The jury is out on certification

By Donn Zea California Forest Products Commission

I\VER the last decade, many forest \-llandowners around California decided to demonstrate their commitment to sustainable and environmentally responsible forest management practices in a new way.

These forest landowners, already subjected to the most extensive regulation in the country, chose to seek certification from the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

To gain these certifications, akin to Good Housekeeping-like seals of approval, landowners and wood products manufacturers voluntarily participate in a lengthy evaluation of their practices to determine if they meet a specific set of environmental, business and social standards. Extensive reviews are conducted by third parties-auditing firms, environmental groups, neighbors and others-to see if these standards are met. The landowners pay tens of thousands of dollars-and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars-to prepare for and gain certification.

Others in California's forest product industry, though committed to the principles of sustainable forestry and meeting the same higher requirements dictated by the state's forest protection laws, choose not to get certified. Many small landowners don't participate because they simply cannot afford the extra time and expense involved in the certification processes.

For those who do participate, the promise of certification is clear:

Recognition as a landowner who manages their forest in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way.

Better relations with environmental groups and neighbors who would know and recognize that certain landowners and wood products manufacturers met the higher standards.

A premium for products recognized as grown in an environmentally sensitive way.

Unfortunately, the promise of certification remains mostly unfulfilled.

Today, landowners who commit to the stringent standards necessary to gain certification are often under fire from the environmental groups that participate in the certification process. While meeting the highest standards, those landowners often are treated as if they meet no standard at all.

Currently, there is no premium paid for certified wood. A big part of the problem is a lack of education: most customers, whether at the retail, wholesale or institutional purchasing level, don't know about the certification programs. And, if they know about them, customers might be hardpressed to find enough of the wood products labeled as being certified.

Consider: the International Home Builders recently held a massive convention in Las Vegas, with exhibits on everything imaginable affecting home building. Yet, there was no significant, demonstrable promotion of certified wood products or its producers. A high-end homebuilder from Lake Tahoe recently told me they had never even heard of the certification process.

Certification has been beneficial for some landowners and wood products manufacturers that have relationships with big box stores and a few major homebuilders. But, how can the forest products industry, as a whole, be asked to continue to participate in an expensive certification process that has yielded few, if any, benefits? They cannot.

If the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative want continued-and hopefully expanded-participation, they must create an equation that justifies the time and expense of the certification process.

It's the responsibility of the certifying organizations to embark on a broad-based education program about the existence and benefits of certification. Wood product customers at all levels should know what it means to them-from the trades and retail buyers to institutional purchasers for governmental entities.

The significance of certification and the commitment to excellence made by those who participate must be explained to the media, legislators, and regulators. These opinion leaders can help create a business climate that enables the forest products industry to be successful.

Environmental and community groups must begin giving credit to those managing forests in the way that the environmental groups themselves think forests should be managed. Unfortunately, these groups instead focus on an agenda that isn't about forest management-it's often about preventing harvesting entirely.

An in-depth study by the Natural Resources Management Department at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, Ca., examining the standards met by California forestry is nearing completion. The study will provide further information about the role certification plays in our forest management practices in California.

Though certification may never be appropriate for every landowner or mill operator, certification could help the entire forest products industry demonstrate that we have the highest quality products in the world.

Unfortunately today, certification is falling short of its initial promise. With competitive global pressures increasing daily, the future of these programs is at risk unless the benefits ofcertification can be realized.

- Donn Zea is president of the Califurnia Forest Products Commission (www.caforests.org).

Rrrlt:rs

BMC West,Idaho Falls, Id., was destroyed by an early morning blaze Feb. 26; authorities have yet to determine the cause

Folsom Lumber Co.. Folsom, Ca., has permanently closed after 36 years in business; mgr. Gary Jinkerson transferred to the sister store in Rancho Murieta, Ca. ...

Union Lumber Co., Marysville, Ca., has completed a $200,000 upgrade that increased the store's size by 2,000 sq. ft.; Union also added several new items to its inventory...

84 Lumber opened a new store April 2 in Redding, Ca., and is targeting an April 30 grand opening in Sacramento, Ca.

Mead Clark Lumber Co., Santa Rosa, Ca., recently opened a new truss yard in Healdsburg, Ca.; Les DelaBriandais and John Garcia, mgrs. ...

