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By David Ford President and c.e.o Certified Forest Products Council .ti, II

llnce dismissed by many as a passing idea driven by environmental activists, certification has grasped the forest products industry by its roots-right'at the retail level. It is no longer a question of whether voluntary certification will be embraced by the marketplace. Now the question is what certification standards will be deemed satisfactory to meet a growing market demand.

Arguably the single most significant development in the certified wood universe was the August 1999 announcement by The Home Depot that it would eliminate purchases of wood from endangered forests and show preference for wood originating in certified well-managed forests (Forest Stewardship Council or equivalent, as later stated by Home Depot's management). The weight of this announcement was not lost on the giant retailer's vendors, nor on its competitors, many of which have followed suit.

Just one year later, seven of the top 12 chains, accounting for approximately 507o of the lumber sold through home centers and lumber yards in the U.S., have stated a preference for certified wood, as have Andersen Corp., Jeld-Wen and residential developers Kaufman & Broad and Centex Homes. Most have stated a preference for "FSC or equivalent," and have turned to the Certified Forest

Concerns led to conflicts between environmental interests and the timber industry, costing both enormous sums of money and human resource. Instead of coming to the table to explore collaborative solutions, both camps dug in their heels, slung their fair share of mud, and relied increasingly upon legislation and litigation to solidify and reinforce their positions. The result is an industry less trusted, not by just environmentalists, but also by political and community leaders, the media, and even by Mr. and Mrs. Suburbia. This loss of credibility has diminished the social license to practice forestry on both public and private lands, and has lead to ever increasing regulatory controls.

Today, the industry must deal not only with issues of uncertain supply, declining quality and volatile pricing, but with the loss of market share to non-wood products. Customers want assurance that the products they purchase come from environmentally responsible sources. Some customers don't even care that those products are wood. They just want assurance. And when that can't be delivered, they turn to products that seem to fit the bill. They know that trees will not be killed to make steel studs. And if you build a deck with Trex, you don't have to move Bambi to Motel 6 while her home regrows.

Most alternative products are inferior to wood from an environmental life-cycle perspective. But most customers aren't into life-cycle analysis-they just want to feel good about what they buy. They want a credible, easy-to-identify label that says, "This product is O.K." If the forest products industry can't give consumers that assurance-that single, meaningful label-then they might as well step to the side of the aisle and watch the carts of steel studs roll through the checkout counter.

Certification will enable the forest products industry to regain public trust and restore its credibility. But for it to do so, the certification system it embraces must encompass broad stakeholder input, third-party-developed standards, a documentary chain-of-custody to track wood flow through manufacturing, meaningful on-product labeling, and transparent public reporting. This is the threshold industry must meet if it is to demonstrate to the public's satisfaction that the forests are in good hands.