification of a parcel ofland. Because of the prohibitive costsinvolved to the landowner, this optionmakes sense only for parcels of severalthousand acres or more.

2) Development of a management planby an FSC-certified forester or resourcemanager who also oversees and imple-ments management activities. Thisoption works for small and medium-sizedparcels, because the forester can spread hisor her costs for being certified over severalthousand acres.

3) Certification through an “um-brella” organization. This option is alsoaffordable on small and medium-sizedparcels because of the economies of scale.In this approach a forester/resource man-ager does not have to be FSC-certified, buthas to follow FSC standards in preparingand implementing management plans. Theumbrella organization takes responsibilityfor reviewing the plans and is accountableto FSC for making sure the plan and itsimplementation meet FSC standards.



Three examples of umbrella organizationsare the Community Forestry ResourceCenter, Societe sylvicole desLaurentides (a woodlot owner organiza-tion in Quebec), and the ResidentsCommittee to Protect the Adirondacks.(See Appendix B for their websites andcontact information.) Other local forestowner co-ops and associations are consid-ering this option as well.

Several co-ops and other wood productscompanies are using FSC certification as a“green” marketing seal of approval in orderto gain market access or market premiums.Green marketing is discussed in more detailin Chapter Five. (For more informationon this certification program, see http://fscus.org/html/.)

The American Tree Farm System also isdeveloping a certification program that willbe independently verified by third parties.(See http://www.hcpcme.org/home.htmlfor more information on this program.)

A forest owner organization may choose towork through other third-party certifyingagencies as well. State programs, adminis-tered through departments of naturalresources or other state forestry agencies,often have sustainable forestry standards.

Working Forest EasementsA good management plan has a vision and aset of goals for the forest that will berealized over many decades. But a land-owner might not be around that long to

make sure that his or her vision will becarried out. Conservation easements(also known in some states as “conserva-tion restrictions”) are a means to ensure thatsustainable forestry management continues“in perpetuity”—even after property ispassed on to the next generation or sold.Conservation easements also reduce taxespartly because the use restrictions of aneasement lower the property’s marketvalue. A specific kind of easement called aworking forest easement allows landown-ers to engage in sustainable forestry prac-tices and realize income from their proper-ties while at the same time receiving taxbenefits and ensuring the long term protec-tion of the forest.

Local forest owner organizations can helplandowners develop and maintain ease-ments on their land. One scenario is tohave the forest owner organization prepareor coordinate a certified management plan.It can then help the landowner establish anagreement with a local land trust to inde-pendently monitor the easement in order tomake sure current and future propertyowners remain in compliance with itsprovisions.

The Land Trust Alliance has prepared abook entitled Working Forest Conserva-tion Easements that explains this ap-proach and provides examples and samplelegal documents. (See http://www.lta.org/)

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ConclusionLocal forest owner organizations can helplandowners every step of the way in makingtheir forests more sustainable. These stepsinclude:

• Early-stage education about developinga healthy forest• Assistance in selecting a competentforester or resource manager to help thelandowner prepare a plan• Providing or coordinating a wide varietyof services to implement the plan• Providing or coordinating affordablemeans for landowners to have their plansindependently certified by FSC, TheAmerican Tree Farm System, or anothercertification program• Helping interested landowners establisha working forest easement.

As mentioned above, a forest stewardshipplan is of little value if it is not used. A goodplan allows the forest owner to know whatpractices should be implemented and why.The plan should discuss each parcel orstand within the forest as well as the man-agement activities to take place.

Continuous monitoring of the forest isneeded to make sure that the managementplan is meeting the landowner’s goals at thepresent time and well into the future.Monitoring one’s land does not have to bea complicated process. It can be as simpleas walking through the woods periodicallyto check the health of individual trees (aswell as the understory), and to see if any

invasive or exotic species have becomeestablished, if the desired tree species areregenerating, and if the landowner’s overallgoals are being met.

Achieving the forest owner’s goals anddesired future conditions is a continuous,adaptive process. Responsible forestmanagement does not require the forestowner to continually be in his or her woods,but it does require careful thought anddeliberation. With the help of a forestowner organization and a forester orresource manager, the planning and imple-mentation of activities can be an excitingprocess and can lead to a richer, healthier,more diverse, and more valuable forest.



MarketingChapter5The purpose of this chapter is to

provide information on service andproduct marketing strategies for sustainableforestry organizations. It focuses on fourkey areas of marketing:

1) Services to landowners2) Timber and low-value wood3) Value-added wood products4) Non-timber forest products

The chapter concludes by underscoringseveral keys to successful marketing byforest owner co-ops and associations.

Marketing Services to LandownersIt is important to note that forest ownerassociations and co-ops have two primarymarkets:

1. Local forest owners, including bothmembers and non-members; and

2. Buyers of its wood and other products.

An organization’s members are also its mostimportant customers. If the organizationdoes not meet the needs of its members, itis likely to lose their long-term interest andcommitment both as members and as

customers. And if it is unable to satisfy its“in-house” customers, it is highly unlikelythat it will satisfy its other customers.

Understanding what members and otherwoodland owners want from the organiza-tion is a prerequisite to success. Informa-tional meetings with area landowners,interviews, and membership surveys are allgood ways to identify the kinds of servicespotential organization members want.Remember that services can run the gamutfrom management plan development, timberstand improvement services, timber market-ing, and value-added wood processing andmarketing to “softer” services such aseducational events, coordinating workparties, and social events. (See Part II,Step 2 : Assessing Landowner andCommunity Interest; and Step 4 :Recruiting Members.)

In order to serve its members effectively, aforest owner co-op or association should:

! determine what services its membersand other local forest owners want;! set priorities among these expressedservices (keeping in mind that you probably

IIIpart



MarketingChapter 5

won’t be able to give everyone what theywant, especially in the first year or two);! determine how much it will cost theorganization to deliver these services;! decide what the organization needs tocharge for the services in order to at leastbreak even (and whether members will becharged a lower price than non-members);and

! market the services to the membersand, possibly, nonmembers.

Part III, Chapter 3 of this manual dis-cusses the wide variety of educationalworkshops that forest owner associationsand cooperatives have held for their mem-bers. These events—where it is not

MARKETING SERVICES TO MEMBERS: TWO EXAMPLESKickapoo Woods Cooperative (KWC), lo-cated in southwest Wisconsin, identified two dis-tinct markets: the market for services to mem-bers and the market for its members’ forest prod-ucts. Here’s how they approach the former:

KWC intends to increase its membership overtime to ensure the cooperative’s ongoing finan-cial stability. Promotion of KWC’s services tomembers is done through word of mouth, pressreleases, advertising, direct mail, e-mail, andmember newsletters. In addition, KWC conductsworkshops and forestry seminars that are opento the public. Topics in 2000-2003 included:

• Timber Stand Improvement and CropTree Identification

• Crop Tree Management• Low-Impact Harvesting• Chainsaw Safety• Forestry Guided Hikes• Sugar Bush Management• Spring Flora Woods Hikes• Invasive Species Workshop

These workshops are designed to familiarizepotential members with sustainable forestrypractices and the services the co-op can pro-vide. They have proved to be an effective means

of attracting new members throughout the year.

Prairie Ridge Forest Stewardship Coopera-tive, located in northwest Wisconsin, identifiedthe same two markets (internal and external) asKWC. The co-op itself must first be marketed topotential members in order to build the mem-bership to the point where the co-op has thestability and depth to develop markets for its for-est products.

Prairie Ridge conducted a woodland owner sur-vey at the end of 2001 that identified numerouslandowners within the co-op’s service area whoare interested in learning to better manage theirforests. Prairie Ridge targets landowners whoare dissatisfied with the traditional forestindustry’s propensity to do high grade loggingwhile ignoring the ecological health of the forestit leaves behind. The co-op markets itself as analternative that will provide forest servicesgeared toward timber stand improvement andthe long-term health of the forest’s ecosystem.In addition, the co-op will provide a wide varietyof educational services, including field days,woods walks, and other workshops, all of whichthe survey indicated were in demand.


uncommon to find members, resourceprofessionals, management staff, and boardmembers all represented—are one of themost effective methods of marketingorganizational services to members andother landowners. They also provide anopportunity for one of the less tangible butmost important benefits of membership: thechance to share the enjoyment of the forestwith others.

