The certified Maine North Woods, where money grows from trees

Beginning in the 1990s, private ownership in Maine forestland shifted from a number of corporate owners to a patchwork of timber investment management organizations (TIMOs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs). This transformation reflected restructuring trends in the paper and pulp industry. During this same period, forest certification increased to levels that today make Maine one of the most certified states in the United States with nearly 8 million acres certified by one of a number of certifying entities. This paper examines the contradictory tensions of these trends. Specifically, the conservation goals of certification are undercut by increased investment in timber resources characterized by new financial instruments focused on return on investments. The increased use of first-party, industry-based certification suggests that the antagonisms between capital and conservation are being resolved in ways that undermine the purported conservation goals of forest certification standards.