Environmental Stewardship
Introduction
For more than a century, International Paper has been a leader in the paper and forest products industry, and we strive to lead by example. Nowhere is this more evident than in our forest management practices. From seedling to harvest, we work diligently to balance timber production for paper and wood products with the need to keep our forests across the globe healthy, productive and vibrant for today and future generations.
Sustainability is at the core of our operating philosophy. With world population expected to approach 9 billion by 2050, sustainable forestry is more than just a corporate ideal. International Paper and sustainable forestry go hand in hand. It is a business practice that is at the absolute core of the way we manage for today and the future. By practicing sustainable forestry, International Paper helps ensure that our 10 million acres of U.S. forestland and another 10 million acres we own, manage or have interest in worldwide will provide a continuous supply of wood fiber for the products our customers want and need. We also ensure our forests will support clean air and water, diverse wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities and aesthetic beauty.
By managing our forest resources responsibly, our business is truly sustainable in a way that few others can be. International Paper manages its forests in the United States according to the principles of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)SM program, government regulations, Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the protection of soil and water quality and our own internal guidelines. All of our U.S. forestlands have been third-party audited and certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard (SFIS)SM, and our forest management system is certified to the internationally recognized ISO 14001 environmental management system standard. We are also pursuing a third-party certification process on our forestlands outside the United States.
Our goal is to spread our core environmental values and sustainable practices everywhere we operate worldwide. To help achieve our goal, we will continue to share best forestry practices with our employees, customers and communities on how International Paper manages its forests.
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What is Sustainable Forestry
What is sustainable forestry? It is the practice of managing and conserving all forest resources to meet the needs of society today and for future generations. International Paper plants, grows and harvests more trees than anyone else in the world. But forestry is more than just planting and growing trees. Our commitment extends to the entire forest environment – trees and other plants, wildlife, soils, air and water – worldwide.
We use environmentally responsible practices to continually improve the health and productivity of our own forestlands while actively promoting sustainable forestry management to others, including forestry professionals, contractors and non-industrial private landowners. We also partner with a broad range of environmental, academic and governmental organizations to find innovative new ways to promote responsible resource stewardship and to identify and protect areas of high conservation value.
International Paper’s sustainable forestry management clearly demonstrates that the continual planting, growing and harvesting of trees and a healthy, vibrant forest ecosystem are not mutually exclusive. While producing more wood fiber per acre in less time than ever before, our forestlands continue to thrive, providing a diversity of landscapes, wildlife habitat, public green spaces and other desirable benefits.
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Managing the Forest Lanscape
International Paper’s sustainable forest management has two equally important objectives: to keep our forests healthy and productive for future generations and to meet our company’s economic goals. We use a variety of tools to balance these objectives. For example, our Forest PatternsTM system is helping identify the level of management needed on our forestlands to ensure economically and ecologically sound practices. We vary our practices to protect and conserve forestlands with special biological, geological or historical significance while managing our forestlands with less conservation value for wood fiber production.
Under our sustainable forestry guidelines, we plan our forest landscapes using a variety of species, age classes and stand densities, and we harvest using several methods, including clearcutting. Clearcutting is an acceptable and appropriate forest practice that does not damage the environment when planned and conducted in a responsible manner. It is especially useful for quickly establishing and growing tree seedlings that need a lot of sun to flourish. On average, we clearcut only about 2 percent of our forestlands annually. We integrate aesthetic considerations into our harvest planning, allowing harvested areas to reach five feet in height or three years of age before clearcutting on adjacent forestlands. We also maintain forest diversity breaks averaging 300 feet wide between clearcut areas to enhance visual appeal as well as to provide wildlife habitat and travel corridors.
Our foresters use prescribed fires to control underbrush, improve wildlife habitat and reduce the likelihood of disastrous wildfires that can damage forests, homes and property. We work closely with local, state and federal agencies to ensure controlled burns are conducted in a manner that minimizes smoke and protects the health and safety of employees and the community.
International Paper uses herbicides on about 2 percent of our lands annually to increase fiber yield. All chemical applications are carried out by licensed applicators in full compliance with laws and regulations. In the southern United States, we apply fertilizers on a site-specific basis to less than 5 percent of our lands annually to stimulate forest productivity. As an added benefit, this activity also improves the nutritional quality of plants consumed by wildlife.