Marketing of Timber and Low-Value WoodTo a large extent, the marketing strategiesof sustainable forestry organizations areresource-driven. That is, the primary goalof these organizations and their members isto create sustainable woodlands. Adheringto this goal means removing trees in amanner consistent with the long-term healthof the forest. As a result, much of the woodto be marketed by the organizations duringtheir early years will be of low quality andsmall diameter, and may include lessdesirable species. This section of Chap-

ter 5 discusses marketing strategies fortimber and low-value wood.

Timber sales—especially the marketing of cutlogs—are the primary revenue-generating servicefor most local forest owner organizations in north-ern Europe, Canada, and in many other coun-tries. At this time, the only forest owner organiza-tion for which this is true in the United States isWUPFID (the Western Upper Peninsula ForestImprovement District).

(See Part I, Chapter 2 for more on WUPFID.)

A key timber marketing advantage of co-ops and associations is their ability torepresent dozens, if not hundreds, oflandowners in the same geographical area.These organizations can harvest theirmembers’ timber, aggregate the logs, andsort them by grade and species. In sodoing they can develop long term contractswith buyers or coordinate competitive bidsfrom buyers on behalf of their members.The marketing efficiencies provided bythese local organizations can result inmembers receiving substantially more—insome cases 15% to 30% more—fromselling through the organization than fromselling on their own. If not for the opportu-nity to coordinate their harvests and salesthrough a forest owner organization, manysmall landowners would have no market fortheir timber whatsoever.

The aggregation of wood also creates moreopportunities for the sale of small diameterand low-grade wood. For example, truck-load quantities of low-value wood deliveredon a regular schedule are of far more interestto a paper company or pallet mill than a fewcords stacked by the edge of a road.

Recognizing these opportunities, many ofthe forest owner organizations now beingformed in the United States are looking attimber sales—both low-grade wood as wellas cut logs—as a major service for theirmembers, especially in the early years ofoperation.


MarketingChapter 5

Marketing of Value-Added Wood ProductsThere is a continuum of options a forestowner organization can choose fromregarding value-added wood processingand marketing. On one end of the con-tinuum, the organization serves as a coordi-nating agent for its members—contractingout the sawing, kiln drying, and secondaryprocessing to other area businesses whileretaining the role of marketing agent for thesale of these products. On the other end,the organization does most or all of theprocessing itself, using its own sawing andfinishing equipment and dry kilns, and alsomarkets the products.

The “out-sourcing” model requires muchless capital to begin operation, but alsoreturns lower profits to the organization andits members. The “in-house processing”model costs more and is more complicatedto launch, but reduces dependency oncontractors and produces higher returns—ifthe markets are there.

Of course, an organization can choose tobegin operating at the “out-sourcing” end ofthe continuum and move toward the “in-house” model gradually over time. Thereare two main factors that influence anorganization’s decision about where on thevalue-added continuum it chooses to beginoperation:

! the ability of the organization to raisecapital from members and other sources;

! the presence of wood processingbusinesses in the organization’s service areathat are willing and able to enter intomutually beneficial contracts with theorganization.

Almost all of the new organizations under devel-opment in the Upper Midwest are leaning towardresource management services, timber sales,and/or “outsourcing” – and not toward in-housevalue-added processing – in their early years ofoperation. They have decided not take on thecost, complexity, and risk of starting out with in-house, value-added processing.

Note that sustainable forestry organizations’competitive advantages are generally inniche (low volume, specialized) markets.When marketing to these niches, thefollowing attributes of sustainable forestryorganizations can be highlighted:

# localized resource base# member owned and controlled# community-based# environmentally responsible# third party certified (if applicable)# capable of producing customized

products# consumer-friendly# responsive to the needs of builders,

architects, hobbyists, and small second-ary manufacturers

Marketing of value-added products byforest owner organizations tends to betargeted to three main groups of buyerswithin the local area and region:

1. “Green” builders, architects, and


homeowners – for flooring, paneling,millwork, and other uses.2. Woodcrafters and “do-it-yourselfers”:An estimated one in seven adults in theUnited States works with wood as a hobby.Many crafters buy their wood throughwoodcrafter guilds. Marketing to theseguilds – locally, regionally, and nationally –could become a lucrative market, becauseguild sales are often made in truckloadvolumes at a discount of about 10% belowretail – a good deal for both the craftersand the organizations.3. Small furniture manufacturers who oftenprefer “character” wood, which commandsa higher price in the conventional market-place.

One way for sustainable forestry organiza-tions to offset the disadvantage of small-scale operations is to join with otherorganizations to market their productstogether. Although organizations tend toview their primary markets as local andregional, they should also be aware that, inmany cases, they can improve their market-ing strength and scope by working together.

There are several benefits to be gained fromjoint marketing:

♦ sharing the cost of marketing staff andsales agents;♦ pooling products for orders that are toolarge for one organization;♦ systematically referring orders amongorganizations so that if one organizationcannot fill a specific order, another organi-zation gets the opportunity to fill it; and♦ obtaining information about demandtrends for different products.

JOINT MARKETING EXAMPLESLiving Forest Cooperative in northern Wiscon-sin recently sold a semi-load of red oak to SWC inexchange for a truckload of hard maple.

Kickapoo Woods Co-op has a joint ventureagreement with SWC, partly funded by USDA, inwhich the two co-ops are sharing the cost of de-veloping their resource management and mar-keting programs. In early 2003, KWC plans to sellmembers’ timber to SWC for processing. As partof the same project, SWC is developing an inven-tory tracking system that it will share with KWCand other forest owner organizations in the UpperMidwest. This system will make it easier for theorganizations in the region to coordinate their har-vesting and marketing.

For joint marketing to work well, thereshould be:

! shared databases on inventories andorders;! consistent and coordinated gradingacross all organizations participating inshared sales;! clearly written contracts regarding theterms of participation in joint sales;

In conducting their resource inventories, bothSustainable Woods Cooperative (SWC)in south central Wisconsin and VermontFamily Forests (VFF) recognized that theywould need to find markets for small diam-eter red oak, white oak, and maple from theirmembers’ woods. They also independentlyarrived at the conclusion that flooring wouldprovide an excellent potential use for someof this wood, because high-value flooring canbe made from small diameter and shortlength wood.


MarketingChapter 5

! most importantly, skilled marketingpersonnel who have the authority to deliveron contracts between member organizationsand buyers.

Marketing Non-Timber Forest ProductsMost people think of forest products asthose derived from lumber and pulp.However, forests produce much more thanwood, and some of these “secondary”products are very valuable. Intentionallymanaging a forest or woodlot to enhanceproduction of these “Non-Timber ForestProducts” (NTFPs) is termed agro-forestryor “forest farming.”

Producing NTFP’s can increase anddiversify income, increase wildlife, diversifyforestland, and create new opportunities forrural development—all while protecting soiland water resources. Many landownersuse these products to provide regularincome while high quality trees are beinggrown as a long-term income source.

Agro-forestry involves using the land on“multiple levels” to achieve production andenvironmental benefits. A woodlot may bethinned to encourage the continued growthof the best trees while, at the same time,creating the appropriate conditions for thedesired understory NTFP, which is thenmanaged intensively to provide short-termincome.

Consumers are increasingly interested inpurchasing fresh food directly from produc-

ers—especially food that is produced usingsustainable practices. An increasing varietyof outlets are becoming available to pro-ducers of NTFPs: Community SupportedAgriculture organizations, catalogue sales,internet marketing, grower-to-chef restau-rant sales, and alternative direct marketingoutlets. The worldwide market for herbalmedicines was $14 billion in 1997. In theU.S. alone, 60 million people use alternativemedicines. Shifting demographics arecontributing to these changes in consumerbehavior, as more and more aging babyboomers choose organic over syntheticproducts.

NTFPs can be grouped into four maincategories:

1) Medicinal or “Nutraceutical”Products – such as Ginseng, Goldenseal,Black and Blue Cohosh, Witch Hazel,Prickly Ash, Bloodroot, Slippery Elm,Black Cherry Bark, and many others;2) Decorative and Handicraft Prod-ucts – such as decorative greenery, cones,dried florals, ornamental plants and plantparts, and decorative wood or vine prod-ucts;3) Forest-Based Food Products – suchas nuts, berries, oils and extracts, honey,syrups, mushrooms, fruits, and gameanimals;4) Recreational Access and Tourism –such as fee hunting and fishing, bed andbreakfasts, vacation cabins, retreat centers,nature trails for wildlife viewing and photog-raphy, sports activities such as cross-country skiing, and weekend skills work-shops.


