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Conservation & Forestry
Haliburton Forest - Canada's first certified, sustainable forest

Being privately owned, Haliburton Forest is striking a balance between the short-term requirements of a successful, operational business and the long-term requirements of sustainable resource use and conservation. Over the past 4 decades its 70.000 acres were transformed from a depleted forestry holding to a thriving, multi-use operation which contributes economically and environmentally to the long-term stability of the surrounding, rural community while providing employment as well as environmental benefits to owners, staff and the public at large. On this way, Haliburton Forest has achieved many "firsts". A final achievement and confirmation of its leading role in conservation and sustainable resource management was its Certification as a "sustainable forest" - as first forest in Canada - under the stringent guidelines of the international Forest Stewardship Council ( FSC). The certifying agency at that time was Boston, MD, based Smartwood / Rainforest Alliance.

The following are excerpts taken from Smartwood's public announcement in The Canopy about Haliburton Forest's 1999 FSC Certification:


SmartWood Conservation Catches On
After earning a forestry degree in his native Germany, Peter Schleifenbaum moved to Ontario in 1987 to take over the management of land left to him by his father. In 1962, the elder Schleifenbaum bought the 70.000 acre Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve from an industrial logging firm that, after depleting the timber resource, sold the land and moved on.

Today, forests of sugar maple, American beech and eastern hemlock cloak rolling hills and surround miles of lakeshore. Not only is this privately owned forest a source of certified timber, it's regularly visited by hikers, campers, cross-country skiers and other recreational enthusiasts.

Awarded SmartWood's first forest certification in Canada in 1998 and recertified in 2003, Haliburton Forest serves as a forest management role model in a country that represents one of the world's final forest frontiers. Together with Russia and Brazil, Canada is home to nearly 70 percent of the world's total forestland. However, according to the Washington D.C.-based World Resources Institute, over 2.5 million acres of Canadian Forests are cut each year, 90% of which were never logged before.

Schleifenbaum joined the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) Great Lakes - St. Lawrence regional initiative, becoming a member of the technical committee, charged with establishing the criteria for forest certification in the region. Through the FSC, Schleifenbaum was introduced to SmartWood. Impressed with their practical and credible reputation, he approached Richard Donovan, SmartWood Director, in November 1997. Several months later, after a rigorous evaluation of the operation, SmartWood endorsed Haliburton's long-term management practices, including approval of its plan to protect the many streams and lakes on the land, preserve areas of biological significance, leave all white pine trees intact and limit harvesting around the nests of birds of prey.

In Schleifenbaum's estimation "The greatest advantage of the certification process is the external auditing of your internal procedures. After years, you can be blind to some of the things going on." The forest owner was particularly struck with some of the environmental issues raised by the SmartWood certification team. "We have one of the region's last remaining large stands of red spruce," he reports, "I had taken it for granted." As a result of the certification, Schleifenbaum is now obligated to take into account the rare status of red spruce in the region. According to Schleifenbaum, the other great advantage of certification is that it establishes credibility among the forest's users. "With logging having such a bad reputation in Canada, we can present our certification as an unbiased disclaimer that the forestry practices that our visitors witness are ecologically sound."

While forestry practices in south and central Ontario have greatly improved over the last few decades, routine high-grading practices continue to be a concern. Schleifenbaum inherited a forest with a legacy of more than a century of high-grading, lacking many of the habitat features of older forests. As Minga O'Brien, SmartWood's Canadian Program Associate explains "Landowners often take the best wood and leave the worst, when they could be managing for higher-value products such as veneer quality hardwood. That's the great thing about Haliburton Forest - Peter Schleifenbaum is constantly working to improve the condition of his forest and increase the value of the standing timber. He's in it for the long-term and it will serve him well."

Of course, certification also offers a potential marketing advantage. Haliburton can now use SmartWood and FSC labels on all its products, including hemlock logs for Eco-Log Homes - a SmartWood certified home builder co-owned by Schleifenbaum - assuring consumers that they are manufactured using wood harvested from well-managed sources.

Certification has barely begun to scrape the surface of Canada's vast timber industry. These recent certification successes, however, are raising awareness among industry about the environmental and economic benefits of FSC-certification.

(Reprinted from The Canopy, the newsletter of the Rainforest Alliance)

"The Living Forest"
If you are further interested in Haliburton Forest, its management and history, please inquire about the book "The Living Forest", an outline of Haliburton Forest, authored by Peter Schleifenbaum and Brent Wootton, with artwork by renowned Haliburton artist David Alexander Risk and printed on certified paper from Haliburton Forest.

Taxation of private forest lands in Ontario - The Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program
For detailed information on the disturbing issue of taxation of private forest lands in Ontario, please visit the website of the Ontario Forestry Association.