ABSTRACT
From an analysis of how successfully the certification protocols were able to assess Toumey Forest, the factor that appears to contribute the most to unsuccessful certification is the inability to satisfy many of the indicators used in the assessments (see 4.3.3). Since many indicators are value laden, certifiers may be unable to evaluate a site if the non-valueladen social and/or natural science constraints are not integrated into an analysis of system health. Satisfying value-based indicators does not guarantee that a landowner’s forest ecosystem will not degrade. It is recommended that the reader see Chapter 3 for a discussion of the values that are currently integral to certification protocols.
