FSC® Certification

There are lots of models for what it means to be a successful business, but few models for what it means to be successful in forest stewardship. About six months after starting into business, MRC determined that one of the best benchmarks for stewardship was Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certification and publicly committed itself to achieving this goal. HRC also publicly committed to attaining FSC certification when it began as a business.

Having FSC certification says a great deal about a forestry company. It is a conservation tool that takes a voluntary, market-based approach to encouraging responsible forestry practices. Certification involves an independent evaluation of a landowner’s forestry practices according to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. FSC also provides “chain of custody” monitoring, which tracks a product from an FSC-certified forestland to the final product. This provides a link between the forestland from which the product was produced directly to the consumer.

We chose the FSC standard for certification because we, as well as many others, believe that it is the toughest standard available for management of forests on a commercial basis.  To honor this choice, both HRC and MRC have made a long-term commitment to manage our forests in conformance with FSC standards and policies: Please see our Forest Management and Stump-To-Forest Gate Chain-Of Custody Surveillance Evaluation Reports (2014-2019) (2017-2022).

All certificates are evaluated annually, with a comprehensive review and re-certification every five years.

MRC and HRC's Certification

In the fall of 2018, MRC and HRC underwent a formal evaluation by Scientific Certification Systems, a FSC-accredited certifying body, to transition from two separate FSC certificates into one multi-site certificate, with two separate forest management units.  Please see our Well Managed Multiple Natural Forest Management Units Certification for Humboldt Redwood Company and Mendocino Redwood Company here.