Online Symposium: Legacy of the Tropical Forest Foundation 19 Jan 2024
The International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF) and the International Forestry Working Group of the Society of American Foresters (IFWG-SAF) are offering the online symposium “Legacy of the Tropical Forest Foundation” on Friday 19 January 2024 for 2.5 hours, at 7-930am Seattle, 10am-1230pm Washington DC, 10pm-1230am Jakarta. The Tropical Forest Foundation was active from 1990 to 2015, with independent branches in Brazil, Indonesia, and Guyana, South America, continuing today. The TFF was a unique forum that engaged industry, conservation and researchers in productive dialogue about tropical forestry. The TFF had much impact by developing techniques and demonstration projects for low impact logging for the tropics, and the influence of the TFF continues today.
More information is posted at https://tropicalforesters.org/blog/2024/01/13/online-symposium-legacy-of-the-tropical-forest-foundation-19-jan-2023/. Find your time zone at https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html. Register for the session at https://forms.gle/gNxFG59PDHN4mam96. Questions? Contact tropicalforesters@gmail.com
Symposium schedule:
a. Introduction to ISTF and IFWG-SAF. Sheila Ward, ISTF (2 min)
b. Intro to Symposium and speakers. Mike Sterner, ISTF (5 min)
c. History of the Tropical Forest Foundation. Keister Evans, Forest Carbon Offsets, LCC. USA. (10 min)
d. Development and Implementation of Reduced Impact Logging by the Tropical Forest Foundation. Jim Bowyer, University of Minnesota, USA (10 min)
e. Collaboration for the Tropical Forest Foundation: Education, research, and outreach. A. L. (Tom) Hammett, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA (15 min)
f. Some Lessons Learned from Johan Zweede, Art Klassen, and the Rest of TFF. Jack Putz, University of Florida, USA (15 min)
h. TFF: Reduced Impact, Improved Income & Better Market Credibility. Hasbie HASBILLAH, Tropical Forest Foundation-Indonesia (15 min)
i. Open Discussion (Moderators Sterner / Ward – 50 min)
SPEAKERS
*Keister Evans, Former Executive Director/President, Tropical Forest Foundation; President/Owner, International Woods, Inc. of Virginia; President/CEO Forest Carbon Offsets, LCC. USA. keisterevans@forestcarbonoffsets.net
Keister Evans was co-founder of the Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF) in 1990 and served as TFF Executive Director (1990-2010) and President/Executive Director (2009-2010). Keister received his BS and MS from Virginia Tech and his early work experience included being a VA Tech County Agricultural Extension Agent in Virginia. He has served as the Executive Director of the American Rose Society, the American Horticultural Society, and the International Wood Products Association. He currently is President/Owner of International Woods, Inc. of Virginia (1982- ), and President/CEO of Forest Carbon Offsets, LCC (2009- ).
History of the Tropical Forest Foundation
The Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF) was formed in 1990 as the result of a Tropical Forestry Workshop held at the Smithsonian Institution in October 1989. The workshop was sponsored by the International Wood Products Assn (IWPA) in response to severe criticism by international publications and NGOs as having major responsibility for the rapidly diminishing tropical forests. The workshop was suggested by and chaired by Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, an official at the Smithsonian (who also served as the first Chairman of TFF), and involved authorities in tropical forestry and related disciplines from major tropical timber regions and the U.S. The workshop concluded that the tropical forest can be used and retained if given economic value and sustainable harvesting methods are practiced. TFF then set forth to established offices and demonstration projects in Africa, Indonesia, Brazil and Guyana, South America. A concept known as Reduced Impact Logging (RIL), was introduced by TFF, and demonstrated and taught at the forestry training camps. Thousands of individuals have received TFF RIL training and vast areas of tropical forests have been affected. These initial efforts and the concept of Reduced Impact Logging have been widely accepted and continue to be practiced in the tropical timber trades.
*Jim Bowyer, Former Chairman, Tropical Forest Foundation; Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering. USA. jimbowyer@comcast.net
Bowyer is a Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering. A specialist in wood-based bio-products and life-cycle assessment, and elected fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science, Bowyer has authored several books and numerous scientific articles. Bowyer has served as President of the International Society of Wood Science and Technology and of the Forest Products Society, and as Vice President and co-founder of the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials. He joined the TFF Board of Directors in 1995, and served as Chairman 2006-2008. He is currently a Senior Contributor with the Minneapolis-based Dovetail Partners consulting firm.
Development and Implementation of Reduced Impact Logging by the Tropical Forest Foundation.
In this presentation, findings that informed the development of TFF training programs and the Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) standard will be discussed. An initial project at Cauaxi, Brazil dramatically illustrated the differences between logging using traditional methods vs. responsible logging employing best practices. TFF built upon this project, creating training programs within a larger surrounding concession where those involved in the logging industry could come to learn better ways of doing things, and where scientists, educators, and others could come to view and study impacts of forest operations. The organizational structure of TFF will be described as will the basic philosophy of training site selection and program development. The nature of training programs, and development of region-specific training materials will also be discussed.
