Roughly 36% of the United States is forested which provides more than 50% of the nation’s drinking water. State and local government enforcement of best management practices (BMP) together with professional foresters in the field is indispensable to help ensure water quality is protected before, during and after forest management work takes place. Foresters monitor water quality as well as other protective measures that support sustainable forestry.

Responsible Sourcing rewards those jurisdictions who enforce their rules and have adequate staffing to effectively address water quality in a proactive manner. Find out which states have the most or least enforcement/monitoring.

Principle: The key component of any traceability standard is that the manufacturer shall be capable of assessing within the traceability program the risk of illegal sourcing associated with the species and country of harvest and be willing to exercise due care as required by law.

All outsourcing activities shall be within the scope of the organization’s traceability program, including a description of the activities and potential risks, documented procedures for implementing the Responsible Source program, internal audits where applicable, and management review.