On October 30, 1997, over 222,000 acres of forestland, managed by the Aitkin County Land Department (ACLD) became the first county managed forest lands in the United States to be "green certified" under the strict standards of the Forest Stewardship Council ™ (FSC®). The Forest Stewardship Council ™ is the international monitoring organization for forest certification.  

    Since the original assessment in 1997, Aitkin County has had annual audits and two reassessments conducted by SmartWood program of the Rainforest Alliance (RA), a FSC® accredited certifying body. The findings of the audits and assessments are complied in annual reports that are submitted by the auditors to RA and the FSC® for their approval. ACLD has continually met or exceeded the requirements during that time period. Each report may be viewed at the RA website or by contacting ACLD.

   FSC certification is a reflection of ACLD's environmentally, economically, and socially responsible forest management practices and will enable us to use the FSC® seal of approval when marketing forest products from these lands.  "The assessment process gives us new ideas and direction for improvements in the future," states Mark Jacobs, Land Commissioner," and it provides us an opportunity to enhance the local economy, through the marketing of certified wood products, from our County forest lands."