Skip to main content

Forest certification

A forester standing in a patch of ferns in the woods looks at equipment

Forest certification

Acres of certified forest land

Ownership All certifications FSC® certified acres SFI® certified acres American Tree Farm System
All ownership 5,894,528 4,224,274 5,393,719 0
DNR state forest 3,900,000 3,900,000 3,900,000 0
Private industrial 1,785,936 292,217 1,493,719 0
Private non-industrial 208,592 32,057 0 176,535

Data Sources: Data as of December 2020, obtained from the FSC® and SFI® websites and directly from certificate holders. Total acres include both productive and nonproductive forestland, as well as non-forested acres.

Checking our work in forest management

Every year, auditors visit the state forest and evaluate on-the-ground activities such as cutting, planting and burning. They interview DNR staff and asses our management activities against the two separate certification standards. If we’re not measuring up, they will issue corrective action requests to bring the practices into conformance with the standards. 

Every five years, FSC® and SFI® conduct more comprehensive audits to renew our certification.

We also audit ourselves annually to ensure that our practices are in accordance with our policies and procedures - and therefore the certification standards - and that we are committed to improving our forest management.

Learn about forest management
Paper products made from trees including napkins, paper plates and biodegradable takeout containers