Tim Blakley of Frontier Herbs and Gigi La Budde, consulting ecologist and member of Sustainable Woods Cooperative,examine Goldenseal, Hydrastus canadensis, cultivated under lath shade structures at Gigi’s residence.

A bed of Goldenseal growing in a forestunderstory in Appalachian Ohio. Theforest owner is a member of the Roots ofAppalachia Growers Association, asupport network of medicinal herbgrowers based in southeast Ohio.


MarketingChapter 5

The production and marketing of NTFPspresent unique challenges:

% Markets for NTFPs are different frommarkets for more traditional agriculturalproducts. Although their market “visibility”is increasing, these products find most oftheir outlets in the specialty niche market,where there are relatively few buyers.% Often, the production of NTFPs isseasonal. Moreover, some products arevery perishable, thus increasing costs andrisks for storage and transportation.% Producers may be reluctant to sharetheir sources of product, methods ofproduction, and potential markets. This canmake it difficult for newcomers to enter theindustry.

Because marketing and access to informa-tion is perhaps the most challenging aspectof NTFPs, you may want to check out acouple of websites for more information:www.sfp.forprod.vt.edu/special_fp.htmand www.specialforestproducts.com.

Most NTFP producers continue to sellunprocessed products. However, the lastdecade has seen the rapid expansion ofvalue-added processing by producers whotraditionally have not been involved in it.Products that are attractively packaged(and/or further processed) can be valuedboth as food and as gifts. But effectivelymarketing these value-added productsrequires creativity and careful attention tothe details of customer targeting, advertis-ing, packaging, and transportation.

The Role of Forest Owner Organiza-tions in NTFPsForest owner organizations can play anextremely useful role in the transition fromniche to mainstream for a wide variety ofNTFPs. Producing NTFPs through forestowner organizations, rather than individu-ally, means that purchasing, marketing, anddecision-making can be shared and morevolume can be available to create bettermarketing position. An organization mayselect a few products and market them firstto members, then locally through retailstores, restaurants, and farmers’ markets,and later make use of regional and nationaltrade associations. Wider marketingthrough catalog mail-order sales and theInternet may also be explored.

Because of the eagerness of many wood-land owners to invest time and money in thelaunching of various NFTP ventures, theneed for education—rather than the allureof get-rich-quick schemes—must beemphasized. Landowners must learn aboutthe very real challenges of NTFP produc-tion and marketing. Training in the methodsof cultivation of these products is critical. Inthe past, valuable medicinal and botanicalplants were over-collected, with the resultthat many of these are now rare andendangered species. Cultivation of theseplants means that NTFP production canoccur ethically; and it presents at least thehope of recovery for some of these species

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in the wild. With proper management, theforest (and related ecosystems) can pro-duce marketable quantities of NTFPswithout endangering environmental healthand biodiversity.

SUMMARYThe key points of this chapter are:

1. The first market each organization mustsatisfy is its own membership.

2. Sustainable forestry organizations’marketing strategies must be resource-driven. There are, however, a varietyof creative ways in which an organiza-tion can turn its resources into market-able products.

3. Each organization needs to develop amarketing strategy that fits its ownparticular circumstances and goals.

4. There is tremendous potential fororganizations to learn from one anotherabout marketing, and to engage in jointmarketing.

5. An organization (or alliance of organiza-tions) can do everything else right, but itwon’t survive if it doesn’t do a goodjob of selling its products and services.


Conclusion

Balancing Ecology and Economics:A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation

Dozens of people associated with forest owner cooperation have contributed to this manual,each of whom continues to work in the real world, learning new and valuable lessons abouthow to make sustainable forestry organizations successful. Like a good business plan, thismanual will continue to be updated as information is expanded and new experiences cometo light. Cooperative Development Services, the University of Wisconsin Center for Coop-eratives, the Community Forestry Resource Center, and the Cooperative DevelopmentInstitute, as well as several other resource organizations, are listed in the appendices andcan be contacted with questions or ideas related to sustainable forestry organizations.

Of all of the statistics, suggestions, stories, and “lessons learned” in this manual, there is onemessage that stands out as the most important: The ultimate success or failure of asustainable forestry organization depends on the dedication and creativity of itsmembers.

Forestry is too often thought of as taking something off of yourland. Timber is equated with output. That’s not the way it is.Sustainable forestry has more to do with “input” : good science,common sense, love, regard for the future. — Gigi La Budde

Sample MembershipSurvey InstrumentAppendixA-1

A-1

This sample survey isuseful for associations as

well as cooperatives.

Appendix A !!Sample Documents

Sustainable Woods Co-op Membership Survey

SECTION I: General InformationName: _________________________________________________________________Address: ________________________________________________________________City/State/Zip: _______________________ Phone: _____________________________Fax: _______________________________ E-mail: ____________________________Township and county in which your woodland property is located: _____________________

1. Please indicate the number of acres on your property (if you have more than one piece ofproperty in Wisconsin, please provide totals):

Acres of woodland: _______Acres of prairie or savannah: _______Acres of cultivated farmland: _______Other acres (please describe) _______________________________________________________________________

SECTION II: Your Timber Resources and Practices2. Species of trees on your propertyApproximately what percent does each tree species represent of your total woodland? If youhave a certain species on your property but don’t know what percent of the total it represents, pleasemake your best guess. Leaving a line blank means that you don’t have any of that particularspecies on your property.

Hardwoods SoftwoodsAsh (white/black) ______ % Cedar ______ %Aspen/Birch ______ % Red Pine ______ %Basswood ______ % White Pine ______ %Cherry ______ % Spruce - white ______ %Elm ______ % Other softwoods ______ %Hickory ______ % Notes: ___________________Maple (hard/soft) ______ % ________________________Oak (red/white) ______ % ________________________Walnut ______ % ________________________Other hardwoods ______ % ________________________

A-2

Appendix Sample Documents — SurveyA

3. a. How many times has the forest on your land been harvested? ____________________b. When was the last time harvesting took place on your land? (indicate year) _________c. How long have you owned your forest land? (number of years) __________________

4. a. Have you received any income from the sale of your harvested timber? YES NO

b. Please indicate the approximate percentage of your harvested timber that was marketedthrough the following channels:

______ % through broker, agent or forester______ % to sawmill______ % direct to consumer/final user______ % to independent logger______ % other (please explain): ____________________________

c. Using the scale of 1 - 4 below, please indicate how satisfied you were with:______ Income you received from sale of timber______ Appearance of your forest after harvest______ Environmental condition of your forest after harvest

1 2 3 4Very Very

Unsatisfied Satisfied

SECTION III: Your Non-Timber Resources and Practices5. Specialty forest productsA list of specialty forest (non-wood) products appears below. Please check which of these, tothe best of your knowledge, are currently growing wild on your property. Please also checkany products you are currently cultivating for market, and any you have an interest in cultivatingfor market in the future (but are not currently doing so).

Growing wild Currently Interested inon my property cultivating future cultivating

Botanicals/Medicinals (specify variety)Mushrooms (please specify)Nuts/seeds for seed stockEdible nuts/berries/seedsOther (please specify)

A-3

SECTION IV: Potential Co-op Services7. A list of potential services the co-op could provide its members appears below. Please indicateyour level of interest in each service using the following scale of 1 - 4:

Level of interest: 1 2 3 4

None Low Medium High

a. ______ Provide reliable information about private woodland managementb. ______ Develop/implement environmentally responsible woodland management plansc. ______ Collectively market timber and other forest productsd. ______ Provide timber stand improvement and tree planting servicese. ______ Find and develop markets for timber and other forest productsf. ______ Determine fair and reliable market prices for harvested timberg. ______ Provide assistance in harvesting timber (logging) on your landh. ______ Develop manufactured, value-added wood productsi. ______ Provide land management services for absentee owners (e.g., fence repair)j. ______ Provide consultation/training for restoring wildlife habitats and biodiversityk. ______ Make written educational materials availablel. ______ Process own timber for private usem. _____ Other (please specify): ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SECTION V: Biodiversity/Habitat Restoration8. Do you plan to engage in habitat restoration activities on your land in the next 3 years?

YES NO UNSURE

9. If yes, in what type of habitat will your restoration activities take place? Please also specifythe approximate number of acres to be restored:

Type of Habitat # of Acresa. ______ Prairie ______b. ______ Woodland ______c. ______ Savanna ______d. ______ Wetlands ______e. ______ Oak or Pine Barrens ______f. ______ Pine Relic ______g. ______ Interested in habitat restoration, but unsure of what type

A-4

Appendix Sample Documents — SurveyA

Appendix A-2LEGAL DOCUMENTS NEEDED

FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COOPERATIVE

A-7

Appendix A !Sample Documents"

I. Articles of Incorporation: A non-profit association or a cooperative becomesa separate legal entity upon filing of the Articles of Incorporation. At that time theorganization becomes a legally recognized institution that enjoys virtually all theconstitutional rights recognized by individual citizens. Articles of Incorporation areavailable from the Secretary of State’s office in each state.

II. Bylaws: Although not typically mandated by statute, most organizations – and allcooperatives – adopt bylaws. Not legally binding, bylaws nevertheless serve as agovernance document that addresses:

A. Member Issues1. Annual meetings2. Quorum3. Eligibility of members4. Voting by mail and voting at meetings5. Etc.

B. Director Issues1. Frequency of director meetings2. # of directors3. Officer election and frequency4. Removal of directors5. Term limits6. Etc.

A-8

C. Operation on a Cooperative Basis1. Distribution provision requiring earnings to be distributed on basis of

patronage.2. Consent Bylaw that imposes a requirement on members to report

patronage earnings as income on the members’ tax returns.3. Etc.

D. Miscellaneous1. Indemnification of officers, employees, directors, etc.2. Insurance for directors/officers3. Unclaimed property4. Amendments5. Fiscal year end6. Etc.

III. Federal Employer ID Number ApplicationIn the United States, most incorporated organizations, whether or not they haveemployees, must apply for and receive a federal employer ID number. The applica-tion, known as Form SS-4, is fairly simple and is available from the IRS atwww.irs.gov.

IV. State Tax ID Number ApplicationIn many states, any organization with employees must file an application for a statetax ID number. Contact your state Department of Revenue for more information.Also check with all states in which you intend to conduct business, since manystates require a tax ID number even if you are not incorporated there.

The following documents are necessary only for cooperatives that intend to raisesubstantial amounts of capital. It is strongly recommended that you engage a quali-fied cooperative lawyer to advise your cooperative regarding these documents.

V. Seed Money AgreementContributions made toward early activities such as a feasibility analysis or member-ship development. These funds may not be paid back if the project does not moveforward. If it does succeed, the contributions should be applied toward the pur-chase of stock or certificates of indebtedness (see below).

Appendix Sample Documents — LegalA

A-9

VI. Subscription AgreementDocuments each person’s desire to purchase stock or certificates of indebtednessand representations made by each such person regarding the purchase.

VII. Disclosure DocumentDiscloses information about the Cooperative’s business, the idea being that personspurchasing stock or certificates of indebtedness cannot sue the Cooperative or thedirectors if all risks of purchasing such stock or certificates of indebtedness are firstdisclosed before the subscription agreement is signed.

VIII. Policy StatementIdentifies the value and acquisition requirements of stock in the Cooperative.

IX. Certificates of IndebtednessIssued to each person wishing to buy certificates when money is received (applieswhen members are buying shares of debt; if members are buying shares of equity,stock certificates are used).

X. Stock CertificatesIssued to each person wishing to buy stock in the Cooperative (applies whenmembers are buying shares of equity; if members are buying shares of debt, certifi-cates of indebtedness are used).

XI. Delivery AgreementSets out the terms of agreement regarding delivery of the product of the Coopera-tive; typically the raw materials used in value-added processing.

Samples of these documents(please note that they will vary from state to state)

are available on the web site of the Community Forestry Resource Center:wwwwwwwwwwwwwww. f. f. f. f. f o ro ro ro ro r e s t re s t re s t re s t re s t r yyyyy c e n t e rc e n t e rc e n t e rc e n t e rc e n t e r. o r. o r. o r. o r. o r g / l eg / l eg / l eg / l eg / l e ggggg a l d o c umen t sa l d o c umen t sa l d o c umen t sa l d o c umen t sa l d o c umen t s

Sustainable Forestry Cooperativesand Associations

B-1

Appendix B !"#

Midwest Region of USA

Cook County Sustainable ForestryCooperativeMark AdamsP.O. Box 534Hovland, MN 55606(218) [email protected]

John [email protected]

Headwaters Forestry CooperativeGreg NolanP.O. Box 64Long Prairie, MN 56347(320) [email protected]

Hiawatha Sustainable WoodsCooperativeJohn Stettler, Chairmans2490 Schaffner Valley RdFountain City, WI 54629-7605(608) [email protected]

Kickapoo Woods CooperativePaul Bader, CoordinatorP.O. Box 466Viroqua, WI(608) [email protected]

Living Forest CooperativeCharly RayP.O. Box 1202Bayfield, WI 54814(715) [email protected]

Menominee Tribal EnterprisesHwy 47 North, P.O. Box 10Neopit, WI 54150(715) 756-2311www.menominee.edu/mte

Northwoods Forestry CooperativeGary Bradford31460 390th PlaceAitkin, MN 56431(218) [email protected]

Herb Wall(320) [email protected]

Partners In Forestry Landowner Asso-ciationSteering committee co-chairs:June Jones: (715) 547-3013Joe Hovel: (715) 479-8528Forester:Jeff Nyquist: (715) [email protected]

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Prairie’s Edge Sustainable WoodsCooperativeKevin Sand, President(563) [email protected]

Prairie Ridge Forest StewardshipCooperativeLuke Saunders65 7 ½ St.Prairie Farm, WI 54762(715) [email protected]

Sustainable Woods CooperativeWalter ClarkP.O. Box 307Lone Rock, WI 53556(608) 583-7100 Fax: (608) [email protected]: www.sustainablewoods.com

Upper Peninsula Community ForestryCooperative, Inc.Archie HendrickN6158 Elmer Johnson Rd.Skandia, MI 49885(906) [email protected]: www.upconsult.com/umfsg

Washington Island Timber CooperativeChick Richards12N 1680 Mountain Rd.Washington Island, WI 54246(920) 847-2626

Western Upper Peninsula ForestImprovement DistrictRichard Bolen801 North Lincoln Drive, Suite 302Hancock, MI 49930(906) [email protected]: www.wupfid.org

White Earth Land Recovery ProjectWinona LaDuke, Founding DirectorDonna Cahill, Administrative Director32033 E. Round Lake Rd.Ponsford, MN 56575-9250(218) 573-3448 Fax: (218) 573-3444websites: www.nativeharvest.com andwww.welrp.com

Wisconsin Family Forests, Inc.Amy Luebke, DirectorP.O. Box 682Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin 54495-0682(715) [email protected]: www.wisconsinfamilyforests.org

Wisconsin Family Forests LocalAlliances:

Washington Island Family ForestCindy Gaskill1325 Wilmette Ave.Wilmette, IL [email protected]

Deerfield Family Forest AllianceMartin PionkeW11008 County Rd. VHancock, WI [email protected]

Rudolph AllianceAl Herzberg, President5600 3rd AveRudolph, WI 54475715-423-7026

Baraboo Hills AllianceDick Mielke, PresidentS5570 Pike’s Peak RoadNorth Freedom, WI [email protected]

Sustainable Forestry Cooperativesand AssociationsAppendix B

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Woodland CooperativeShelley Larson6549 Keystone Rd.Milaca, MN 56353(320) [email protected]

Northeast Region of USA

Adirondacks Sustainable ForestryProjectRoss MorganResidents’ Committee to Protect theAdirondacksP.O. Box 27North Creek, NY 12853-0027(518) 251-4257 Fax: (518) [email protected]: www.adirondackresidents.org

Massachusetts Woodlands CooperativeArthur Eve, President100 Blackberry LaneAmherst, MA 01002(413) [email protected]

Massachusetts Woodlands InstituteArthur Eve, President100 Blackberry LaneAmherst, MA 01002(413) [email protected]

Vermont Family ForestsDavid BrynnP.O. Box 254Bristol, VT 05443(802) [email protected]: www.familyforests.org

Southeast Region of USA

Blue Ridge CooperativeHarry GrootSunrise Valley FarmHiwassee, VA [email protected]

Ozark Landowners Association75 Leggett LaneBatesville, AR 72501(870) [email protected]

Western North Carolina Alliance:Forests & Communities ProgramDavid Wheeler70 Woodfin Place (#326)Asheville, NC 28801(828) [email protected]

