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Forest Certification

What does forest certification mean? What are the benefits and requirements to become a member of our certification group?
Dendron Soluciones S.L. is the group entity.

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What does forest certification mean?

Forest certification is a voluntary process undertaken by a forest property to accredit and verify that the management conducted on the estate meets social, economic, and environmental requirements.

With this accreditation, it is possible to certify the products and ecosystem services generated from these properties, which is one of the benefits forest certification offers to the group of landowners.

Forest management is subject to an audit conducted by a private, external, and independent entity that is an expert in quality systems and guarantees the forest certification process.

Certification is a mechanism that assures the general public, potential buyers, and other stakeholders that professional, transparent, and sustainable forest management practices are being followed.

What is a Forest Certification Group?

Group certification allows multiple forest owners (private and/or public) to come together under a single certificate, reducing the costs and bureaucracy that each would face as individual entities.

In certification groups, there is a group entity. Dendron Soluciones must fulfill the following:

  • Legal obligations, such as registration and payment of the corresponding fees and taxes for all members included within the group’s framework.
  • Ensuring members meet forest management requirements through an evaluation of certification standards.
  • Passing an external audit conducted by the certification entity.
  • Representing the members during the certificate’s validity period.

What is a Forest Certification Group?

Funcionamiento Grupo

Fundamental requirements

Additionally, having a forest fire prevention plan will also be considered.

The aim is to promote a working ecosystem where ethics, professionalism, and transparency prevail among all members of the group and the entity responsible for its operation.

Within the framework of the current legislation regarding forestry matters, both at the national and regional levels, the property owner interested in joining the group must comply with all legal requirements related to the management of their forest properties.

According to the forest management standards of FSC Spain, the requirements to maintain the group certificate cover a wide range of aspects, with conservation of forest ecosystems being a key focus. Therefore, constant monitoring including an assessment of the phytosanitary status of vegetation is crucial for the successful development of the certification group.

One of the basic principles of applied forest science is stand persistence, indicating that forest regeneration is a fundamental aspect when adopting a responsible management approach. This approach ensures the provision of goods and services while conserving the forest stand.

Social and economic aspects are also cornerstones in the standards set by FSC Spain. Promoting quality employment and dignified conditions are fundamental for a sustainable society. Technological advancement, along with responsible environmental awareness, should be training objectives for group members and workers involved in group activities.

Within sustainable forest management tools, tasks are planned over time and space according to the technical plan. During its implementation, it’s essential to verify that the scheduled actions meet sustainability criteria.

Why choose us?

Benefits of having a certified estate

The historical intervention in forest masses in Europe necessitates that we continue their management because societies are also part of the ecology of forests.

  • It helps differentiate products in the market, increases their added value, and enables access to certified markets.

They are currently expanding. In some cases, certified markets offer higher and/or more stable prices.

  • Prioritization in the granting of public aids and subsidies.

Another added value of belonging to a certification group and its benefits is the prioritization by the administration when granting aids and subsidies, always related to forest certification schemes.

  • Promotes responsible and high-quality forest management.

It triggers medium and long-term improvements in business management, as well as the identification of critical points and deviations that, once addressed, lead to higher yields through more efficient practices in utilization, conservation, and estate enhancement.

  • Improvement of corporate image and acceptance by society.

All members of the group, both owners and approved contractors, benefit from being part of the certification group structure. The society of the 21st century demands services and goods from Spanish forests used responsibly, so all involved actors must adapt to this new approach that promotes the implementation of forest bioeconomy.

Available documentation

DENDRON SOLUCIONES SL coordinates a forest certification group, acting as the group entity responsible for the certificate.

In compliance with FSC® standards, the following documentation and information about forest certification are available by clicking “Contact”:

  • General information about the group.
  • What forest certification is and the requirements that must be met.
  • Benefits of forest certification.
  • Dendron’s group policy.
  • List of Forest Management Units and summaries of management policies and objectives defined in the Management Plan.
  • Procedure for Identification and Conservation of High Conservation Value Forests.
  • Summary of monitoring results.

Through its group policy, Dendron commits to long-term practices of forest management in accordance with FSC® Principles and Criteria, and its Policies and Standards for all FMUs where the owner and/or manager has responsibility. Additionally, Dendron commits to not offer or receive any form of bribery and applies appropriate corrective measures.

