To have a meaningful impact in our sustainability initiatives, Domtar has long recognized the importance of collaboration and engagement. We understand the potential impacts of our operations on biodiversity and work to mitigate or eliminate these. We must also work to understand and meet the expectations of our many stakeholders.

To this end, we engage with landowners, associations, nongovernmental organizations, research institutions and universities to promote sustainable forestry practices and to protect plant and animal species and their habitats. One of the partnerships we are particularly proud of is our association and work with the American Forest Foundation (AFF), a great example of how we engage with key stakeholder groups, work to support programs that can make a real difference and contribute to research aimed at improving forest and biodiversity management.

Protecting at-risk wildlife with AFF

Domtar actively supports AFF's biodiversity conservation initiatives that are helping protect at-risk or endangered wildlife and providing education to local communities, especially in the southeast region of the US. AFF collaborates with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and other partners to provide financial incentives and technical assistance on private lands to support biodiversity conservation efforts. AFF looks for increased opportunities to directly engage and build trust with private landowners actively managing their forests and contributing to a sustainable supply chain.

AFF’s biodiversity conservation program includes 13,325 forested acres under agreement for habitat improvement and monitoring for listed and at-risk species. The program is focused on the management of the longleaf pine, and home to more than 800 plant and animal species.

About 200 landowners have already engaged with AFF to gain technical and financial assistance for habitat improvements and in some cases have signed a 10-year access agreement to allow low-cost surveys for populations of at-risk gopher tortoise and eastern diamondback rattlesnake, as well as endangered eastern indigo snake and red-cockaded woodpecker.

This biodiversity conservation model is expanding beyond the pilot region into new areas and different species. The goal is to operate across the entire historic range of longleaf forest, expanding to Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. AFF’s long-term goal is to positively impact 30% of America’s family-owned longleaf forest and that means securing agreements with an estimated 1,700 landowners. These agreements will provide much needed assurance that more than 265,000 acres of land are under conservation agreements to protect a variety of at-risk and listed species.

AFF’s Family Forest Carbon Program attracts attention from Amazon and Nature Conservancy

As an extension of our sustainable forestry principles, Domtar became a founding partner of AFF's Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP). Designed to enhance carbon sequestration in family-owned forestland across the United States, the AFF includes other business partners and charitable foundations, as well as the Nature Conservancy.

The FFCP represents a new approach to climate change mitigation that taps into the carbon storage potential of family-owned forestland while creating a new market and source of income for the families who dedicate time and effort to their forest management.

In April 2020, Amazon announced a $10 million commitment to the Nature Conservancy as part of its plans to be net zero carbon by 2040. In partnership with AFF and the Vermont Land Trust, the Nature Conservancy is funding the FFCP and the Forest Carbon Co-ops projects to conserve 4 million acres of forest in the Appalachians and other U.S. regions.

The FCCP will open up carbon credit markets to small family forest landowners and with Amazon’s commitment, the funds will go towards expanding the program and designing new methods for measuring and verifying reforestation and forest management practices in climate resilient forests.