Winston County Self-Help CooperativeFrank TaylorP.O. Box 23813Jackson, MS [email protected]

Canada

Athol Forestry Co-operativeWarren MurleyP.O. Box 879Amherst, Nova Scotia B4H 4E1(902) [email protected]: http://www.atholforestry.com/

Ontario Woodlot AssociationWade Knight, Executive Director275 County Road 44, R.R. #4Kemptville, Ontario, KOG 1J0(613) [email protected]: www.ont-woodlot-assoc.org

RESAM (a federation of 44 forest owner organizations in Québec)Eugene Gagne, Executive Director1405, avenue Saint-Jean-BaptisteBureau 103Québec, Québec G2E 5K2(418) 877-1344website: http://www.resam.org/

Societe sylvicole des Laurentides (a woodlot owner organization in Quebec)Marc Champagne, Director of Forest Management387 LafleurLachute, Quebec J8H 1R2(450) [email protected]

Woodlot Stewardship Co-operativeSimon MitchellFalls Brook Centre125 S. Knowlesville Rd.Knowlesville, NB E7L [email protected]: www.fallsbrookcentre.ca

Sustainable Forestry Cooperativesand AssociationsAppendix B

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Sustainable Forestry Resources:Assistance Organizations, Publications, and

Websites

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Appendix C

Appendix C is organized into three parts: 1) contact information for resource organiza-tions for sustainable forestry associations and cooperatives; 2) a list of publications andwebsites of interest; and 3) a list of resources for Non-Timber Forestry. Organizationsare listed in alphabetical order. A few organizations are identified by website only.

Animal Powered Logging – AuburnUniversitywebsite: http://www.forestry.auburn.edu/dubois/animal.html

This site contains a list of publicationsrelated to animal powered logging as wellas a list of other websites related to theseoperations.

Audubon Center of the North WoodsBox 530Sandstone, MN 55072(320) 245 2648 or 800-404-7743Fax: (320) 245 [email protected]: http://www.audubon-center.com/

The Audubon Center is an environmentaleducation learning center located in PineCounty, Minnesota. The Center features adining hall and dormitory complex toaccommodate large group meals andmeetings. There is also an historic lodge,wildlife barn, bird banding center, a yurt, logcabin classroom, a shack for the productionof maple syrup and a wildlife rehabilitationfacility. The site is located amid old-growthpines and restored wetlands.

Big Creek Forestry550 Karen RdMarquette, MI 49855(906) [email protected]

Big Creek is an FSC-certified resourcecompany that serves the Upper Peninsula ofMichigan.

Canadian Model Forest Networkwebsite: http://www.modelforest.net/

The Government of Canada, through theCanadian Forest Service, launchedCanada’s Model Forest Program toaddress the challenge of balancing theextensive range of demands that we placeon our forests today, and the needs oftomorrow’s generations.The Canadian Model Forest Network Website contains a complete online guide to theevents, projects and activities taking placewithin the Canadian Model Forest Network(CMFN).

Canadian Sustainable Forestry Certifi-cation CoalitionMark Hubert, Director, Sustainable ForestManagement Policy, Forest Products

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Association of Canada (FPAC)99 Bank, Suite 410Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6B9(613) 563-1441, ext. 310website: www.sfms.com/coaliti/htm

Certified Forest Products Council721 NW 9th Ave, Suite 300Portland, OR 97209(503) 224-2205 Fax: (503) [email protected]: http://www.certifiedwood.org/

An independent, not-for-profit, voluntaryinitiative committed to promotingresponsible forest products buying practicesthroughout North America in an effort toimprove forest management practicesworldwide and promote Forest Steward-ship Council certified products.

Clark Forestry, Inc.Fred ClarkPO Box 88Baraboo, WI 53913(608) 356-2801 Fax: (608) [email protected]

Clark Forestry is a SmartWood certifiedresource management company meeting thesustainability guidelines of the ForestStewardship Council. The company pro-vides forest management services to privatelandowners and forestry cooperativesthroughout Wisconsin. Clark Forestry’sWoodland School provides in the field andclassroom education on forest relatedissues.

Community Forestry Resource CenterPhil Guillery or Katie Fernholz2105 First Avenue SouthMinneapolis, MN 55404(612) 870-3407 Fax: (612) [email protected] or [email protected]

website: www.forestrycenter.org

CFRC is a program of the Institute forAgriculture and Trade Policy, a private,non-profit organization. CFRC operates tosupport and assist forest owner cooperationand FSC certified products and markets.The CRFC website brings together in oneplace resources and information aboutsustainable forestry, certification, andcooperative solutions for forestland man-agement.

CooperationWorks1401 New York Avenue NW, Suite 1100Washington, DC(202) 383-5443 Fax: (202) 638-1374

Working through a unified system ofcooperative development centers anddevelopment partners, CooperationWorksprovides high-quality professional servicesand leading edge cooperative solutions.Members of CW include the NationalCooperative Business Association and theCooperative Development Foundation andmore than ten regional cooperative devel-opment partners. The formation of sustain-able forestry cooperatives is a nationalpriority for CW.

Cooperative Development InstituteRoger Allbee or Lynn Benander277 Federal St.Greenfield, MA 01304(413) 774-7599 Fax: (413) [email protected]: www.cooplife.com

CDI has been building cooperative leader-ship and enterprises in New England andNew York since 1994. CDI provides arange of cooperative development servicesto new and established co-ops, includingsustainable forestry cooperatives. CDI is amember of CooperationWorks.

Sustainable Forestry ResourcesAppendix C

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Cooperative Development ServicesE.G. Nadeau or Isaac Nadeau131 West Wilson Street, Suite 400Madison, WI 53703(608) 258-4396 Fax: (608) [email protected]: www.cdsus.coop

Cooperative Development Services (CDS)is a private, nonprofit corporation.Founded in 1985, CDS provides profes-sional business development and planningservices to cooperatives and communities.CDS, a member of CooperationWorks, iscurrently assisting numerous groups in theUpper Midwest to form sustainable forestryassociations and cooperatives.

Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance FundLukata MjumbePO Box 95Epes, AL 35460Tel: (205) 652-9676 Fax: (205) [email protected]:www.federationsoutherncoop.com

FSC links minority landowners, and pro-vides support and education to membersand landowners to help them manage theirland. The Federation is carrying out amulti-year community forestry project withfunding from the Ford Foundation. FSC isa member of CooperationWorks.

Forest Industry Safety Training Alli-ance (FISTA)Don Peterson6343 Hwy 8 WestRhinelander, WI 54501(800) [email protected]

FISTA provides training programs onlogging and other forestry activities forforestry professionals and woodlandowners. FISTA staff also coordinate“Game of Logging” (GOL) training pro-grams, which teach chain saw safety tologgers, foresters, homeowners, landown-ers, tree farm operators and others.

Forest Applications Training, Inc.

administers GOL nationally and can bereached at (800) 208-6171, pin #1235, orthrough their website: www.forestapps.com

Forest Stewards GuildP.O. Box 8309Santa Fe, NM 87504-8309Tel: (505) 983-3887 Fax: (505) 986-0798website: www.foreststewardsguild.org/

The mission of the Guild is to promoteecologically responsible resource manage-ment that sustains the entire landscape. TheGuild provides a forum and support systemfor practicing professionals working toadvance this vision.

Forest Stewardship Councilwebsite: http://www.fscoax.org/

The Forest Stewardship Council is intro-ducing an international labeling scheme forforest products, which provides a credibleguarantee that the product comes from awell managed forest. All forest productscarrying our logo have been independentlycertified as coming from forests that meetthe internationally recognized FSC Prin-ciples and Criteria of Forest Stewardship.In this way FSC provides an incentive in themarket place for good forest stewardship.

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Forest Stewardship Programwebsite: http://www.foreststeward.org/

The Forest Stewardship Program providesvoluntary, long-range conservation planningassistance for individual landowners. Thiswebsite provides links to forest stewardshipprograms by state.

ForestWorld.comwebsite: http://forestworld.com/

ForestWorld is becoming the Internet’smost dynamic certified forest productsmarketplace, featuring the ForestWorldExchange, searchable databases, dailynews, and other services designed to buildan online community in the certified forestproducts industry.

