Forest Stewardship

Maintaining Sources of Pure, Clean Water

Every community and healthy ecosystem rely on access to clean, pure water. Our forests help make that possible while doing so much more.

With public and private forest lands supplying water to more than half of all people in the U.S., working forests have an essential role to play. Our forests are home to rivers, lakes and streams that support many communities while enabling a variety of plant, tree, wildlife and fish species to grow and flourish. Forests also help to generate rainfall, which can prevent risks of wildfire and drought. For all of these reasons, we take careful measures to protect water quality on all of our owned and managed lands.

Our Balanced Approach

A healthy forest has the right number of trees to balance its water resources. For example, a forest needs enough trees to provide shade and preserve moisture from snow melt. However, a forest with too many trees can begin to compete for water resources, depleting the streams, rivers and other bodies of water that feed them. Our foresters take care to maintain this balance through sustainable forest management. They also ensure that our operations don’t release excess sediment, which can negatively impact water flow and habitats of wetlands, rivers and streams.

We follow stringent sustainable water management protocols established by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) and the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®). For example, SFI standards require us to manage and protect water wetlands and riparian zones. We also must continually evaluate our habitat and biodiversity impacts, with an aim to improve habitat quality and protect at-risk and endangered species. FSC standards, which apply to our California operations, align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of Clean Water and Sanitation.