St. Joe Timberlands Certify Half a Million Acres to SFI Standard

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) Inc. is pleased to announce that over half a million acres of timberland owned by The St. Joe Company have recently been certified to the SFI Standard. The majority of the timberlands are located in Northwest Florida and have become a proof point for responsible forest management certification to the SFI Standard.

St. Joe's SFI certification is part of the SFI Forest Partners® Program.  In 2012, four market leaders – Time Inc., the National Geographic Society, Macmillan Publishers, Pearson – stepped forward and became SFI Founding Forest Partners, investing in the future of our forests by making five-year commitments to increase the source of certified forest products.  Through the financial support to assist with consulting services, workshops and coordination, the Program works to involve more landowners, manufacturers, distributors, customers, conservations groups and government agencies across the supply-chain with the goal of certifying 5 million acres of forests to the SFI standard by 2014 and 5 million more acres by 2017.  By collaborating on shared objectives and linking landowners through to brandowners, SFI and our Forest Partners are working together to strengthen forest practices and procurement through certification.

"This is terrific news for forestry and forest conservation in the U.S. South," said Kathy Abusow, President and CEO of SFI Inc. "We couldn't be more delighted to include St. Joe among our SFI program participants. Their holistic approach to managing the forest resource for values including land, water and wildlife, align with SFI's larger forestry and conservation objectives. Together we can ensure that future forests are managed for all of the values they provide to the public."

"At St. Joe we've long honored our responsibility to protect Florida's natural resources, including working with federal agencies to place over 124,000 acres of our lands into permanent conservation," said David Harrelson, Sr. Vice President at The St. Joe Company. "We're pleased to announce today that we've added to our responsible forest management credentials, recently obtaining SFI certification of over 521,000 million acres, a significant contribution to increasing the amount of certified forests in the U.S."

About Sustainable Forestry Initiative                            
SFI Inc. is an independent, nonprofit organization that is solely responsible for maintaining, overseeing and improving the internationally recognized Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) program. Across the United States and Canada, about 250 million acres certified to the SFI forest management standard. In addition, the SFI program's unique fiber sourcing requirements promote responsible forest management on all suppliers' lands. SFI chain-of-custody (COC) certification tracks the percentage of fiber from certified forests, certified sourcing and post-consumer recycled content. SFI on-product labels identify both certified sourcing and COC claims to help consumers make responsible purchasing decisions. SFI Inc. is governed by a three-chamber board of directors representing environmental, social and economic sectors equally. Learn more at www.sfiprogram.org and www.sfiprogram.org/Buy-SFI.

About St. Joe
The St. Joe Company is a Florida-based real estate developer and manager. The Company owns land concentrated primarily in Northwest Florida and has significant residential and commercial land-use entitlements in hand or in process. The Company also owns various commercial, resort and club properties. More information about the Company can be found on its website at www.joe.com.

Sustainable forest management practices, the guiding principles for St. Joe Timberland, include complying with laws and regulations, developing a long-term sustainable timber harvest plan, and understanding the social impacts on the surrounding region. We take a holistic approach to managing our resources – timber, land, water, soil and wildlife – with the goal of sustainability. St. Joe is leading by example and protecting the best of Florida by working closely with environmental agencies, community leaders and leading environmental and conservation organizations.

SOURCE Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc.