Across North America, forests provide important benefits. They protect air quality, offer habitat for wildlife and serve as home to a wide range of plant species.
When a forest is managed sustainably, it can also provide long term value for landowners. Many landowners throughout the southeastern US have relied on forests for decades as a means of generating an ongoing source of income. This income isn’t only a personal benefit – it also serves as an incentive for the landowners to continue taking care of forests, maintaining them for years to come and ultimately helping the environment.
Donna Janssen, along with her sister, Luanne Lewis, is a third-generation forest landowner in Ashdown, Arkansas. Her family’s longstanding forestry practices focus on preserving their family land for the next generations of landowners. This is her story.
Sustainability spurred by sentimentality
Donna Janssen has technically been a forest landowner since birth. She inherited the land from her mother, who took it over from Donna’s grandfather – the man responsible for personally accumulating each piece of the family’s property. Although many of the valuable investments Donna makes to the land today will not be realized during her lifetime, she is proud to leave a healthy, thriving forest as a continuing legacy for future generations to carry on.
“I see in these trees a future for my nephews – and for their kids,” said Janssen. “It’s a family practice. It’s a value that our family has had for years, and it will continue even long after me.”
As active members of the Ashdown community, Donna and her family have worked with the surrounding foresters and local mill even before Domtar owned it. Now, she considers the team at Domtar to be part of her family. Because of their trusting relationship, it was easy for Donna and her family to embrace the need for third-party certification. Specifically, when Domtar started working with local foresters to achieve Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, Donna didn’t have to think twice – she quickly made the decision to take the necessary steps to bring her land up to FSC standards. Domtar was able to guide Donna throughout the process and helped her see the value in FSC.
“When local folks buy Domtar paper and it has the [FSC] certification sticker on it, it feels good to know that my trees contributed to that,” said Janssen. “Both in the marketplace and in consumer hands, it adds real value, which is important for us.”
Responsible management over the years
As a child, Donna remembers walking through her family’s land with her mother and there would be stumps scattered throughout. With the help of the FSC, Donna’s tree farming methods have significantly changed and her land management strategy is now much more sustainable. Donna’s redefined goals are more attuned to what is best for the earth and her land. Now that she has been introduced to FSC, Donna has ambitious goals for her timber, and pays more attention to protecting the wildlife on her land.
An apt analogy for forest management is taking care of your body, Donna says. She explains that landowners must keep the forest healthy, as this will fight insect infestations and wildfires, just as a balanced diet and exercise can prevent illness.
As she incorporates recreational and environmental concessions into her land management strategy, Donna reflects on her definition of sustainability.
“Sustainability means not only doing good things today, but having the capacity to continue doing so tomorrow,” she said.
Content on this page is provided by Domtar, supporter of the Vital Signs platform.