Maine Low Impact Forestry ProjectRon PoitrasHancock County Planning CommissionRFD 4 Box 22Ellsworth, ME 04605(207) 667-7131 Fax: (207) [email protected]: www.acadia.net/hcpc/home.html

Maine Professional LoggingContractorsSandy BrawdersP.O. Box 400Fort Kent, ME 04743888-300-6614

Masconomo ForestryPeter Bundy101 West Main StreetCrosby,. MN 56441(218) [email protected]

Masconomo Forestry is an FSC-certifiedresource management company.

Mississippi Center for CooperativeDevelopmentMelbah Smith or Ben BurkettP.O. Box 22786Jackson, MS 29225(601) 354-2750 Fax: (601) [email protected]:www.cooperativedevelopment.org

Provides technical assistance for coopera-tive development, including forest coopera-tives. The Center is a member ofCooperationWorks.

National Network of Forest Practitio-ners: National Community ForestryCenterThomas Brendler29 Temple Place, Suite 200Boston, MA 02111phone: 617.338.7821 Fax: [email protected]: www.nnfp.org

The National Community Forestry Center(NCFC) emphasizes research, education,and practice with people who live and workin forested and natural resource dependentcommunities. NCFC activities support ruralpeople, researchers, and policy-makers tocooperate to produce and use informationto make better decisions about naturalresource management. The NCFC is acollaborative program of the NationalNetwork of Forest Practitioners (NNFP) incooperation with four member organiza-tions: the Forest Trust (Southwest ForestRegional Center), Forest CommunityResearch (Pacific West Forest RegionalCenter), Mountain Association for Commu-nity Economic Development (AppalachianForest Regional Center), and Yellow WoodAssociates (Northern Forest RegionalCenter).


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National Wildlife FederationNortheast Natural Resource CenterStacy Brown or Mark Lorenzo58 State St.Montpelier, VT 05602(802) 229-0650 Fax: (802) 229-4532website: www.nwf.org/northeast

The National Wildlife Federation partnerswith SmartWood through its NortheastNatural Resource Center. NWF/SmartWood has certified more than880,000 acres of northeastern U.S. forest-land, and 15 companies for chain-of-custody.

New England Forestry FoundationCharles Thompson or Jim HeyesP.O. Box 1099Groton, MA 01450(978) 448-8389 Fax: (978) [email protected]: www.neforestry.org

The New England Forestry Foundation is anon-profit organization that promotesconservation and sustainable managementof private forest lands through forestmanagement demonstration, land conserva-tion assistance, and participation in regionalforest policy issues.

Northcountry Cooperative Develop-ment FundSean Doyle1219 University Ave SEMinneapolis, MN 55414(612) [email protected]: www.ncdf.org

NCDF is a member-owned and member-governed financial intermediary representinga pool of money invested by the co-opcommunity and its supporters to act as acatalyst for the growth and development of

cooperative enterprises. The Fund’s missionis to promote economic equity and commu-nity stability by making loans to coopera-tives, thus fostering enterprises owneddemocratically by the people who use them.

OIK/OSwebsite: http://www.eco2eco.net/

A simple map-based interface allows you tocreate charts and graphs of economictrends for selected geographic areas(Northeastern U.S.). The OIK/OS applica-tion links economics and ecology and helpsillustrate economic trends associated withplaces on the map. The Wilderness Societyand the Vermont Center for GeographicInformation present OIK/OS as a resourcefor researchers, activists, and others whoneed economic information to aid conserva-tion and sustainable development efforts.

Ohio Cooperative Development CenterTravis West1864 Shyville Rd.Piketon, OH [email protected]

OCDC’s goal is to enhance economicdevelopment in rural Ohio by establishingnew cooperatives and strengthening existingcooperatives. OCDC’s approach to thisgoal is through technical assistance, out-reach, and training and education to coop-eratives.

On-Line Bibliography of NorthernHardwood Literaturewebsite:http://forestry.mtu.edu/hardwood/

The Northern Hardwoods Subcommittee ofthe Lake States Forest and EcosystemManagement Cooperative (LS-FOREM)has developed a searchable on-line bibliog-

raphy of northern hardwood (maple-beech-birch) literature.

OSHA Logging Advisorwebsite: http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/logging_advisor/mainpage.html

By many measures, logging is the mosthazardous industry in the United States,particularly the activity of manual felling.This Advisor outlines the required andrecommended work practices that canreduce logging hazards.

Rocky Mountain Farmers UnionCooperative Development CenterJohn Stencel, President10800 East Bethany DriveAurora, CO 80014(303) 752-5800 Fax: (303) [email protected]

Since 1994, RMFUCDC has providedcritical services and assistance to exploremarketing and processing alternatives for allkinds of agricultural producers in the ruralWest. The Center is a member ofCooperationWorks.

Rural ActionColin DonohuePO Box 157Trimble, OH 45782(740) 767-4938 Fax: (740) [email protected]: www.ruralaction.org

Rural Action provides support to communi-ties in Appalachian Ohio through leadershipand education towards the goal of ruralrenewal. Rural Action has a multi-yearcommunity-based forestry grant from theFord Foundation. The forestry project hasa strong emphasis on non-timber forestproducts.

SmartWoodInternational headquarters:Goodwin Baker Building65 Millet Street, Suite 201Richmond, VT 05477(802) 434-5491 Fax: (802) 434-3116info@smartwoodwebsite: www.smartwood.org

Northern USA:Dave Bubser, Regional Manager101 East 5th St.Suite 208Northfield, MN 55057Tel: (507)663-1115Cell: (814)541-3813Fax: (507)[email protected]

SmartWood is a non-profit organizationworking to improve forestry practicesworldwide by certifying sustainable forestmanagement and wood products busi-nesses. Founded by the Rainforest Alliancein 1989, it is the most extensive forestcertification program in the world. It hasreceived international accreditation throughthe Forest Stewardship Council.SmartWood’s regional experts work intropical, temperate, and boreal forests toreduce the environmental damage causedby wood harvesting and to maximize thepositive impacts of commercial forestry onlocal communities.

Timber Tax Informationwebsite: www.timbertax.org

The US Forest Service and Purdue Univer-sity have created a comprehensive websiteabout timberland taxes. Note that there isinfo on both income and property taxes.


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United States Department of Agricul-ture (USDA): Rural Business/Coopera-tive Development ServiceAG Box 3255Washington, DC 20250-3255(202) 720-6483 Fax (202) 720-4641website: www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs

USDA Rural Business/ CooperativeDevelopment Service provides technicalassistance, maintains statistics, facilitatesresearch and disseminates information oncooperatives. USDA has cooperativedevelopment specialists in most states thatcan help with Forestry Cooperative devel-opment. Check the website for contactinformation of the nearest cooperativespecialist.

University of Wisconsin Center forCooperativesKim Zeuli230 Taylor Hall427 Lorch StreetMadison, WI 53706(608) 262-3981 Fax: (608) [email protected]: www.wisc.edu/uwcc

The University of Wisconsin Center forCooperative’s mission is to study, researchand promote cooperative action as a meansof meeting the economic and social needsof people. UWCC has been serving theneeds of cooperatives, cooperative-likeorganizations and people interested incooperatives since 1964. The Center has aworld-renowned website full of informationabout cooperatives, and a cooperativelibrary that is open to the public. For aschedule of educational programs, visit thewebsite or contact the Center. The Centeris working closely with CDS and theCommunity Forestry Resource Center onthe development of sustainable forestry co-ops.

White Earth Land Recovery Project32033 East Round Lake Rd.Ponsford, MN 56575888-779-3577 Fax: [email protected]: www.welrp.org/

The mission of the White Earth LandRecovery Project is to facilitate recovery ofthe original land base of the White EarthIndian Reservation, while preserving andrestoring traditional practices of sound landstewardship, language fluency, communitydevelopment, and strengthening our spiritualand cultural heritage.

Winrock International’s ArkansasRural Enterprise CenterAnnett Pagan, Director38 Winrock DriveMorrilton, AR 72110(501) 727-5435 ext. 228Fax: (501) 727-5499website: www.winrock.org

Developed a cooperative model for thepurpose of assisting smaller landowners totake advantage of the market for carboncredits. Winrock is a member ofCooperationWorks.

Wisconsin Department of NaturalResources — Division of ForestryPaul PingreyP.O. Box 7921Madison, WI 53707(608) [email protected]

DNR forestry assistance includes initialguidance to landowners (a property walk-through, written forestry plans, and referralsto private enterprises that can help), forestincentive programs providing cost-sharingand property tax relief, woodland improve-ment and protection advice, and educa-tional programs for landowners.