In addition to providing other benefits to society, International Paper’s millions of acres of trees also absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that may contribute to global climate change. We know that growing trees in sustainably managed forests is one of the best ways to reduce carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere. In fact, growing trees and producing and using wood products may result in a net sequestration of carbon dioxide that exceeds emissions into the atmosphere. Preliminary results from a new International Paper study examining carbon flows – from our forestry activities through the manufacturing and disposition of finished products.
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Enhancing Wildlife Habitat and Biodiversity
One of International Paper’s most important sustainable forestry goals is to enhance wildlife habitat and biodiversity through our forest management practices. We integrate the needs of wildlife on our forestlands through day-to-day operations and specific resource and habitat conservation initiatives. Using tools such as the Geographic Information System (GIS), we are able to more effectively manage our forests at the landscape level to provide a greater diversity of wildlife species and habitat.
Federally listed threatened and endangered species are a top priority, and we work within the framework of the Endangered Species Act to maintain and enhance habitat for more than 30 federally protected species on our forestlands. Programs such as International Paper’s first-of-its-kind habitat conservation plan to protect red-cockaded woodpeckers on our forestlands have been praised by environmentalists as “bold, innovative and groundbreaking.” This U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-approved plan was the first in which a private landowner took steps to expand and enhance habitat for these endangered birds rather than simply maintaining existing habitat or relocating the birds to public forestlands. This habitat conservation plan established an economic incentive for the protection of an endangered species with the first red-cockaded woodpecker mitigation bank ever created in the southeast United States on private forestland.
We enhance our expertise and achieve continuous improvement in our wildlife-related forestry practices through our own research and through partnerships with nearly 100 environmental, academic and government organizations. For example, we conducted a three-year research study in cooperation with the National Audubon Society, the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement and others to determine the effects of active forest management on migratory songbirds, amphibian and reptiles. The study found that International Paper’s managed pine forests and harvested natural hardwood areas in South Carolina have a large, diverse community of breeding birds. These forestlands also have the second-highest recorded level of amphibian and reptile biodiversity recorded in the state, with more than 70 species counted. While this study clearly demonstrated the compatibility of active forest management with a broad diversity of species, it also highlighted the need to protect small, isolated, upland wetlands even more carefully than is prescribed in state best management practices. International Paper is incorporating the results of this study into its environmental management system and is transferring this knowledge across geographical areas where applicable.
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Making the Most of Our Forest
Our commitment to sustainability means making our forestlands as healthy and productive as possible. We invest millions of research dollars each year to find new and innovative ways to not only improve the health and growth of trees, but to improve water quality and protect biodiversity. Our managed forests are replanted with our SuperTreeTM seedlings, which are developed using traditional plant breeding techniques to grow faster, straighter and more disease-resistant. Our seedlings combined with state-of-the-art planting techniques yield stands that produce three to four times the wood volume of natural forests and more than twice the volume we produced just a decade ago. These higher growth rates allow International Paper to meet more of the demand for wood fiber, reducing marketplace pressures to harvest more sensitive areas such as public forestlands and high conservation value forests.
Results from soil surveys and our forestry research allow us to identify the best tree species to plant on a given soil and to select best management techniques that maximize site productivity. We are also able to minimize effects of forest management on our lands by pinpointing the need for fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, and then using these chemicals only on a site-specific basis. Understanding soil characteristics is also important in identifying essential habitat for wildlife. For example, a soil survey of our forestlands in the southern United States was instrumental in protecting habitat for two threatened species, the Red Hills salamander and gopher tortoise.
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Reforestation
International Paper’s SuperTreeTM seedlings are the foundation of our company’s global commitment to sustainable forestry management. We grow approximately 425 million seedlings annually in 16 nurseries and 25 orchards in the United States and abroad, making us the largest seedling grower in the world. More than 125 million of these seedlings are used annually in our own reforestation programs, while the balance are sold to public agencies and private landowners to reforest their lands.
Each year, we regenerate all forest acres we harvest. Our own sustainable forestry guidelines require all harvested areas to be regenerated within two planting seasons of harvest by replanting or within five planting seasons by managed natural reforestation.
We promote reforestation of non-company lands as well. Our wholly owned subsidiary, Sustainable Forestry Technologies Inc., provides direct assistance, expertise and SuperTreeTM seedlings to help private landowners reforest and sustainably manage their lands. We also participate in a variety of organizations such as the American Tree Farm System, which promotes reforestation and has certified the sustainable forestry practices of more than 25 million acres belonging to 66,000 private landowners.