For accessing any information, please request it explicitly at: c/Pública nº 20, 16196, Villar de Olalla (Cuenca), or via email at certificacion@dendron.es, identifying yourself as a stakeholder and briefly explaining the reason for your request or by clicking the button and filling out the form.

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Functions and commitments of the organization

Dendron Soluciones S.L., as the group entity, is responsible for the certification group and has the following functions and commitments:

  • Assume and enforce current requirements and standards to ensure forest management compliance with the FSC® certification system.
  • Determine best practices for preventing and correcting biotic and abiotic damage in forests, in accordance with current legislation, circulars, available good practices manuals, etc.
  • Establish a control procedure to monitor members’ compliance with all obligations, including preventive and corrective actions. As part of this control procedure, an annual internal audit will be conducted on a representative sample of the certified area to verify compliance with FSC® requirements.
  • Maintain records of the compliance of certified areas with the Spanish Forest Management Standard and of control procedure reviews, and any preventive or corrective actions taken.
  • Inform and advise members and stakeholders on forest certification, as well as their rights and obligations.
  • Ensure that all activities related to certification are carried out according to FSC® requirements.
  • Provide technical assistance to the certification entity during the audit process.
  • Safeguard and ensure the maintenance of the group certificate issued by the certification entity upon successful certification completion.
  • Maintain a registry of forest areas and members included in the group forest certificate, identifying owners/managers, including their contact information, area size, and location.
  • Establish a procedure for the inclusion and exclusion of members and/or areas from the group certificate, ensuring compliance with certification requirements. Additionally, promptly inform the certification entity of these additions and exclusions upon successful completion of the certification process.
  • Apply to FSC® Spain for the official license to use the FSC® logo and trademark after obtaining the group certificate.
  • Process, upon request from members, a copy of the group certificate including the annex listing the certified areas, or an equivalent certificate referring to their estates, or an individual proof document of inclusion in the certification process. This document will indicate the certificate number, validity period, and information about Dendron and the certification entity issuing the certificate, but it does not grant the right to use the FSC® logo. For logo usage rights, a license must be obtained from FSC® Spain.
  • Establish a procedure to ensure that forest products resulting from forestry operations come from certified areas. The transfer of certified raw materials from the forest to the chain of custody will consider the measurements reflected in the harvesting documentation, cutting permits, or similar administrative acts, unless the owner or contractor requests validation from the corresponding requesting entity for any measurable difference between the previously indicated and demonstrably obtained final measurement.
  • Ensure the correct use of the certificate and the license/sub-license to use the FSC® logo and trademark.
  • Commitment to not offer or receive any form of bribery and to apply appropriate corrective measures if any case is detected.
  • Commit to ensuring that the policy complies with or exceeds current legislation.
  • Establish a policy that includes a long-term commitment to forest management practices in line with FSC Principles and Criteria, and its Policies and Standards in all FMUs where the owner and/or manager has responsibility.
  • The “Conflict Resolution Procedure” document is made publicly available upon request via the contact email certificacion@dendron.es.

FMUs affiliated with the FSC® Dendron Certification Group

Below is a list of the UGF currently assigned to the “Dendron” forest certification group as of 6/29/2023:

Area: 1,689.66 ha

Group admission request: 3/9/2022

Documentation review: 25/11/2022

Field visit: 5/1/2023

Group adhesion contract: 15/9/2022

The forest “Umbría de Vadillos and Others” is located in the Serranía Alta de Cuenca, in the north of the province of Cuenca. It comprises (together with the forests called “Sierra de Priego, Loberas y Otros” and “Valdeavellano y Otros,” also owned by the Mancomunidad) almost the entire Municipal Term of Cañizares, except for MUP No. 183 and No. 184 “La Pinosilla” and “Terminillo de San Bartolomé” respectively and various private enclaves owned by the residents of Cañizares. The forest is located on sheet No. 539 (Beteta) at a scale of 1:50,000 on the national topographic map of Spain.

Instrument of Sustainable Forest Management

Technical Management Plan (valid for 12 years, 2022-2034) approved by Resolution of the Directorate General of Natural Environment and Biodiversity of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha. Resolution date: March 25, 2022. A theoretical annual possibility of 848.12 m3 is established, to which a 30% reduction is applied, leaving a reserve mass for future regeneration problems. In this way, the real annual possibility is 593.68 m3.