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Woodnet Development Council

Based in Idaho, the Woodnet DevelopmentCouncil is dedicated to small-scale, economi-cally and environmentally sustainable forestenterprises.

WoodWise Consumer InitiativeCo-op America, 1612 K Street NW,Washington, DC 20006.Tel: 202-872-5307 Fax: 202-331-8166website: http://www.woodwise.org/

Co-op America and eleven leading environ-mental organizations developed a websiteand guide for consumers. The guide in-cludes tips on how to save forests, time, andmoney.

Publications & Websites

Across the Fences: A Primer on Commu-nity-Based Forestry Cooperatives for NewEnglandBy Mark Lorenzo. 2001. Montpelier,Vermont: National Network of ForestPractitioners and National Wildlife Federa-tion

An Introduction to Forest Certification.Summarizes the steps of the certificationprocess. July 2000. Published by OregonState University Extension Service. Writtenby Mark Rickenbach, former OSU Exten-sion forestry research associate and currentExtension forestry specialist at University ofWisconsin–Madison; and Rick Fletcher,Extension forestry agent, Benton County,and associate director, The SustainableForestry Partnership. Please call MarkRickenbach for a copy (608/262-0134).

Approaches to Ecologically Based ForestManagement on Private Lands. JohnKotar, University of MN Extension, 1997.An excellent guide to the basic consider-ations in developing a forest management

plan. Available free from the USDA ForestService Office, 1992 Folwell Ave, ST Paul,MN. 55108 or online at http://willow.ncfes.umn.edu/pubs/misc/ecoforest/toc/htm

Finding the Forest. By Peter Bundy.Masconomo Forestry, Crosby MN. 1999“This book is ideal for landowners who lovetrees but are honest enough to appreciatethat this book is printed on paper. The easyreading essays lead to an education inconservation before the reader even knowsit.”

Landowner Guide to Forest Certification.Mark Rickenbach and Rick Fletcher.Provides a way for landowners to see if theyare ready for certification. Covers fourdifferent certification systems: AmericanTree Farm System; Green Tag Forestry;Forest Stewardship Council; and SustainableForestry Initiative. Published by OregonState University Extension Service. MarkRickenbach is a former OSU Extensionforestry research associate and currentExtension forestry specialist at University ofWisconsin–Madison. Rick Fletcher is anExtension forestry agent in Benton County,and associate director of The SustainableForestry Partnership. Please call MarkRickenbach for a copy (608/262-0134).

A Planning Guide For Small and MediumSize Woodlot Products Compnaies: TheKeys to Success. Jeff Howe and SteveBratkovich. Published by United StatesDepartment of Agriculture. Forest Service.Northeastern Area State and Private For-estry. St. Paul, MN. NA-TP-09-95. Sep-tember, 1995. Serves as a guide for writingstrategic plans, marketing plans, and businessplans.

Canadian Journal of Forest Researchwebsite: http://www.nrc.ca/cisti/journals/tocfor.html


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This monthly journal has been ranked as oneof the top three journals in its field for thepast decade by Institute for ScientificInformation, Inc. Articles are from interna-tional and Canadian sources and cover awide variety of forest-related topics. Thetables of contents, abstracts in English andFrench, and ordering information for theonline and print full text is available at thissite.

Climate Change Library Websitewebsite: http://www.unfccc.int/The Climate Change Secretariat recentlylaunched their “public” library website. Theobjective of the website is to link users ofclimate change information to resourceproviders. A key new feature are the linksto the websites of all those involved in theUNFCCC process including: Parties of theConvention, Observer States, AccreditedNGOs, IGO’s and UN and SpecializedAgencies. Of special interest is the link toonline resources such as: glossaries, newslet-ters, annual reports, full-text documents,climate change search engines and manyother electronic tools. To locate the Librarywebsite, go to the UNFCCC website at:www.unfccc.int and click on “Resources”.

Conservation Ecologywebsite: http://www.consecol.org/Journal/Conservation Ecology is an electronic, peer-reviewed, scientific journal devoted to therapid dissemination of current research. Thejournal is published continuously on theInternet. As articles are accepted, they arepublished in an “Issue in Progress.” At sixmonth intervals the Issue in Progress isdeclared a New Issue.

Developing Ideas Digestwebsite: http://iisd1.iisd.ca/didigest/This is a bimonthly publication that is pub-lished by the International Institute forSustainable Development. The goal of thepublishers is to “provide a snapshot of the

most influential ideas shaping the interna-tional sustainable development dialogue.”Each issue is devoted to a specific topic.

Forest Magazinewebsite: http://www.forestmag.org/At the heart of Forest Magazine areAmerica’s national forests. One in every 12acres in the United States is part of anational forest. They are America’s play-ground, the source of our rivers, the home ofwild things, the lungs of the continent. Yetthey are threatened: by logging, mining, andurban encroachment.

Forest Service On-Line Publicationswebsite: http://willow.ncfes.umn.edu/snti/pubs/pubhp.htmThis website lists and links to additional on-line sources of forestry publications andinformation.

Independent Sawmill and WoodlotManagement MagazineP.O. Box 1149Bangor ME 04402-1149Tel: (207) 945-9469 or 888-290-9469Fax: (207) [email protected]: www.sawmillmag.comThis magazine serves as a hands-on guidefor portable sawmillers and small woodlotowners.

Resources for Non-TimberForestry

Farming the Forest for Specialty Prod-ucts: Proceeding of the North AmericanConference on Enterprise DevelopmentThrough Agroforestry.Hosted by The Center for Integrated NaturalResources and Agricultural Management –University of Minnesota, Dec., 1999.Available from: CINRAM 1530 ClevelandAve. North, 115 Green Hall, St. Paul MN55108 (235 pages). This proceeding includes

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multiple aspects of NTSFPs: food, health-care and personal products, decorative andaesthetic products, landscape and gardenproducts, manufacturing and environmentalproducts, eco-tourism.

Forest Pharmacy: Medicinal Plants inAmerican Forests.Steven Foster, Forest History Society,Durham, North Carolina, 1995. This book isa classic primer on the ethnobotany ofmedicinal plants.

Frontier Natural Products CooperativeTim BlakleyErica Renaud3021 78th St.P.O. Box 299Norway, IA 52318(319) 227 - 7996website: www.frontiercoop.com

Frontier purchases, processes and marketsherbs and other natural products. The co-ophosts an annual two-day summer “Herbfest”with workshops, demonstrations and semi-nars for beginning growers through ad-vanced growers. See their website for moreinformation.

Herb Growing and Marketing NetworkP.O. Box 245Silver Spring, PA 17575website: www.herbnet.com

The Network is a non-profit informationservice and trade association for the herbindustry. It offers publications, proceedingsfrom conferences, and bi-monthly newsletter,Herbnet.

Income Opportunities in Special ForestProducts: Self-Help Suggestions for RuralEntrepreneurs.USDA, Forest Service, Ag. Info. Bulletin#666, Washington D.C. 1993.

National Center for the Preservation ofMedicinal Herbs333560 Beech Grove Rd.Rutland, OH 45775website: www.ncpmh.org

The Center is a non-profit organizationwhose aim is to determine successfulcultivation methods of critical-to-cultivateherbs in order to curb the need to harvestthese plants from the wild and ensure theirfuture survival.

Natural Resource Income Opportunitiesfor Private Lands.Proceedings and papers from a conference,Hagerstown, MD, 1998 (275 pages). Avail-able from: University of Maryland Coopera-tive Extension Service, College Park MD.

Non-Timber Forest Products in theUnited Stateswebsite: http://www.ifcae.org/ntfp/This website contains conservation anddevelopment information on commercial,recreational, and subsistence extraction ofnon-timber forest products (NTFP). Topicscovered include cultural, ecological, eco-nomic, geographic, and political aspects ofNTFP’s. Though the primary focus of thiswebsite is on the U.S., other researchers willfind plenty of useful information as well.

United Plant SaversP.O. Box 98East Barre, VT 05649website: www.plantsavers.org

United Plant Savers is a non-profit organiza-tion dedicated to raising public awareness ofthe plight of our wild medicinal plants and toprotecting these plants through organiccultivation, sustainable agricultural practices,and the replanting of native medicinalspecies back into their natural habitats.UPS carries out educational events andpublishes a newsletter and the NativeMedicinal Plant Nursery Directory.


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Glossary

Biodiversity — The variability among living organisms on the earth or in a given area, includingthe variability within and between species and within and between ecosystems.

