My dear Americans;
 
Beware, beware, beware. Do not pull the certification horse through the gates of public land management.
 
Certification is, bottom line, an international move to make corporate governance the foundation of public land management and public land management agency conduct. I personally know of very few corporations that use "science" as the foundation of their management principles / practices. I personally know of very few corporations that invite, encourage, or allow public scrutiny and "management" of their agenda and practices. And I personally know of very few, if any, corporations that will employ activists, independent scientists or attorneys to conduct audits of their land management practices.
 
I have been through the certification scam in Canada, and while on the surface it may seem to be related to forest and land management practices, there is much, much more to certification than that.
 
Certification is, in the short term, directed at public relations issues related to forest practices. "We've been certified by "auditor X" from Sweden, buy our "green" wood.
 
While this may seem a giant leap to some of you (not all, I hope), the hidden agenda for certification is privatization of public land. Once it becomes governed by corporate rules, who can do it better than a corporation?
If you have ever though of cumulative effects and long term vision, now is the time to put it to work!
 
I dont know where those of you on this list, and attentive Americans in general, think they are going with this, 
but even entertaining certification is a serious mistake. An appropriate response would be attack, attack, attack!
 
Brian