Tembec achieved FSC certification for its pulp

Jun 17, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. Tembec announced that it has recently begun offering FSC-certified softwood kraft (NBSK) and Temcell(R) High Yield pulps to the market. FSC certification is a third party endorsement for environmentally and socially responsible forestry practices, and is the only system that tracks market pulp from the forest to the final product. "We are proud to announce that Tembec's Smooth Rock Falls and Temiscaming High Yield pulp operations have both recently achieved Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain of custody certification," said Terrence P. Kavanagh, Tembec Executive vice president and chief operating officer. "Tembec's Skookumchuck Softwood Kraft pulp mill in British Columbia is currently conducting its chain of custody audit and expects to introduce additional FSC-certified NBSK pulp to the market as early as July 2005. Tembec is committed to being a leader in the supply of FSC pulps, and we are making good progress toward reaching our stated environmentally and socially responsible forest management goals." The three operations produce approximately 770,000 metric tonnes of NBSK and BTCMP High Yield pulps annually, and use FSC wood fibre from a combined area totalling 10 million acres. The area includes Tembec's Gordon Cosens five million-acre forest licence located in Northeastern Ontario, which is the largest FSC-certified forest in Canada and is the first boreal (northern) forest to be certified in North America. In addition, the area includes Tembec's 350,000-acre Tree Farm Licence 14, located in the southeastern British Columbia. Tembec is a leading integrated forest products company, well established in North America and France. With sales of approximately $4 billion and some 11,000 employees, it operates 50 market pulp, paper and wood product manufacturing units, and produces chemicals from by-products of its pulping process.