A special D quarter (387.55 ha, representing 22.75% of the total area of the UGF) has been created in the eastern zone of the forest, where the steepest slopes (over 45%) and rockiness are located. The objective is to give this quarter a protective character, limiting actions in this quarter to improvement and sanitation cuts. Extra measures are established for the conservation of scarce, limited, vulnerable, or biodiversity-important natural habitats, as well as faunal resources.

Operational Specific Objectives

  1. Wood and firewood harvests should be aimed at proper natural regeneration of the stand, following the objectives set forth in the planning.
  2. Promote the proper development of the Pinus nigra and Pinus pinaster stands, avoiding the decline of trees due to lack of action.
  3. Erosion risk control.
  4. Habitat maintenance.
  5. Runoff regulation.
  6. Improve preventive measures for forest fire control.
  7. Stand health improvement.
  8. Enhance resistance to abiotic damage.

Policies and Management Objectives Defined in the Forest Management Instrument

  1. The main objective of the management plan is the physical and biological protection of the forest.
  2. Establish technical guidelines to ensure the persistence and stability of the stands.
  3. Achieve sustained yield or constant income condition. This objective is by definition established in the long term and should encompass the set of benefits provided by wooded areas, both economic and ecological.

Special Plan

  1. Harvesting and Use Regulation Plan.

1.1 Harvesting plan.

1.2 Grazing use plan.

1.3 Hunting use plan.

1.4 Mushroom picking plan.

1.5 Regulation of social or recreational use.

2. Valuation and income from harvests.

3. Improvements, investments, and actions plan.

3.1 Canton marking and conservation of dasocratic network roads.

3.2 Maintenance of forest roads.

3.3 Silvicultural treatments.

3.4 Operations of the Harvesting Plan.

4. Economic balance for the period of the Special Plan.

Specific Conservation Guidelines

Physical and biological protection, as general objectives:

– Erosion risk control
– Habitat maintenance
– Runoff regulation
– Improve preventive measures for forest fire control
– Stand health improvement
– Enhance resistance to abiotic damage

Physical and biological protection, as specific objectives:

– Avoidance of the removal of forest edges, banks, or shrub areas due to their importance for fauna.
– Maintenance of clearings and meadows.
– Differential treatments at the edge of the stand.
– Maintenance of enclaves with vegetation different from the main one.
– Conservation and protection of gallery forests and riparian vegetation.
– Maintenance of intact main vegetation enclaves in Quarter C and of monumental specimens throughout the forest.
– Maintenance of standing dead trees (recommendation to leave 2 to 4 dead trees per hectare
– Maintenance of protective covers for seedling trees.
Removal of cutting residues within established deadlines.
– In those places with an active erosion process or factors that may lead to these processes (slopes greater than 45%, low vegetative cover, easily erodible lithologies, etc.), the most appropriate cutting techniques will be planned to prevent or intensify these processes.
– Logging may be limited on slopes directly facing rivers, streams, or wetlands when it could disrupt the hydrological regime of the basin.

Area: 1,846.70 ha

Group admission request: 3/9/2022

Documentation review: 25/11/2022

Field visit: 5/1/2023

Group adhesion contract: 15/9/2022

The forest “Valdeavellano and Others” is located in the Serranía Alta de Cuenca, in the north of the province of Cuenca. It comprises (together with the forests called “Sierra de Priego, Loberas y Otros” and “Umbría de Vadillos y Otros,” also owned by the Mancomunidad) almost the entire Municipal Term of Cañizares, except for MUP No. 183 and No. 184 “La Pinosilla” and “Terminillo de San Bartolomé” respectively and various private enclaves owned by the residents of Cañizares. The forest is located on sheet No. 539 (Beteta) at a scale of 1:50,000 on the national topographic map of Spain. The forest is nestled in the Serranía de Cuenca, on the foothills of the Montes Universales, within the Sistema Ibérico. It generally presents rugged topography with areas of steep slopes such as at the mouths of the streams of La Nava and Valdeavellano, and at the mouth of the Guadiela River, to the northwest of the forest, but also with the presence of flat areas and exposures to both sunlight and shade.

Instrument of Sustainable Forest Management

Technical Management Plan (valid for 12 years, 20217-2029) approved by Resolution of the Directorate General of Natural Environment and Biodiversity of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha. Resolution date: January 18, 2017. A theoretical annual possibility of 3014.6 m3 is established, to which a 30% reduction is applied, leaving a reserve mass for future regeneration problems. In this way, the real annual possibility is 2110.22 m3.