Astoria Builders Supply, Astoria, Or., added a new 18,000sq. ft. building on the site of the old facility; the new store features 12,000 sq. ft. of retail space and 6,000 sq. ft. of warehouse room ...

Habitat For Humanity is looking to upgrade its 42,000-sq. ft. ReStore in Sacramento. Ca.. so the city will let it function as a fulltime operation; meanwhile Habitat is looking to relocate the store in Sacramento to a 50,000-sq. ft. location

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Inwe's Cos. opened new stores in early February in San Dimas, Ca. (Scott Arington, store mgr.); Sunrise (Las Vegas), Nv. (Tim Zavalas, mgr.), and E. Vancouver, Wa. (Shaun Garvin, mgr.), and in late January in Moreno Valley (Dave Jenkins, mgr.) and Vista, Ca. (Carl Wagner, mgr.), and C. Las Vegas, Nv. (Patrick Sullivan, mgr.) ...

Home Depot this month opens new home centers in San Luis Obispo, Ca., and Montrose, Co., and recently opened a 756,000-sq. ft. import DC in Lacey, Wa., to serve 100 stores in nine Northwest states

Home Depot is nearing completion of a 120,000-sq. ft. unit in Avon, Co.; is looking to build a 102,000-sq. ft. store with 30,000sq. ft. garden center in Madera, Ca.; is getting ready to break ground on 11 acres in Ridgecrest, Ca., for a late 2003 opening; hopes to open a 102,513-sq. ft. home center with 32,000-sq. ft. garden center on 11 acres in Lompoc, Ca., by January, and had Placer County, Ca., officials approve its option on a site in Auburn, Ca ...

Wnor:slrrns/tlrutlcurrns

Neiman-Reed Lumber Co., Yan Nuys, Ca., has acquired Nickerson Lumber and Plywood, Panorama City, Ca., and plans to relocate its Van Nuys yard to the Panorama City site ...

Specialty Wood Products has relocated from Commerce City, Co., to new office and warehouse space in Aurora, Co. ...

Yakama Forest Products, White Swan, Wa., recently tripled its production capacity to 14 million bd. ft. of hemlock fir dimension

Hampton Affiliate s, Portland, Or., has restarted its Darrington, Wa., sawmill with a full upgrade and optimization increasing capacity by 25Ea ...

Capital Lumber Co. relocated its Salt Lake City, Ut., DC March 7 to a new 5-acre site with 45,665' sq. ft. warehouse; phone and fax numbers remain the same ...

Georgia-Pacific Corp. has placed on indefinite hold the planned spin-off of its consumer products division from its building products division due to a sagging stock price, poor market conditions and asbestos liability

Bennett Forest Industries has threatened to move operations from Elk City and Grangeville, Id., to the Lewiston area unless the Nez Perce National Forest increases timber sales

Robbie Cattanach Trucking, Anderson. Ca.. has closed after more than 20 years of hauling building materials in seven Western states

Louisiana- Pacffic Corp., P ottland, Or., agreed to sell 55,000 acres of timberland in Cleveland, Tx., for $38 million to an unidentified buyer; the sale should close at the end of June

Huttig Building Products, Sacramento. Ca.. is now distributing Vetter Windows & Doors Products ... Huttig's Phoenix, Az., branch and Redwood Empire, Morgan Hill, Ca., are now distributing eoN Decking from CPI Plastics ...

Anniversaries: Builders Alliance, Bellingham, Wa., 90th ... American Lumber Co., Modesto, Ca., 80th ... Matheus Lumber, Woodinville. Wa.. 70th Nichols Lumber & Hardware, Baldwin Park. Ca.. 65th ... Architectural Woodwork Institute,50th ... Belco Forest Products, Tacoma, Wa., 25th ... Lazy S Lumber, Beavercreek, Or., 25th

Housing starts in JanuarY (latest figures) rose 0.27o to an adjusted annual rate of 1.850 million single family starts climbed2.lTo to a rate of 1.510 million; multi-family starts (5+ units) were at a Pace of 303,000 ... building permits fell 5.6Vo to a 1.781 million rate

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