NON TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS (NTFPs)

Ramps/Wild Leeks belong to the category of non-timber forest products, along with other edible goods such as mushrooms, and fiddlehead ferns, and a host of other products derived from plants with medicinal (e.g. ginseng, goldenseal) or other utilitarian properties (e.g. pinecones for crafts or decorations).

There has been a robust effort to establish a framework for certifying timber as sustainably harvested, and many timber owners–individual and corporate–have pursued such certification as a means to assure the long-term sustainability of their resources and add value to their timber products. However, no such framework exists for non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Despite their direct relationship to the forests in which they are found and their relative similarity to timber in a conservation context, NTFPs stand a world apart when it comes to certifying them as sustainably harvested.