Lyme Timber Receives the 2025 SFI Leadership in Conservation Award for Advancing Nature-Based Solutions in SFI-Certified Forests

MINNEAPOLIS, May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is pleased to announce The Lyme Timber Company as the recipient of the 2025 SFI Leadership in Conservation Award. Lyme Timber, certified to the SFI Forest Management Standard, is being recognized for a longstanding commitment to advancing conservation outcomes across its land base. SFI specifically recognizes Managing Directors Peter Stein and Sean Ross for their instrumental leadership in partnering on meaningful conservation efforts related to biodiversity conservation, research-based forest management practices, and climate smart forestry.

L-R: Lauren Cooper, Chief Conservation Officer, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Sean Ross, Managing Director, The Lyme Timber Company, and Kathy Abusow, President and CEO, Sustainable Forestry Initiative

Lyme Timber is committed to managing forests in ways that protect and promote biological diversity and is a collaborator on an SFI grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) that aims to enhance songbird habitat in West Virginia through sustainable forest management. Through this partnership, they worked with West Virginia University researchers on focal songbird species monitoring, directly contributing to a deeper understanding of the conservation benefits of SFI-certified lands.

Lyme Timber continues to work with the SFI geospatial team to explore how GIS data and mapping tools can be used to identify and quantify conservation value across Lyme Timber’s land base. This demonstrates their commitment to applying knowledge gained through research, science, technology, field experience and the results of monitoring to manage wildlife habitat and contribute to the conservation of biological diversity.

“Lyme Timber exemplifies the kind of partnership that makes our conservation work impactful,” said Lauren T. Cooper, Chief Conservation Officer at SFI. “As part of the SFI 2025-2030 Strategic Direction, we are focused on advancing data, tools, and practices that drive measurable conservation outcomes. Peter Stein, Sean Ross, and the Lyme Timber team are helping SFI bring that vision to life across North American forests with collaboration on climate and biodiversity.”

Stein and Ross have also served as valuable advisors to SFI in advancing the development and implementation of climate smart forestry practices in the United States and have been supporters of multiple successful proposals that have resulted in the SFI Climate Smart Forest Initiative.   

“We are delighted by this recognition and value the opportunity to collaborate with SFI on advancing scientific research and the conservation of biodiversity in working forests,” said Sean Ross. “In a time when our investors are increasingly interested in addressing these issues through their investments, Lyme’s ongoing partnership with SFI has helped us understand, quantify, and continue to improve how our forest management practices contribute to protecting and promoting biological diversity.”

The award was presented to Lyme Timber at the 2025 SFI Annual Conference, where leaders from across the forest and conservation sector celebrated shared achievements and innovations in sustainable forestry. Ross also spoke at the 2025 SFI Conservation Impact Workshop on the importance of evolving management practices informed by climate adaptation and mitigation.

ABOUT SFI

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI) advances sustainability through forest-focused collaborations. We are an independent, nonprofit organization that leverages four interconnected pillars of work: standards, conservation, community, and education. SFI works with the forest sector, conservation groups, academics, researchers, brand owners, resource professionals, landowners, educators, local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and governments. Collaborating with our network, we leverage SFI-certified forests and products as powerful tools to help solve sustainability challenges such as climate action, conservation of biodiversity, education of future generations, and sustainable economic development.

ABOUT THE LYME TIMBER COMPANY

Founded in 1976, The Lyme Timber Company LLC is an employee-owned timberland investment manager based in Hanover, NH. They focus on generating long-term financial returns for our investors through sustainable forestry, land conservation, and supply chain improvements. Their strategies protect biodiversity, improve wildlife habitat, mitigate climate change, and create high quality forest-sector jobs in rural communities in the US and Canada. Their portfolio includes 1.3 million acres of forestland in Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama. They specialize in the management of natural landscapes, including naturally regenerating hardwood forests, unique softwood plantations, and wetland ecosystems. Alongside the lands they manage, they invest in supply chain businesses, including sawmills, forest management companies, and innovative logging operations. They invest in mitigation banks and other ecosystem services projects that restore wetlands and rehabilitate critical habitats. Recognized as a leader in conservation, their company has protected over 1 million acres of land through conservation easements, mitigation banking instruments, and 100-year carbon sequestration projects.

MEDIA CONTACT

Christine Leduc
VP, Communications and Government Relations
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
613-706-1114
[email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e04b2cf2-ea5b-45b5-97ee-091d050616d8

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