A special C quarter (302.47 ha, representing 16.38% of the total area of the UGF) has been created in the western zone of the forest, including in it all areas with high slopes (over 45%) and rockiness, with the aim of giving this quarter a protective character, limiting actions to improvement and sanitation cuts, excluding regeneration cuts. The main objective of the forest is set as protective, and additional measures are established for the conservation of scarce, limited, vulnerable, or biodiversity-important natural habitats, as well as faunal resources.

Operational Specific Objectives

  1. Wood and firewood harvests should be aimed at proper natural regeneration of the stand, following the objectives set forth in the planning.
  2. Promote the proper development of the Pinus nigra and Pinus pinaster stands, avoiding the decline of trees due to lack of action.
  3. Erosion risk control.
  4. Habitat maintenance.
  5. Runoff regulation.
  6. Improve preventive measures for forest fire control.
  7. Stand health improvement.
  8. Enhance resistance to abiotic damage.

Policies and Management Objectives Defined in the Forest Management Instrument

  1. The main objective of the management plan is the physical and biological protection of the forest.
  2. Establish technical guidelines to ensure the persistence and stability of the stands.
  3. Achieve sustained yield or constant income condition. This objective is by definition established in the long term and should encompass the set of benefits provided by wooded areas, both economic and ecological.

Special Plan

  1. HARVESTING AND USE REGULATION PLAN.

1.1 Harvesting plan.

1.2 Grazing use plan.

1.3 Hunting use plan.

1.4 Mushroom picking plan.

1.5 Regulation of social or recreational use.

2. Valuation and income from harvests.

3. Improvements, investments, and actions plan.

3.1 Canton marking and conservation of dasocratic network roads.

3.2 Maintenance of forest roads.

3.3 Silvicultural treatments.

3.4 Operations of the Harvesting Plan.

4. Economic balance for the period of the Special Plan.

Specific Conservation Guidelines

Physical and biological protection, as general objectives:

– Erosion risk control
– Habitat maintenance
– Runoff regulation
– Improve preventive measures for forest fire control
– Stand health improvement
– Enhance resistance to abiotic damage

Physical and biological protection, as specific objectives:

– Avoidance of the removal of forest edges, banks, or shrub areas due to their importance for fauna.
– Maintenance of clearings and meadows.
– Differential treatments at the edge of the stand.
– Maintenance of enclaves with vegetation different from the main one.
– Conservation and protection of gallery forests and riparian vegetation.
– Maintenance of intact main vegetation enclaves in Quarter C and of monumental specimens throughout the forest.
– Maintenance of standing dead trees (recommendation to leave 2 to 4 dead trees per hectare) and on the ground.
– Maintenance of protective covers for seedling trees.
– Removal of cutting residues within established deadlines.
– In those places with an active erosion process or factors that may lead to these processes (slopes greater than 45%, low vegetative cover, easily erodible lithologies, etc.), the most appropriate cutting techniques will be planned to prevent or intensify these processes.
– Logging may be limited on slopes directly facing rivers, streams, or wetlands when it could disrupt the hydrological regime of the basin.

Area: 2,335.60 ha

Group admission request: 3/9/2022

Documentation review: 25/11/2022

Field visit: 5/1/2023

Group adhesion contract: 15/9/2022

The forest belonging to the Mancomunidad de Montes Particulares de Cañizares, in the province of Cuenca, is located near the urban nucleus of Cañizares. It is situated on sheets No. 538 (Valdeolivas) and No. 563 (Priego) at a scale of 1:50,000 on the national topographic map of Spain. The forest is nestled in the Serranía de Cuenca, on the foothills of the Montes Universales, within the Sistema Ibérico. It generally presents rugged topography with areas of steep slopes such as Hocecilla, Pozo de la Jara, the slopes of the Tragavivos ravine, and the Sierra de Priego, but also with the presence of flat areas and exposures to both sunlight and shade.

Instrument of Sustainable Forest Management

Technical Management Plan (valid for 12 years, 2015-2026) approved by Resolution of the Directorate General of Natural Environment and Biodiversity of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha. Resolution date: November 26, 2015.

An annual possibility of 1499.5 m3 is established, with a growth of 1454.7 m3. This is because it was found during the review that in the previous special plan, hardly any wood was cut, so the forest is very capitalized in terms of timber resources. In no case will this cutting intensity compromise the persistence of the forest.