Board of Directors — A small group of people elected by the membership of a co-op, andresponsible for making decisions for the direction and activities of the co-op. Responsibilities ofa board might include raising initial financing, drafting or revising bylaws, setting policy, hiringpersonnel, and being in close communication with the general membership.

Business Plan — The document that outlines the development and operation of the co-op andprovides supporting documentation for potential members, financial institutions, and other inves-tors. The business plan is constantly revised and adjusted as the needs and expectations of theco-op change.

Bylaws — A document written by a cooperative’s board of directors or steering committee thatdescribes the basic method of operation of the co-op: who can be members, how the board ofdirectors and officers are elected, how decisions are made by the board and members, etc.

Capitalization — The process of securing the money required to begin operations of a business,including building infrastructure, initial employee salaries, and other costs related to develop-ment.

Character wood — Character wood includes burls, fletches, crotches, wood with unusual graining,and other qualities in a wide range of species. These qualities render the wood of little or novalue in the traditional timber industry, but of high value to furniture-makers, wood carvers, andothers in the woodworking community.

Conservation easement — A legally binding agreement between a landowner and a trust toensure that the land is managed in perpetuity according to conservation practices outlined in theagreement. In many cases, development rights are sold to the trust, which makes a commitmentnot to exercise them. Often, this results in decreased property taxes for the landowner. A work-ing forest easement is a type of conservation easement that allows for sustainable harvesting.

Cooperative — A business that is owned and controlled by the people who use it. Its primarypurpose is to provide goods and/or services to its members.

Ecology — The study of the relationships between the living and non-living parts of a naturalsystem.

Ecosystem — All of the living and non-living elements in a given area, together with theirinteractions and interrelationships.

Feasibility study — The process of reviewing the pros and cons of proceeding with the devel-opment of the co-op. A feasibility study seeks to determine whether there are any insurmount-able obstacles to the development of a successful co-op.

Forest management plan or forest stewardship plan — A document written by a partnershipof landowner, forester, and logger outlining the landowner’s economic and ecological goals forhis or her woodland, and detailing the short and long term management strategies for achievingthose goals.

Glossary

High-grade logging (“high-grading”) — The practice of taking the largest, oldest, and mostvaluable trees out of the forest, which often leads to an impoverished forest habitat.

Incorporation — The process by which a co-op, non-profit, or for-profit business becomes alegally recognized entity authorized by the state to do business under the laws applicable to anincorporated business. Forming a corporation limits the liability of individuals associated with it.

Invasive or exotic species — Any species that inhabits an area to which it is not native. Often,these “introduced” species are able to out-compete native species for limited available resources.

Limited liability company — A business structure that is a hybrid of a partnership and acorporation. Its owners are shielded from personal liability and all profits and losses pass directlyto the owners without taxation of the entity itself.

Mission statement — A formal statement that clearly and concisely articulates the fundamentalreason-for-being of a co-op, association, or other business; states what the co-op does, why, andfor whom.

Non-profit Association — A group legally incorporated to provide services to members, muchlike a cooperative, but unable to distribute profits to members. Any revenue generated by a non-profit association must either be reinvested in association activities or donated to another non-profit. Some non-profits are exempt from some taxes.

Steering committee — Initial group of people interested in the formation of a co-op who agreeto meet regularly to pursue the development of a co-op.

Sustainable — Any activity that conserves, maintains, or improves the social, economic, andecological well-being of a given community without compromising these qualities in anothercommunity.

Third-party certification — Certification by an independent body indicating that a given setof standards is being met. For example, SmartWood is a third-party organization providingauditing services to determine whether a given forest stand meets the standards ofsustainability set forth by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Timber aggregation — Collection of harvested trees from multiple sources to a common sortyard for the purpose of increasing efficiency of processing or delivery to buyers.

Timber stand improvement — “Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) consists of practicesdesigned to produce more and better quality wood products off a given area by improving thequality and species composition of the stand and by increasing, or at least preventing a de-crease in, the rate of growth of the residual or crop trees in the stand. This is usually donethrough a process of cutting or deadening undesirable vegetation which is competing forsunlight or other elements necessary for growth with the desired or crop trees in the stand, orwhich has a degrading effect on the stand” (definition from Duane Bristow, Forest Manage-ment Workshop Manual, 1995. www.webcom.com/duane/wood/woodindx.html).

Value-added Processing — Any conversion of timber from its “raw” state into a more“finished” state. Examples include sawing, kiln-drying, milling, and furniture making.

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Index

Adirondacks Park Sustainable Forestry Project 7, 30

American Tree Farm System 77, 78

Articles of Incorporation 31

Athol Forestry Co-operative 18, 19

Board of Directors 15, 24, 25, 31, 38, 43-45, 49,55, 60, 62, 67

Business Planning 24, 32, 35, 38-41, 43, 45, 49,62-65

Bylaws 31, 38, 43, 44, 56, 57

Carbon Offset Project 16

Community Forestry Resource Center (CFRC) 30, 31, 77, 89

Conservation easements 77

Cook County Forestry Cooperative 35, 36, 38

Cooperative Development Services (CDS) 38, 49, 62, 89

Cooperation – definition of 2, 11, 23

Cooperatives – alliances, partnerships between 14, 68, 69, 83, 87

Cooperatives – benefits and services of 3, 7, 9-12, 14, 15, 37, 41, 64,75, 79-82; also see margininsets in Part II

Cooperatives – examples of 6-7, 14-16, 19-20, 27, 30, 33,36, 38, 41, 44, 48, 63, 80, 83

Feasibility analysis 29, 37-39

Federation of Southern Cooperatives 16, 17

Financing 24, 45, 47, 69

FISTA 75

Forest certification 19, 30, 47, 76

Forest degradation, fragmentation 2, 5, 7

Forest Management Trust 16

Forest Stewardship Council 7, 16, 19, 30, 48, 62, 76-78

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Forest stewardship plans 74, 78

Forestry cooperatives – definition of 2

Forestry cooperatives – history of 1

Fundraising 29

Hiawatha Sustainable Woods Cooperative (HSWC) 10, 26

Invasive species 64, 68, 74, 80

Kickapoo Wood Cooperative (KWC) 36, 38, 41, 80, 83

Land Trust Alliance 77

Living Forest Cooperative (LFC) 26, 44, 48, 83

Low-impact (sustainable) logging 14, 63, 75-76

Maine Low-impact Forestry Project 75

Management plans 3-4, 7, 9-11, 15, 30, 41, 47,62, 64, 69, 71-72, 74-79

Marketing 11-12, 14-15, 19, 23, 36-37,40-41, 45, 47-48, 61, 63, 74,77, 79-84, 86-87

Marketing – joint 83, 87

Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative 14, 27, 33

Massachusetts Woodlands Institute 14, 33

Member education and recruitment 9-11, 36, 40-41, 47-48, 61,63, 67-69, 71, 78-80, 86

Menominee Tribal Enterprises 6, 20

Mission statement 26, 38

Mississippi Association of Cooperatives 16

National Demonstration Program in Community-Based Forestry 16

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) 3, 16, 68, 72, 79, 84, 86-87

Operations 49

Ozark Landowners’ Association 16

Index

H-2

Partners In Forestry Landowners Association 14, 33

Personnel 24, 40, 43, 47-48, 56, 58, 68,84

Prairie Ridge Forest Stewardship Cooperative 80

Prairie’s Edge Sustainable Woods Cooperative 63

RESAM 19

SmartWood 7, 20, 30, 47

Societe sylvicole des Laurentides 18, 77

Steering Committee 24-27, 29, 31-33, 35-40, 43-44, 51, 55, 60-62, 64

Sustainable forestry cooperative – definition of 21

Sustainable forest management 4, 10, 16, 19, 71

Sustainable Woods Cooperative (SWC) 3, 12, 83

University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives (UWCC) 44, 55, 58, 60, 89

Value-added processing 12, 33, 41, 45, 62, 79, 82, 86

Vermont Family Forests (VFF) 48, 65, 83

Western Upper Peninsula Forest Improvement District (WUPFID) 2, 15, 74, 81

Winrock International 16, 17

Wisconsin Family Forests (WFF) 6, 33, 40, 48

Woodlot Stewardship Co-operative 19

Working forest easements 77-78

Index

H-3

BALANCING ECOLOGY and ECONOMICS

Education

Transcript of BALANCING ECOLOGY and ECONOMICS