Forest Certification - Divisions

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Our Continued Commitment to Sustainable Forest Management

On February 12, 2004, Abitibi-Consolidated achieved Canadian Standards Association (CSA) certification (CAN/CSA Z809 standard) of our Sustainable Forest Management practices on the Iroquois Falls and Nighthawk Forests, which extend from the Quebec border in the east to the north, south and west of Cochrane and Timmins (Ontario), and covers approximately 1.6 million hectares of Crown land. In addition, we have successfully included our private land (Smooth Rock Falls Freehold) during a scope expansion audit conducted in February, 2005.

The CSA standard is Canada's national standard for certifying that a forest is being managed in a sustainable manner. In order to become certified, the Society developed a Sustainable Forest Management Plan (SFM plan), which outlines and addresses the range of social, environmental, and economic issues critical for the long-term health and vitality of the forest. The SFM plan was developed to ensure that Abitibi-Consolidated's forest management practices show continuous improvement, based on a higher level of public accountability associated with the CSA standard. The SFM plan was developed through a process that included broad public consultation, and verification through an independent third party audit. Ontario-East Woodlands has also renewed its ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) registration which has been in place since May 22, 2000.

The CSA Standard requires adherence to a suite of broadly accepted Canadian criteria for evaluating sustainable forest management - that is the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers (CCFM) set of Sustainable Forest Management criteria. The criteria address many key aspects of forest management including:

1. Conservation of biological diversity;
2. Maintenance and enhancement of forest ecosystem condition and productivity;
3. Conservation of soil and water resources;
4. Forest ecosystem contributions to global ecological cycles;
5. Multiple benefits to society;
6. Accepting society's responsibility for sustainable development.

Each of these criteria has a number of "CSA SFM Elements" that further define the criteria, and were addressed during the development of the SFM Plan. In order to meet the requirements of the standard, Ontario-East Woodlands worked with the public to identify local values, goals, indicators and objectives that reflect these national criteria and then incorporated them into their Sustainable Forest Management Plan and practices.

Background information

Our Ontario-East Woodlands Environmental and Sustainable Forest Management Policy, Background Information Package and the Terms of Reference for the development of the SFM plan are provided below. 

The terms of reference for the development of the SFM plan and the background information package are provided below:

Policy - Environmental and Sustainable Forest Management (291KB)

Background information package part 1( 2.2 MB)

Background information package part 2 (1.5MB)

Terms of reference ( 1.0MB)

Sustainable Forest Management Plan

Sustainable Forest Management has always been of paramount importance to the management of Crown lands in Ontario, as identified in the Crown Forest Sustainability Act (1994). Abitibi-Consolidated and predecessor companies have demonstrated a record of Sustainable Forest Management in the Iroquois Falls and Nighthawk Forests, in keeping with forest management planning system in Ontario. Abitibi-Consolidated has recently completed a Forest Management Plan for the Nighthawk Forest (covering the term for 2003-2023), and the private land (covering the term 2003-2013). The newest Iroquois Falls Forest Management Plan is being developed, which will be available in 2005 (covering the term for 2005-2025). Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources approved the Forest Managment Plan on crown land.

An assessment of sustainability was required during the development of this Forest Management Plan; however, the indicators of sustainability and performance standards associated with the Forest Management Plan do not fully satisfy the requirements of the CAN/CSA Z809-02 standard. The SFM Plan found below was developed to address these gaps, and develop a comprehensive system for ensuring Sustainable Forest Management.

It is important to note that these initiatives were undertaken by Abitibi-Consolidated; outside of any legislative process or requirement in Ontario, and that our overall goal is to improve our forest management practices on the forest.
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Table of Contents (323 Kb)
Section 1 - Introduction (47Kb)
Section 2 - Guiding Principles (26Kb)
Section 3 - Planning (327Kb)
Section 4 - Planning Process (81Kb)
Section 5 - Performance Indicators (370Kb)
Section 6 - CSA Requirements (110Kb)
Section 7 - References (29Kb)
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Appendix A - CSA-Z809-02 Requirements (58Kb)
Appendix B - Performance Indicators for the Defined Forest Area (103Kb)
Appendix C - Indicator Assessment Matrix (73Kb)
Appendix D1 - Public Input Summary (83Kb)
Appendix D2 - Public Survey Results (181Kb)
Appendix E - Management Review Summary (301Kb)
Appendix F - 2000 Iroquois Falls Forest Management Plan Summary (1.8Mb)
Appendix G - 2003 Nighthawk Forest Management Plan Summary (3.3Mb)
Appendix H - 2002 Smooth Rock Falls Freehold (1.5Mb)


Your opinion matters

We would like to know how you feel about sustainability issues in the Iroquois Falls and Nighthawk Forests. What values are important for the management of the forest? What should the forest look like in the future? How should sustainability be measured? Your opinion can help shape the future. Please take the time to answer the public survey

Print & Mail Public Opinion Survey - English (1.6Mb)
Print & Mail Public Opinion Survey - French (1.8Mb)

On-line Public Opinion Survey

Your comments are always welcome. Comments received will be documented for review during our annual management review and during the development of our next Forest Management Plan (FMP) scheduled to begin early in 2006 for the Nighthawk Forest.

Audits

QMI - a leading management systems registrar, conducts extensive audits to determine if our FEMS and SFM Plan meet all the requirements of the CAN/CSA Z809-02 standard. The results of these audits are found below. Certification is required every 5-years. Annually, a certified third-party auditor is required to review our system for compliance and continual improvement.

Certification Audit Report - February 2004 (124 Kb)
Scope Expansion/Surveillance Audit Report - February 2005 (144 Kb)
Surveillance Audit Report - September 2005 (157 Kb)
Reassessment Audit Report - February 2006 (171 Kb)
Surveillance Audit Report - March 2007 (206 Kb)


Annual Achievements

2004/05 Sustainable Forest Management Report (1.2 Mb)
2005/06 Sustainable Forest Management Report (1.4 Mb)

More information

About Ontario-East Woodlands Operations

Map of woodlands operations