Approved Responsible Source Forests
Approved Forests
Oregon lands subject to Oregon Forest Practices Act (OFPA)
- Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) audit report: (2015,2017,2020)
There are approximately 10 million acres of private forestland subject to OFPA and are considered Responsible Source. Approximately another 20 million acres of public lands are subject to the regulations of the federal or tribal agencies and are eligible for Responsible Source. If an Oregon manufacturer who sources 100% of their timber from Oregon lands with an 85% private / 15% public landownership split, then they are eligible for an 85% Responsible Source claim. - More information about Oregon forest protection laws
- More information about ODF Responsible Sourcing
Eligible Forests
The following is a list of states and their eligibility to participate in the Responsible Source designation. ASTM D7612 requires jurisdictions who desire to be approved as a Responsible Source to have, at a minimum, regulatory or quasi-regulatory programs to implement best management practices. The National Association of State Foresters has undertaken a classification exercise to determine which states a regulatory, quasi-regulatory, or non-regulatory (voluntary) and who actively monitor compliance.
Classification of Best Management Practices (BMPs) in U.S. States
- Learn more about individual state BMPs:
https://www.stateforesters.org/bmps/ - Report that classifies state BMPs:
https://www.stateforesters.org/newsroom/protecting-the-nations-water-state-forestry-agencies-and-best-management-practices/
National Association of State Foresters (NASF) Classification of State BMPs
Note: Some states differ in their compliance to the EPA Clean Water Act. Eligibility to the Responsible Source program is not an indication of compliance to the Clean Water Act, but whether or not enforcement is the primary mechanism of compliance to state or local rules. NASF has stated that the rate of BMP use remains exceedingly high regardless of the diversity of compliance approaches. The Responsible Source program verifies the state/local agency enforcement mechanism and claim.
Regulatory (8 states) that enforce compliance – Eligible for Responsible Source designation
- Alaska
- California
- Delaware
- Idaho
- Maryland
- Oregon
- Washington
- West Virginia
Regulatory (5 states) that do not enforce compliance – Not eligible for Responsible Source designation
- Kentucky
- Massachusetts
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
Note: In a regulatory program the law provides legal sanctions for non-compliance.
Quasi-Regulatory (9 states) that enforce compliance – Eligible for Responsible Source designation
- Alabama
- Florida
- Georgia
- Michigan
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Vermont
Quasi-Regulatory (2 states) that do not enforce compliance – Not eligible for Responsible Source designation
- Wisconsin
- New Mexico
Note: A “quasi-regulatory” program may not impose direct legal sanctions, but state law has defined explicitly legal implications for non-compliance.
Local Regulation (3 states) that enforce compliance – Eligible for Responsible Source designation
- Maine
- Utah
- Virginia
Local Regulation (2 states) that do not enforce compliance – Not eligible for Responsible Source designation
- Arizona
- New York
Non-regulatory or voluntary (11 states) that monitor compliance – Not eligible for Responsible Source designation
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Indiana
- Louisiana
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Wyoming
States that rely on voluntary compliance (10 states) – Not eligible for Responsible Source designation
- Connecticut
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Oklahoma
- North Dakota
- Rhode Island
Federal Lands
Federal timberlands are also eligible for Responsible Source designation per their BMP program provided there is enforcement of rules.
Making a Difference through Market Transformation
The intent of recognizing regulatory and quasi-regulatory BMPs as a Responsible Source is to motivate states with non-regulatory BMPs to actively monitor BMP compliance through a forest water resources program.
According to NASF, key elements of a forest water resources program include:
- A lead watershed specialist;
- Up-to-date BMP implementation monitoring covering the states’ comprehensive set of forest operations and conditions;
- Ongoing BMP effectiveness research;
- Periodic assessments of the health and condition of riparian forests;
- A program component dealing with urban forests and water;
- Functional Institutions for coordination between the various agencies and stakeholder groups with an interest in forest-related water resources issues;
- Formalized education and training for landowners, loggers and resource managers;
- A process for receiving and responding to compliant and resolving conflicts.
Healthy forests are vital to clean water. According to the U.S. Forest Service, about 80 percent of the Nation’s scarce freshwater resources originate in forests, which cover about one-third of the Nation’s land area.
Responsible Source supports healthy forests and clean water through active forest monitoring. There are civil penalties for those who do not comply with state regulations.
The regulatory requirements of the Responsible Source program are symbiotic to the voluntary requirements of the Certified Source programs. Enforcement of existing BMPs (with Responsible Source) supports the voluntary compliance to an expanded set of rules (with Certified Sources). Certified forests and products are market-based tools that provide market incentives for landowners and producers to follow above-legal requirements for sustainable forestry practices. The rigor of these systems is based on the quality management systems of the organization to be certified and subsequent annual auditing by the third-party agency. The benefit of regulatory statutes is the daily enforcement mechanism of a statutory requirement versus a voluntary certification. The former can result in fines and continuous oversight, while the latter is limited to certification termination based on an annual audit. This is why Responsible Sourcing is a good companion to Certified Wood in the same state. It permits the choice of voluntary sustainable forestry while supporting the expanded growth of statutory rules in other states/agencies.
According to NASF:
- Participants in forest certification programs rely on up-to-date implementation monitoring to validate that their work to protect water quality is indeed being accomplished.
- The EPA grapples with legal questions that demand sound scientific input that BMP monitoring programs and BMP research provide; and
- Existing and potential consumers of U.S. grown and harvested wood look to BMP implementation rates as evidence of the sustainable nature in which timber and wood products are procured.
- State water quality programs count on state forestry agencies’ BMP work to prove that federally required water quality safeguards are implemented in forested areas.