Nawiinginokiima Forest Management Corporation, the first local forest management corporation in Ontario, attains FSC Certification for Big Pic Forest

Press Release
November 17, 2014

According to Daryl Skworchinski, the Chair of NFMC’s Board of Directors, “obtaining FSC Certification on the Big Pic Forest clearly demonstrates our commitment to manage our forests sustainability, support our industry partners and help facilitate local community and First Nation economic development.”

The word ‘Nawiinginokiima’ itself is an Ojibway word that means “working together” and brings First Nations, local communities, ministry officials and industry together. Having been established to operate within a defined management area this includes the communities of the Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation, Pic Mobert First Nation, Hornepayne Aboriginal Community, Marathon, Hornepayne, Manitouwadge and White River.

Shane Moffat, Forest Campaigner for Greenpeace Canada writes “this is a great step forward and highlights two central components of a responsible future for forestry in Ontario: FSC certification and modernizing tenures so that local communities and First Nations are more fully represented in forest planning.”

The NFMC’s management area encompasses approximately 1.9 million hectares of productive Crown forest with an available harvest volume of 2.2. million cubic meters of merchantable fiber and 435,000 cubic meters of biomass fiber annually.

[Source: NFMC News Release; Greenpeace Canada Blog]

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