To practice sustainable forestry means meeting the needs of the present while promoting the ability of future generations to meet their own needs by practicing a land stewardship ethic that integrates reforestation and the managing, growing, nurturing and harvesting of trees for useful products, and for the provision of ecosystem services such as the conservation of soil, air and water quality and quantity, climate change adaptation and mitigation, biological diversity, wildlife and aquatic habitats, recreation and aesthetics.

To provide for regeneration after harvest, maintain the health and productive capacity of the forest land base, and to protect and maintain long-term soil health and productivity. In addition, to protect forests from economically, environmentally or socially undesirable impacts of wildfire, pests, diseases, invasive species and other damaging agents and thus maintain and improve long-term forest health and productivity.

To protect and maintain the water quality and quantity of water bodies and riparian areas, and to conform with forestry best management practices to protect water quality, to meet the needs of both human communities and ecological systems.

To manage forests in ways that protect and promote biological diversity, including animal and plant species, wildlife habitats, ecologically and culturally important species, threatened and endangered species (i.e., Forest with Exceptional Conservation Values) and native forest cover types at multiple scales.

To manage the visual impacts of forest operations, and to provide recreational opportunities for the public.

To manage lands that are geologically or culturally important in a manner that takes into account their unique qualities.

To comply with applicable federal, provincial, state, and local forestry and related environmental laws, statutes, and regulations.

To support advances in sustainable forest management through research, science, and technology.

To improve the practice of sustainable forestry through training and education programs.

To broaden the practice of sustainable forestry on all lands through community involvement, socially responsible practices, and through recognition and respect of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and traditional forest-related knowledge.

To broaden the understanding of forest certification to the Forest Management Standard by documenting certification audits and making the findings publicly available.

To continually improve the practice of forest management, and to monitor, measure and report performance in achieving the commitment to sustainable forestry.

To use and promote sustainable forestry across a diversity of ownership and management types in the United States and Canada that is both scientifically credible and socially, environmentally, and economically responsible and to avoid sourcing from controversial sources both domestically and internationally.