What is the Roundtable on Sustainable Forests?

The Roundtable on Sustainable Forests is an open and inclusive process committed to the goal of SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT (SFM) on public and private lands in the United States. Roundtable participants include public and private organizations and individuals committed to better decision-making through shared learning and increased understanding.

In addition to fostering dialogue on sustainable forests, one of the Roundtable's primary areas of interest has been the implementation of an internationally agreed upon set of CRITERIA AND INDICATORS (MPCI) for the purpose of developing a shared understanding of current forest conditions and a baseline against which to mark future progress toward sustainability. To this end, the Roundtable has sought ways to energize and engage forest stakeholders in providing input to the development of two National Reports on Sustainable Forests, the first of which was completed in 2003 and the second in 2010 (to be published in June 2011). Following the production of the National Reports, the Roundtable organized and supported stakeholder input on the content and meaning of each report. For the 2003 National Report this input resulted in the Multiple Perspectives Project Click Here!. For the 2010 National Report this effort resulted in the Sustainable Forests Action Strategy Click Here!. Drawing on what was learned from stakeholder engagement on the National Reports and using the MPCI as a way to look at forests, the Roundtable has stimulated and contributed to an ongoing and evolving national discussion of SFM. The Roundtable has also helped to engage stakeholder input to the development of new forest indicators which are now part of the MPCI, contributed to a broader dialogue on natural resource indicators, global challenges to sustaining forests, and other issues critical to SFM.

Additional details about related Roundtable activities are included in the work plan for the Roundtable. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ROUNDTABLE'S WORK PLAN and 2008 - 2010 WORK PLAN ADDENDUM. 2011 activities of the RSF are further defined by the RSF rollout strategy action plan for the stakeholder SFAS, the companion report to the 2010 National Report. Click here to see a draft of the rollout strategy action plan.

For a chronology of the Roundtable's major activities to date, CLICK HERE.

The Roundtable has utilized multi-stakeholder dialogue as the primary vehicle for inquiry, input, and feedback. This process has created a culture of collaboration and shared learning on a subject that is often fraught with gridlock and controversy.

Talking about Sustainable Forests…

The following social media (Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn) are intended to help you share your thoughts on the Roundtable on Sustainable Forests and Sustainable Forestry in general. We encourage discussion and hope you share your thoughts and ideas with us. However, we reserve the right to delete posts that are in conflict with our standards, including: spam, profanity, off-topic comments, personal attacks, political solicitations.

The Communications and Outreach Work Group of the Roundtable invites you to join in the conversation about sustainable forests. Please see what other interested stakeholders are talking about and join the discussion on:

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Click on the What's New link to learn about recent Roundtable activities.