Paper Campaign

Transforming industry

Dogwood Alliance’s first campaign in 1996 was to address the major expansion of the paper industry in the South. 27% of the world’s paper products are harvested from forests in the Southern US. To address this, we couple grassroots actions and savvy negotiation skill to change how the paper industry does business in the forest. We now have agreements in place with the companies that were once the targets of our campaigns and are working with them to advance conservation efforts and better manage their supply chains.

Greening paper

Southern Forests are home to some of the most biologically diverse forests in North America. As the leading champion of this irreplaceable resource, Dogwood Alliance evaluated the environmental paper performance of some of the largest paper purchasers in the world through our Green Grades Report. It let them know how “green” they were doing. In between reports, we engaged directly with four of the five largest paper companies in the region to ensure there was continued improvement in the woods.


Better forests

To protect our Southern forests, we need domestic sourcing of wood fiber for paper and other products manufactured in the US to meet the highest standards.

To do this, Dogwood Alliance has leveraged commitments from a number of major paper and wood product producers to:

  • Map their wood supply areas and protect endangered Southern forests
  • End the conversion of natural forests to plantations
  • Push paper and lumber companies to manage for carbon across the forest landscape
  • Expand FSC certification, which ensures the best practices in the woods
  • Fund conservation initiatives in their sourcing areas

Stopping new market expansion into Southern forests

With demand for paper and wood products expanding globally, market fiber is increasingly being exported overseas and new foreign-owned mills are being sited in the South for the sole purpose of exporting wood and fiber from our region. As these new markets for Southern forest products emerge, Dogwood Alliance will push back against these new threats and continue to be the leading advocate for Southern forest protection and supply-chain accountability.