Principle 10: Plantations

PRINCIPLE # 10: PLANTATIONS
Plantations shall be planned and managed in accordance with Principles and Criteria 1 - 9, and Principle 10 and its Criteria. While plantations can provide an array of social and economic benefits, and can contribute to satisfying the world's needs for forest products, they should complement the management of, reduce pressures on, and promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests.

Applicability: For the purposes of compliance with these standards, there are two types of plantations: restoration and commercial.

10.1. The management objectives of the plantation, including natural forest conservation and restoration objectives, shall be explicitly stated in the management plan, and clearly demonstrated in the implementation of the plan.

10.1.a. The rationale for categorizing a plantation as restoration or commercial is explicitly stated in the management plan.

10.2. The design and layout of plantations should promote the protection, restoration, and conservation of natural forests, and not increase pressures on natural forests. Wildlife corridors, streamside zones, and a mosaic of stands of different ages and rotation periods, shall be used in the layout of the plantation, consistent with the scale of the operation. The scale and layout of plantation blocks shall be consistent with the patterns of forest stands found within the natural landscape.

10.2.a. On areas already converted to plantations, even-aged harvests lacking within-stand retention are limited to forty acres or less in size unless a larger opening can be justified by scientifically credible analyses.

10.2.b. Regeneration in previously harvested areas reaches a mean height of at least ten feet or achieves canopy closure before adjacent areas are harvested.

10.3. Diversity in the composition of plantations is preferred so as to enhance economic, ecological, and social stability. Such diversity may include the size and spatial distribution of management units within the landscape, number and genetic composition of species, age classes, and structures.

10.3.a. Commercial plantations are managed to create and maintain structural and species diversity that results in viable wildlife habitat and long-term soil maintenance and replenishment at the cut-block level.

10.3.b. Restoration plantations are managed so as to result in composition, structures, and functions similar to a successional phase that occurs naturally on the site.

10.3.c. Plantation management activities are planned so as to generate and maintain long-term employment.

10.4. The selection of species for planting shall be based on their overall suitability for the site and their appropriateness to the management objectives. In order to enhance the conservation of biological diversity, native species are preferred over exotic species in the establishment of plantations and the restoration of degraded ecosystems. Exotic species, which shall be use only when their performance is greater than that of native species, shall be carefully monitored to detect unusual mortality, disease, or insect outbreaks and adverse ecological impacts.

10.4.a. Species of exotic trees (those from outside of the biome) are not used in plantings [after endorsement of these standards]. If it is not certain whether a species of tree comes from the same biome in which the plantation is located, ecological, social, and economic justification for the species selection is provided.

10.4.b. Potentially invasive species of exotic plants are not used (see also indicator 6.9.a.).

10.5. A proportion of the overall forest management area, appropriate to the scale of the plantation and to be determined in regional standards, shall be managed so as to restore the site to a natural forest cover.

10.5.a. The ratio of commercial plantations to natural forests and restoration plantations and their distribution, maintains and/or restores the landscape to a condition that includes a diversity of community types and wildlife habitats and exhibits ecological functions similar to a mosaic of native forests.

Instruction: Regional working groups may determine the maximum proportion of commercial plantations within certified forests.

10.5.b. Areas of forest and/or plantation to be restored to natural conditions are chosen through a landscape analysis that focuses on enhancing ecological integrity and habitat connectivity.

For example, areas that are best suited for such restoration include riparian areas, migration corridors between areas of existing natural forest, and unstable slopes.

10.6. Measures shall be taken to maintain soil structure, fertility, and biological activity. The techniques and rate of harvesting, road and trail construction and maintenance, and the choice of species shall not result in long-term soil degradation or adverse impact on water quality, quantity, of substantial deviation from stream course drainage patterns.

The Standards Committee does not recommend indicators for this criterion. (See Criterion 6.5. and its indicators.)

10.7. Measures shall be taken to prevent and minimize outbreaks of pests, diseases, fire, and invasive plant introductions. Integrated pest management shall form an essential part of the management plan, with primary reliance on prevention and biological control methods rather than chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Plantation management should make every effort to move away from chemical pesticides and fertilizers, including their use in nurseries. The use of chemicals is also covered in Criteria 6.6 and 6.7.

10.8. Appropriate to the scale and diversity of the operation, monitoring of plantations shall include regular assessments of potential on-site and off-site ecological and social impacts (e.g., natural regeneration, effects on water resources and soil fertility, and impacts on local welfare and social well-being), in addition to those elements addressed in principles 8, 6, and 4. No species should be planted on a large scale until local trials and/or experience have shown that they are ecologically well-adapted to the site, are not invasive, and do not have significant negative ecological impacts on other ecosystems. Special attention will be paid to social issues of land acquisition for plantations, especially the protection of local rights of ownership, use or access.

10.9. Plantations established in areas converted from natural forests after November 1994 normally shall not qualify for certification. Certification may be allowed in circumstances where sufficient evidence is submitted to the certification body that the manager/owner is not responsible directly or indirectly for such conversion.

Applicability: Exceptions to the provision that prohibits conversion after 1994 may be granted if a restoration plan covering all such stands is being implemented. Examples of activities that are carried out in restoration plantations may include: