What is Sustainable Forestry?

Sustainable Forestry starts with planning and inventory. You have to know what you have and then plan actions that will sustainably reach your goals. NEFF has forest inventories of both traditional tree and land data as well as social and environmental data. NEFF uses a nested planning system, which includes a regional plan, an individual forest plan, and an operation's plan to assure continuity. NEFF's goal is to hold a steady timber inventory while maintaining or enhancing wildlife and environmental values. NEFF undergoes forest management reviews by two independent organizations - the Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC®) and the American Tree Farm System® (ATFS). The Forest Stewardship Council promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests.  The American Tree Farm System is the country's oldest family forest certification program, and it has become internationally recognized for its promotion of responsible forest management on our nation’s private forests. 

Principles for Management of Community Forests

The New England Forestry Foundation recognizes that its forests provide numerous goods and benefits, including among others:

• forest products
• periodic income to NEFF
• community and regional economic value
• protection of water quality
• a variety of habitats, including some for rare and endangered species
• biodiversity
• protection of cultural, historic, and archaeological resources
• opportunities for recreation, education, and solitude
• opportunities for demonstration, experimentation, and innovation

In managing its lands

NEFF is committed to an overarching principle of sustainability and will:

• Preserve site productivity
• Manage so as to maintain the biological and economic integrity of the land
• Manage with humility, recognizing the limits of our knowledge
• Think beyond the property boundary and consider the potential off-site consequences of our activities
• Be a good neighbor and consider its obligations to the community in which it is located
• Develop management plans within both an ecological and human context, considering the full range of forest values
• Assess the consequences of ranking values
• Maintain current management plans, basing them on economically practical natural resource assessments
• Consider and take advantage of demonstration opportunities
• Manage adaptively
• Document, analyze and disseminate results