Green Groups Asked to Help Keep Forest Contractors ‘Forest Fit’
Membership opens to anyone from harvesting contractors to governments, four years after the scheme NSW backed with $4.6 million became the first of its kind.
A softwood plantation harvest under way, with a forwarder loading logs behind the stack. ForestFit certifies forest service businesses undertaking harvesting, haulage, civil, and silviculture operations. (Photo Credit: Supplied by ForestFit)
Environmental groups, governments, and individuals can now help steer Australia’s forest contractor certification scheme, with ForestFit opening its standing committees and consultation forums to members from well beyond the harvesting, haulage, civil, and silviculture businesses it certifies. That is according to ForestFit, the national certification scheme for forest service businesses, which on Monday launched a membership framework its chief executive calls the scheme’s next phase.
“Their collective expertise, leadership and commitment will be essential to ensuring ForestFit continues to evolve and deliver lasting benefits for our forests, people and communities,” said Dionne Olsen, chief executive of ForestFit, of the members the scheme is now recruiting. With nationally consistent standards and an independent certification scheme in place, she said, “our next phase is about bringing together the people and organisations who share a commitment to responsible forest operations.”
Members will take part in the scheme’s standing committees and consultation forums, with a say in governance, standards development, and strategic initiatives. Their job, ForestFit said, is to help keep the Forest Services Standards technically robust, nationally relevant, and responsive to emerging risks and community expectations.
The scheme grew out of $4.6 million the NSW Government announced in 2018 to lift the environmental performance of forestry contractors in the state’s native and plantation forests. The Australian Forest Contractors Association (AFCA) led its development jointly with the state, and the scheme has since been endorsed by JASANZ, the joint accreditation system for Australia and New Zealand.
The front counter at Triple H Contracting (Hall Harvesting and Haulage), a harvesting and haulage business of the kind ForestFit certifies. (Photo Credit: Supplied by ForestFit)
Growers committed to the scheme in 2024, with Forico, HQ Plantations, New Forests, OneFortyOne, and four other lead signatories agreeing under a memorandum of understanding with AFCA to prefer ForestFit-certified contractors. Those growers also undertook to back-certify to at least the scheme’s mandatory and work health and safety standards for any contractor entering into a new contract with them from the start of 2025.
“Our ambition is for it to be a prerequisite for all growers nationally,” Lachlan Spencer, general manager of safety at HVP Plantations, said last year. ForestFit said at the time that a national steering committee, representing more than 80 per cent of Australia’s largest growers, was working on what the future holds for certified businesses.
Certification runs to standards aligned with ISO 9001, 45001, and 14001, with certified businesses facing annual surveillance audits that ForestFit said strengthen their management of critical risks, environmental stewardship, and workplace safety. The Australian Forest Products Association said the scheme’s deemed-to-comply status with Responsible Wood cuts audit duplication and downtime, whilst ForestFit also aligns with FSC.
Meanwhile, ForestFit is working on integrated audit processes with ISO and Heavy Vehicle Accreditation frameworks, alongside expanded digital services and opportunities to extend the scheme into aligned sectors and international markets. ForestFit wants those initiatives to reduce duplication, strengthen supply-chain confidence, and improve the commercial viability of businesses committed to responsible forest operations.
Applications for ForestFit membership and supporting resources are on the ForestFit website, with members connecting, collaborating, and taking part in the scheme through ForestFit Collective, its new membership portal. “We invite those who share this vision to become part of ForestFit and contribute to a transparent, inclusive and credible certification scheme,” ForestFit said.
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