Follow the Greenwash Money

Learn More: Learn about the letter from major environmental organizations opposed to SFI’s greenwash >> Download our report, "SFI: Certified Greenwash"

ALSO: Click here to learn why 21 North American conservation groups publicly oppose SFI

SFI frequently cites the presence of representatives from nonprofit ‘environmental’ groups on the SFI board as evidence that its industry-created "green" label has broad support.

But SFI’s backing from the mainstream environmental movement has waned as board members like Trout Unlimited, Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy and others have withdrawn.  And the groups SFI has been able to keep on its board, such as the Ruffed Grouse Society and Bird Studies Canada, are not exactly a who’s who of the environmental movement.

Most of the environmental organizations represented on SFI’s current board enjoy substantial financial incentives to be part of the logging industry's "eco" labeling scheme.  The most recent addition, George Finney, leads Bird Studies Canada, a group that will receive $240,000 from SFI directly between 2010 and 2012.

As we’ve recently announced, some of the most respected environmental groups in North America see SFI for what it is: an instrument of greenwash for the timber and paper industries. Meanwhile, the ‘environmental’ groups represented on SFI's board depend on the timber and paper industry money for funding. Here are financial connections between those industries and the organizations represented by four of the seven ‘environmental sector’ members of the SFI board:

Mike Zagata

Mike Zagata is President & CEO of the Ruffed Grouse Society, which receives substantial financial support from SFI-certified timber companies. MeadWestvaco and the Johnson Timber Corporation are both listed in Ruffed Grouse’s “Silver Birch Ring,” with donations between $50,000 and $99,999 for fiscal year 2010.²

In addition, a sprawling list of SFI supporting forest and paper companies have donated to state chapters of the Ruffed Grouse Society, including the Newpage Paper Company, Louisiana Pacific Company, Plum Creek Timber Company, International Paper, UPM/Blandin Paper Company, Northprint International, Seneca Printing and Label Company as well as Sawyer Timber. According to Ruffed Grouse, each of these companies made donations ranging between $0 and $25,000 to their state chapters.³


Ruffed Grouse was also part of a collection of nine organizations that received a total of $2.7 million from SFI and unnamed partners in 2010.⁴

Mr. Zagata's legacy as the New York state Environmental Conservation Commissioner is covered in this New York Times article, summing up that he resigned under pressure due to "countless troubles," including "a series of actions favoring industry over the environment."



Tom Franklin
Tom Franklin is Senior Vice President of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, which has financial ties to the following SFI companies: Plum Creek, The Forestland Group, Pacific Lumber, Weyerhaeuser. 


The timber industry has also featured prominently on Theodore Roosevelt Conservation’s own board. John M. Seidl, former chairman of the infamous Pacific Lumber Company, was a board member until 2009. Charles H. Collins, managing director of the Forestland Group, a timberland investment management organization, is a current board member.

Roger Sedjo
Roger Sedjo is director of the Forest Economics and Policy program at Resources for the Future. Resources for the Future is heavily funded by large timber companies including Weyerhaeuser, Plum Creek Timber Company and the American Forest and Paper Association, which are all listed as council donors with 2010 donations between $25,000 and $49,999.⁵ In addition, Meadwestvaco and ArborGen LLC, both large timber companies, are listed as associate donors to Resources for the Future with 2010 contributions of $0 to $24,999.⁶

Larry Selzer
Larry Selzer is Executive Director & CEO of The Conservation Fund. The Conservation Fund's “corporate council” includes John V. Faraci of International Paper, John A. Luke Jr. of MeadWestvaco and George Mead of Consolidated Paper.⁷ In addition, the American Forest & Paper Association, International Paper Company, MeadWestvaco Corporation, Blandin Foundation⁸, Temple-Inland Inc., the Westervelt Company, Lyme Forest Fund and the Forest Investment Associates collectively donated over one million dollars to the fund in 2010. 

¹  http://www.sfiprogram.org/newsroom/?p=701

² http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/UserFiles/File/SponsorReport09.pdf

³ http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/UserFiles/File/SponsorReport09.pdf

⁴ http://www.sfiprogram.org/newsroom/?p=710

⁵ http://www.rff.org/About_RFF/Documents/RFF%202010%20AR%20Final.pdf

⁶ http://www.rff.org/About_RFF/Documents/RFF%202010%20AR%20Final.pdf

⁷ "Corporate Council," The Conservation Fund, http://www.conservationfund.org/who_we_are/corporate_council, accessed April 12, 2010.

⁸ The Blandin Foundation was founded by Charles K. Blandin, founder of the Blandin Paper Company.