The Forest Landowners Foundation supports programs of the Forest Landowners Association in working with diverse stakeholders – NGOs, Government Agencies and core forests landowners – to strategically address the challenges and opportunities to sustaining America’s privately-owned forests that enhance the resources the public relies on: clean water, clean air, wildlife habitat and sustainable wood supplies.
The Engagement program includes gathering and validating insights from influencers among critical stakeholders, and identifying approaches that work for forests landowners, while gaining confidence in their management of the resources to ensure forest stewardship for today and the next generation of forest landowners.
Starting with listening, we increase dialogue, create collaborations and develop solutions through our Models of Transparency, Trust, and Sustainability. This proven method enables a more focused and productive conversation on the stewardship of working forests for the benefit of clean water, clean air, wildlife habitats, and a sustainable wood supply.
Models of Transparency, Trust, and Sustainability
In 2016, the Forest Landowners Foundation adopted 3 proven models of collaboration, transparency and trust building to increase the effectiveness of our Engagement programs. Models of Transparency guide us in fostering trust and facilitating dialog with a diverse set of stakeholders to promote collaboration and create solutions for ensuring stewardship of private forests, market access and generational transfer of forestland. As we engage with forest stakeholders outside of the supply chain, we do so in accordance with the Transparency Model, Trust Model, and Sustainability Model.
Transparency Model
Based on consumer trust research, seven elements define transparency and provide a basis for effectively addressing uncertainty about the stewardship of private working forests and building trust for collaboration and solutions.
Trust Model
Aligns an organization’s actions with the expectations of critical stakeholders. Building a strong foundation of ethical standards and conduct that demonstrate a commitment to responsible actions, engaging with important stakeholders in dialogue that ensures alignment on critical issues and maintaining the right level of collaboration necessary to meet expectations that evolve over time.
Sustainability Model
For a sustainable balance, communication must be grounded in ethics and then supported by science and economics. Information impacts knowledge. Ethics—or values—impact feelings and beliefs and that’s what drives consumer decisions.
Core Forest Landowners
Our focus and relationships are with the core working forest landowners; whose lands are primarily managed for timber income. These are the forest landowners that can affect change on a landscape level. These landowners are in a unique position to help provide healthy soils, clean water, habitat for native wildlife, renewable energy sources, and other conservation benefits on millions of sustainably managed forests.
Who are the Stakeholders?
Stakeholders are individuals or groups of people who are affected by environmental, market and policy decisions and actions, but they also have the power to influence the outcomes of these decisions, actions, and impacts relating to the sustainability of private forests. The complex nature of decisions made that impact the economic and environmental viability of private forests (ecosystem management), from local to international scales, requires stakeholder participation from a diversity of knowledge, perceptions and values of forest sustainability. Stakeholders will often have different interests in forest sustainability. This means effective management of working forests requires a collaborative process that develops mutual trust in issues of common interest with the objective of creating mutually beneficial partnerships.
Support Foundation Programs
When you support the Foundation, your contribution is going directly to its programs – programs that make a difference to the economic viability of family forests as well as to the future legacy of forest landowners across the country. We are run by a small staff and a dedicated group of volunteers, so administrative costs are minimal. Click the button below to support FLF programs today.