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Protecting Water Quality
Clean water is vital to all forms of life on our planet and is a key principle of International Paper’s sustainable forestry management system. We minimize the effects of our forestry operations and protect water quality on our forestlands by complying with – and often exceeding – state Best Management Practices (BMPs). Scientific studies of managed forests containing streams and water bodies, including a study of 41 International Paper sites in eight states, show that implementing BMPs effectively protects water quality and prevents non-point source pollution. Streamside management zones provide an excellent example. Our foresters establish these zones as buffers beside bodies of water to prevent erosion and provide temperature-controlling shade to protect aquatic life. We carefully monitor water quality and buffer effectiveness on our forestlands using a variety of compliance checks and internal audits. In addition, third-party experts from state forestry agencies audit our field performance. To permanently protect unique bodies of water, such as the Altamaha River in Georgia and Town Creek in North Carolina, we use conservation easements – agreements that ensure land will never be developed and will remain forested in perpetuity. To continually improve water quality on our forestlands, we have invested millions of dollars over the last decade to fund water quality and riparian resources research.
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Managing Special Places
There are many sites on International Paper forestlands that have special biological, geological or historical significance. From scenic overlooks, waterfalls and caves to areas that support unique plants and animals, we manage these forestlands in a manner that takes into account their special qualities. We consider these areas to be so important that we included their conservation as one of our key Forest Management Principles and developed a special program to identify and safeguard them. Through our Special Places in the ForestTM program, we manage nearly 400 sites with unique qualities encompassing more than 28,000 acres. Working in partnership with organizations such as The Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy, state heritage programs and others, we continue to add sites to the program and develop innovative ways to protect and conserve them. For example:
- In cooperation with the Louisiana Nature Conservancy, we protect a 440-acre site that contains 16 plant species unique to the state.
- We partner with the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy to protect abandoned graphite mines in New York that are home to six species of hibernating bats, including the federally endangered Indiana bat.
- Along with the Virginia Division of Natural Heritage, we protect a 20-acre site that is home to the rare treetop emerald dragonfly.
In recent years, we have also protected more than 300,000 acres of ecologically sensitive forestland through land donations, discounted sales, conservation easements or fee sales to conservation organizations or public entities. For example, we donated 49,000 acres – our industry’s single-largest land donation ever – that became the core of the Great Dismal Swamp Refuge in Virginia. In keeping with International Paper’s commitment to protect special sites, we use no wood from endangered old-growth forests or rainforests.
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Efficient Use of Our Forests
As a sustainable business enterprise, International Paper strives to be environmentally responsible in all aspects of our business, from seedling to finished product. In doing so, we grow more trees with greater wood volume in less time that ever before and use every part of the trees we harvest. We separate bark and lignin from the wood fiber used to make paper, packaging and wood products for our customers and turn it into greenhouse gas-neutral fuel to supply most of the power to our mills. We remove natural resins to make useful household and industrial products such as household cleaners, detergents, lotions, deck stain, and sawmill residuals are used for fiber in the pulping process.
We use an integrated debris management approach to maximize usage of all merchantable material and to reduce regeneration costs of the next stand established on a site. This includes managing all aspects of harvest to allow complete usage of merchantable material, which in turn maximizes value and minimizes costs. This includes close logging supervision and marketing wood to specifically meet pulp, paper and wood mill needs. We also manage a forest stand throughout its life, using thinning, fire and chemicals. Nonmerchantable trees remaining prior to harvest benefit biodiversity including game and nongame wildlife species.
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Promoting Sustainable Forestry to Others
International Paper actively promotes sustainable forestry to others across the globe. We’ve provided millions of dollars over almost a decade for outreach efforts to train more than 80,000 loggers and other harvesting professionals in best forestry practices, and we encourage these professionals to promote sustainability to landowners for whom they work. We require all loggers and wood suppliers who contract with our company in the United States to complete a sustainable forestry education program, follow all state BMPs in water quality and adhere to all aspects of the SFI program related to harvesting. We have a procurement audit program designed to ensure that all contractors who provide wood to our mills comply with all aspects of our procurement regulations including BMP adherence and following SFI. Since 1999, virtually all raw material sourced directly from the forest to our facilities has been delivered by SFI-trained harvesting professionals who guarantee that the wood was harvested using sustainable forestry practices. Outside the United States, we’ve developed similar programs that promote best practices to our suppliers.
