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Forest Sustainability and Wine Corks
Forest Sustainability Certificate: The certificate is a United States Forest Conservancy sustainability program which is used in a number of states in the United States. The most prominent ones are Indiana, Virginia, New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington and Vermont.
Portugal uses a little different system but is the functional equivalent to the programs that are in place in the United States. The Portuguese government issues permits to growers of cork oaks each year. A permit fee is required to pay for a large number of forestry inspectors that inspect the appropriate forests for violations of the strict laws. Cork oaks are harvestable for a period of 400 years. Since the early 1990s the government has banned the use of all chlorine based insecticides. A cork tree may not be cut without permission of these forest representatives, and if a diseased tree is taken out, two new ones must be planted. The forest (called the Montello in Portugal) has actually expanded in the last five years even with the rise of Alternative Closures. Unfortunately, human behavior is harming the environment of the trees. Pollution and overdevelopment have harmed the quality of the forest even as the trees expand. Click here to read an article from the World Wildlife Foundation outlining the threatened natural cork forests.
The company that Bishop Creek Farms currently uses has in addition the latest ISO Certificate from the EU, which requires that we do environmental mitigation on all manufacturing practices, making us have a carbon footprint of approximately one half as large an environmental impact as a comparable sized American company. We are proud of the efforts we use to protect the planet.
LIVE
LIVE is a non profit organization providing education and certification for vineyards using international standards of sustainable viticulture practices in wine grape production. These practices are based on a system consisting of basic required practices, prohibited practices and numerous ecological options.
LIVE program objectives:
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To see the vineyard as a whole system
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To create and maintain a high level quality fruit production
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To implement practices that reduce reliance on synthetic chemicals and fertilizers with the goal of protecting the farmer, the environment, and communities at large
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To encourage responsible stewardship of the land, maintain natural fertility and ecosystem stability
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To promote sustainable farming practices that maintain biological diversity in the whole farm
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Salmon Safe
Salmon Safe and LIVE are partners dedicated to restoring and maintaining healthy watersheds. Salmon Safe certification is included in the LIVE certification membership.
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