Verso Paper Corp. was recently presented the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) President’s Award for its partnership efforts to promote sustainable forest management principles and initiatives in Maine.
"Verso is proud to be recognized by SFI for our efforts to increase the number of third-party certified forestlands in Maine," said Craig Liska, Vice President of Sustainability for Verso. "This project has been a rewarding partnership experience for Verso. We have focused on providing support to private landowners by creating a more cost effective certification process and offering resources to support responsible forest management practices."
"At SFI Inc., we value partnerships like this one, which yield benefits for forests, for communities and for the marketplace," said SFI President and Chief Executive Officer Kathy Abusow. "Through its involvement in this pilot, Verso Paper Corp. is showing its commitment to responsible forestry by helping to make third-party forest certification more accessible for small- and medium-sized landowners in Maine."
Verso has a history of sponsoring and leading similar initiatives involving a variety of stakeholders to encourage forest certification. In 2008, Verso provided a two-year grant to the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands (TCNF) to make third-party certification more accessible and affordable for small landowners in a six-state region in the Northeast. Verso continues to be a supporter of the certification programs in Maine and the Midwest, where the company operates four pulp and paper mills.