Our company also participates in a broad range of programs to expand sustainable forestry awareness and education beyond our own industry. For example, we work with state forestry associations and industry organizations to sponsor and participate in environmental education programs such as Project Learning Tree (PLT). One of the most widely used environmental education programs in the United States and abroad, PLT has trained more than a half million educators to teach some 25 million students in pre-kindergarten through high school about environmental issues and responsible stewardship. In addition, we sponsor programs to promote sustainable forestry in the communities where we operate. These include events like our annual Arbor Day celebration in Florida. During our most recent celebration, we handed out nearly 10,000 seedlings with species information and planting instructions to more than 900 local residents near our Pensacola Mill.
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Environmental Certification of Our Forests
In today’s environmentally conscious world, consumers want to know that the paper and wood products they buy come from sustainably managed forests that will remain healthy and able to meet the needs of future generations. In other words, they want objective proof that International Paper practices what it preaches. We answer this demand by having the sustainability of our forest management practices certified by independent third parties.
All of our forestlands in the United States – some 10 million acres – are certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard (SFIS)SM and the internationally recognized ISO 14001 environmental management system standard. The SFIS provides specific guidelines for integrating the planting, growing and harvesting of trees with the protection of wildlife, plants, soil, air and water quality. ISO 14001 is an international standard that provides businesses with a framework and tools for a systematic approach to environmental management. The standard requires that we have systems in place to manage our forestlands in an environmentally responsible way.
We also are working toward third-party certification of all our forestlands outside the United States, with approximately 8 million acres already certified to the ISO 14001 standard or other international sustainable forestry programs. Our environmental management system for our Svetogorsk, Russia, mill and forest operations was the country’s first to receive ISO 14001 certification. In New Zealand, our majority controlled subsidiary Carter Holt Harvey, is taking a lead role in working with a coalition of industry and environmental interests to develop a New Zealand Forestry Standard that promotes world-class sustainable forestry.
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Monitoring Our Compliance
Our compliance with the SFIS and ISO 14001 is certified by Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI), a London-based international accreditation group with more than 10 years experience in independently auditing to a variety of standards. During its 2000 and 2001 audits, BVQI did not identify any non-conformance issues that would prevent certification of International Paper’s forestlands. Several non-conformance issues characterized as minor by BVQI were identified and corrected during or immediately after the audit process. Among its general findings, BVQI concluded that our commitment to and understanding of the SFIS is exemplary, our forest management demonstrates a high level of stewardship and our integration of the SFIS with our Environmental Management System successfully implements the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
BVQI found several of our sustainable forestry practices to be exemplary, such as our off-site inventory storage, our support of SFI professional and educational outreach efforts, our system of working only with wood producers and suppliers who have received SFI State Implementation Committee training, our practice of opening our forestlands for public recreation, and our wildlife strategic plan. BVQI made some recommendations for improvement. Our key opportunities involved increasing consistency and improving sharing of best practices in our streamside management zone policies; non-game habitat, biodiversity and landscape management; and greater guidance to field foresters on implementing changes to the SFIS.
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Public Accountability
Working with environmental organizations, researchers, government agencies and others, International Paper strives to continually improve our sustainable forestry practices to keep pace with changes in silviculture, science, technology and communications. We make information about our progress available to the public in a variety of ways. The Sustainable Forestry Board oversees development and continuous improvement of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard, associated certification processes and procedures and program quality control mechanisms. An independent External Review Panel, made up of natural resource and conservation experts, reviews data, performs field checks for quality and approves what our industry reports publicly about our SFI progress. An industry-wide annual report documents the accomplishments of all SFI program participants against specific performance measures. International Paper also issues an annual progress report to our company’s board of directors and publishes an Environment, Health and Safety Annual Report that is available on our company’s Web site at www.internationalpaper.com. In addition, we open our forestry operations to customers, regulators and the public so they can personally see how we manage our resources, and we invite public dialogue on our sustainable forestry practices through Community Advisory Councils. We also share SFI information via newsletters, community forums and the news media. More than 96 percent of International Paper lands are open for public recreational use, providing further opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts and others to witness our commitment to sustainability firsthand.
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Next Century of Stewardship
Because of the efforts we began more than 104 years ago at International Paper, our forests are healthier and more vibrant than ever. In fact, we still own forestlands that date back to the company’s beginnings. These forestlands remain healthy and thriving and provide fiber, homes for wildlife and recreational opportunities. This is a testament to the care and stewardship of generations of company foresters, wildlife biologists and other resource professionals. Our tradition of excellent stewardship and responsible resource management is stronger than ever and it will continue into the future as we move the bar for continuous improvement ever higher. We know that an investment in the long-term health of our forestlands is an investment in the health of our company, customers and earth.
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