A reserve D quarter (497.26 ha, representing 24.17% of the total area of the UGF) has been created, including in it all areas with high slopes (over 45%) to give it a protective character, limiting actions in said quarter to police cuts focused on the elimination of dominated, deformed, diseased, pest-affected, punky, or abiotically damaged trees.

A fund for improvements has been created, reserving 15% of the projected income from the forest to carry out those works considered beneficial such as silvicultural treatments for fire or pest and disease prevention, infrastructure conservation, and improvement of roads and water passages.

Operational Specific Objectives

  1. Specific protection will be given to areas containing nesting sites or any determinant element for the conservation of species included in the Regional Catalog of Threatened Species (CREA, Law 9/1999, of May 26, on Nature Conservation in Castilla-La Mancha).
  2. The oak stand will be subject to conservation due to the ecological value it brings to the forest, as well as its more varied reproduction strategies compared to the pine forest, which provide defense against severe disturbances affecting the forest stand, such as forest fires.
  3. In the pine forest, efforts should be made to maintain the presence of species populating the forest, both to conserve this diversity and to better prepare the stand to respond to external actions, due to the ecological and resistance differences to events that these species have.
  4. Job creation, benefiting local workers.
  5. Efforts will be made to minimize interventions in those areas that, due to their intra-zonal or azonal character, may have the presence of rare or scarce plant species in the area, due to their value in increasing biodiversity, especially plant species included in the aforementioned CREA.

Policies and Management Objectives Defined in the Forest Management Instrument

  1. Management plans will include conservation actions in accordance with the objectives, zoning, and regulations established in higher-level planning documents.
  2. Rationally promote social use of the forest.
  3. Non-intervention will be considered as one of the management options, with the explicit objective of conserving species, habitats, or key ecological processes and a long-term commitment to permanence. In forests included in protected areas, non-intervention zones should, except for justified exceptions, be established as a planned management decision to assess the natural evolution of forest systems.
  4. Precautionary principle will be preferred when proven techniques are not available, especially regarding the possible interference of new uses and silvicultural treatments with the presence of key species, habitats, or ecological processes, or with their phenology.

In protected areas, planning must consider the objective of recovering native taxa, tending towards the progressive elimination of populations of exotic taxa, except when their disappearance could compromise conservation objectives. Productive objectives must be achieved with taxa native to local natural systems.

Special Plan

  1. Review of the previous special plan.
  2. Validity.
  3. Uses
    • Timber use.
    • Cutting plan.
    • Other uses.
    • Economic quantification.
  4. Improvements.
  5. Financial balance.
  6. Conservation guidelines.

Specific Conservation Guidelines

Basic conservation guidelines:

  • Management plans will include conservation actions in accordance with the objectives, zoning, and regulations established in higher-level planning documents.
  • Non-intervention will be considered as one of the management options, with the explicit objective of conserving species, habitats, or key ecological processes and a long-term commitment to permanence. In forests included in protected areas, non-intervention zones should, except for justified exceptions, be established as a planned management decision to assess the natural evolution of forest systems.
  • Precautionary principle will be preferred when proven techniques are not available, especially regarding the possible interference of new uses and silvicultural treatments with the presence of key species, habitats, or ecological processes, or with their phenology.
  • In protected areas, planning must consider the objective of recovering native taxa, tending towards the progressive elimination of populations of exotic taxa, except when their disappearance could compromise conservation objectives. Productive objectives must be achieved with taxa native to local natural systems.

Specific conservation guidelines:

  • Specific protection will be given to areas containing nesting sites or any determinant element for the conservation of species included in the Regional Catalog of Threatened Species (CREA2, Law 9/1999, of May 26, on Nature Conservation in Castilla-La Mancha).
  • Efforts will be made to minimize interventions in those areas that, due to their intra-zonal or azonal character, may have the presence of rare or scarce plant species in the area, due to their value in increasing biodiversity, especially plant

    species included in the aforementioned CREA.

  • In the pine forest, efforts should be made to maintain the presence of species populating the forest, both to conserve this diversity and to better prepare the stand to respond to external actions, due to the ecological and resistance differences to events that these species have.
  • The oak stand will be subject to conservation due to the ecological value it brings to the forest, as well as its more varied reproduction strategies compared to the pine forest, which provide defense against severe disturbances affecting the forest stand, such as forest fires.

How to contact?

For more information about the DENDRON forest certification group and the process of joining a forest property, you can contact the responsible person of the Group Entity, José Luís Solís Parejo, via email at certificacion@dendron.es, by phone at 969 24 04 44, or by filling out the form.