NSF-ISR On-Site Readiness Review Audit Report

NSF International Strategic Registrations, Ltd. October 18, 2007 Gary Larson, Forest Supervisor Mt. Hood National Forest Mt. Hood National Forest Sandy, OR Re: SFI Assessment Report for the Mt. Hood National Forest Dear Mr. Larson: NSF-ISR has completed the report of the certification pilot study of Mt. Hood National Forest’s SFI program. As you know, a team of foresters and biologists visited the forest September 18 through September 22, 2006. The team assessed conformance of the forest against both FSC and SFI requirements for forest certification. A draft was provided in November, 2006; your team provided comments/edits on the report. I now provide the final version. This final report incorporates the majority of the comments from you and your staff. One change I did not make was the suggestion to classify the SFI-specific requirements as “Not Applicable”. I don’t agree with this approach because I feel it could lead to confusion; these requirements would be applicable to any landowner seeking SFI Certification. The Forest Service view that these requirements may not be applicable to this Pilot Study is understandable, but I have chosen to list these items as gaps. As you may recall, our audit team found that the Mt. Hood National Forest meets most of the 2005-2009 Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard® (SFI) requirements, but still has major gaps in its program relative to the standard. We also ...