* A. L. (Tom) Hammett, Professor, Sustainability, Design and Innovation, and lead of the Non-timber Forest Products Program, Department of Sustainable Biomaterials, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, and Research Faculty, Future Generations University, Franklin, West Virginia USA. himal@vt.edu
Tom focuses on human and institutional capacity development (HICD) and sustainable nature-based enterprise development, specializing in non-timber forest products and services. He has served Virginia Tech since 1995 as Professor in the area of Sustainability, Innovation and Design in the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials, College of Natural Resources and Environment (CNRE). From 2005 to 2015, he served on the Board of the Tropical Forest Foundation. Tom seeks to improve educational opportunities and link them to local enterprise development and sustainment of natural resources. He has served as project director for a global agricultural education and training capacity program. Tom has worked in over forty countries, including developing agri-business training resources in Armenia, and the utilization of specialty crops and forest products in Thailand. In 2023 he led a group of Virginia educators to work with university faculty in Tanzania and Kenya.
Collaboration for the Tropical Forest Foundation: Education, research, and outreach
The legacy of building and supporting training sites and making RIL training available to harvesting and management entities had long lasting impact on forest conservation. While the Foundation made important progress in developing Reduced Impact Logging and then promoting its use, other areas emerged as critical to forest conservation. Extending the role of the Tropical Forest Foundation by reaching out to educational institutions through our board members, and new partners became increasingly important. Work developed in new areas included early research with carbon, the impact of mining on forests, and incorporating examples from our work in classroom curriculum and other materials. Working relationships with forest landowners, both government and private, was important for the Foundation. Building linkages and facilitating education and research collaboration with non-government organizations and universities was a natural first step.
Francis E. (Jack) Putz. Distinguished Professor of Biology and Forestry, University of Florida, USA; and Forest Research Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland fep@ufl.edu
F.E. “Jack” Putz is a researcher focused on improvements of the fates of tropical forests through improved management for timber, non-timber forest products, biodiversity, and other natural values. He served on the TFF Permanent Review Committee in 1993 and on the TFF Board 1999-2002, but was much involved with TFF throughout its existence, benefiting greatly from the tutelage of Johan Zweede and Art Klassen, late and lamented leaders in tropical forestry. Jack is a professor at the University of Florida (since 1982) and at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia (since 2023).
Some Lessons Learned from Johan Zweede, Art Klassen, and the Rest of TFF
I shared with TFF my career-long efforts to improve the fates of tropical forests through improved management but only joined the Board in 1999. Long before that I was a student of two late and lamented TFF forest engineers, Johan Zweede and Art Klassen. My formal training as an ecologist did not prepare me to implement the Reduced-Impact Logging (RIL) we all endorsed—that’s where the expertise of Johan and Art were so critical. In retrospect, I should have been more involved with TFF from the outset; academics, like me, are seldom offered opportunities to interact with representatives of major corporations involved in the forest sector (e.g., Caterpillar and Stihl) or with those involved in the international trade in forest products. Since its closure in 2015, the platform provided by TFF has not been replicated but is much needed.
Hasbie Hasbillah, Executive Director, Tropical Forest Foundation Indonesia. Indonesia; Member, Board of Directors Indonesia Ecolabel Institute hasbie@tff-indonesia.org
Hasbie HASBILLAH has more than 30 years of experience in forest management, including planning, operations, environment, industry, and social and policy of natural and plantation forests in Indonesia, South East Asia, and the Pacific. He has conducted extensive fieldwork for planning and operational logging to implement Reduced Impact Logging (RIL). Hasbie has been lead auditor for both the International and National Standards for Sustainable Forest Management and Palm Oil Certification He is a RIL Carbon trainer who also conducts Assessment of High Conservation Value, High Carbon Stock and Climate Change. In the last ten years Hasbie, has pursued Forest Carbon accounting for natural forests.
TFF: Reduced Impact, Improved Income & Better Market Credibility
TFF is an international coalition of industry, conservation, and scientific leaders working to achieve to the sustainable management of tropical timber. TFF has established demonstration models and training schools to show the advantages and teach the principles of sustainable forest management and Reduced Impact Logging (RIL), including Reduced Impact Logging Carbon (RIL Carbon). TFF promotes sustainable tropical forest management by gathering and disseminating information about its benefits and by teaching proper management practices to promote trade in forest products from legally sourced and sustainably managed timber. Adoption of RIL will: 1) Reduce impact on soil and future crop trees up to 50 %; 2) Save money up to 20%, with improved efficiency, higher productivity, less waste, less conflict; 3) Promote market credibility; and 4) Reduce emissions of CO2 by 30 to 60 %. TFF has contributed to the success of forest certification of more than 2 million hectares by FSC standards in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea.