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By Eric P. Canton President Canton Lumber Co.

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Att ", us read the headlines:

"Industry Bigs Demand Certification l" issue. So what can

Okay, let's do it. Hold on, say lots of producers. This is a really complex we really expect?

The Forest Stewardship Council has the support of the world's largest retailers and favored status of some national builders. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative has moved toward independent third party certification following the lead ofFSC. Other certifying organizations have established standards followed by, or at least being examined by, other countries and companies.

The job is enormous. No single organization can certify all the forest landscapes that the marketplace insists be certified. These standards writing and certifying organizations will have to move closer together and arrive at mutual recognition. The extreme right and left positions must be left to mutter and protest to the extent they feel the need. The rest of the world has to get serious about verifying and certifying the tremendous global renewable forest resource.

The tiny headline most of us don't pay enough attention to is: "Architects, Builders and Remodelers Welcome Certification as the Moral High Ground." Here are people who by the nature of their jobs expect materials to be consumed. They just want to feel good about using the right stuff. The growth in this market could be substantial in ihe coming years starting in 2001.

If housing srarrs in the United States fall in 2001, the market will be competitive. Strategic differences can play an important part in the way an architect, builder or remodeler communicates about his or her desisns and material selection process. During a recent trip to iritish Columbia, I was able to listen to and observe the real effort going into the study and implementation process.

The missing ingredient is the commitment on the part of the largest retailers and builders to stand shoulder toihoulder with dedicated manufacturers and distributors when they jointly believe that the best practices already exist or will soon be achieved. These companies simply must get on the renewable resource pride wagon and tell their customers that wood is the right choice.

So, my prediction is that certification will increase. Quality will remain fairly static even though the demands for better quality material will persist. Most premiums will be charged initially, availability will start to be noticeable, and the many fine practices already under way will finally get recognized for the great standards they are. If U.S. and Canadian producers don't believe that they ought to play, make way for the certified imports!

Products Council for a determination of equivalency. Recently, Lowe's Home Improvement Centers issued one of the more powerful policy statements, acknowledging "the Forest Stewardship Council is recognized as having the highest certification standard available today and will be given preference over other certification systems."

While that makes some in this industry shudder, certification may be the forest products industry's best friend. Certification has the power to deliver something this industry has lacked in the marketplace-something it cannot build on its own or buy at any cost. Certification delivers credibility in the eyes of the public. And although landowners and manufacturers may not get more money for their wood products, they will create opportunity to protect and even increase their market share against competing products.

Until recently, the forest products industry never worried much about its credibility or image. Although it has a proud heritage, it has been content to keep to itself. There were trees to fell, lumber to saw and houses to build. The dawning of the 1970s brought with it the first modern-day challenges to the forest products industry about how they managed the world's forest resources. Particular attention was focused on tropical rainforests, but the concern soon spread to temperate and boreal forests.

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.

By David Ford President and c.e.o.

SusCertified Forest Products Council

lfnce 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 ro meer 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 fbrests (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 l2 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

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 resrows.

Most alternative products are infirior 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.

By F. David T. Arens Secretary and Director of Marketing Forest Stewardship Council-U.S.

^"0 on the recent commitments of major retailers and manufacturers like The Home Depot, Lowe's Home Improvement Centers, and Andersen Windows to prefer wood products that can be documented as originating from responsible sources, it appears clear that forest certification is a lasting trend, one that is here to stay. But many in the industry have questioned-some publicly, some privately' "What will be the lasting impact of such a market trend on the industry, and on me?"

Since no one can forecast the future with certainty, I can't pretend to know for sure how the work of an organization like the Forest Stewardship Council will take hold in the long term. I can share, though, some of my observations about how the marketplace has reacted to our program, especially when FSC is implemented at the ground level, whether that is in the forest, in mills, or in a retail store.

The initial reaction by those who have confronted a request from their customers to get involved with the FSC has often been fear: fear that those unpredictable activists are up to no good again, fear that some unknown third party is going to come in and have control over key aspects of how businesses are run, orjust fear because FSC and certification, in general, is something new and therefore must be bad. Once they become engaged in our work, though, that fear tends to dissipate. In the end, forest certification and connecting a certified forest to a product through FSC's chain-of-custody is no more frightening a concept than having an organization like Underwriters' Laboratories ensure that the hairdryer you use every morning won't blow up in your hand, or that Price Waterhouse is looking over the financial statements of the publicly-traded corporation that you own stock in. As in the case of UL and a well-known accounting firm, consumers react well to the FSC assurance, and the industry has something strong and sure to hang its hat on when some may question the good work that it does every day on-the-ground.

"A learning curve" is the short-term outlook for certification in the marketplace, for it will take time for everyone to gain confidence in the way the system works and to point out better ways for it to integrate more seamlessly into the realities of wood harvesting and processing. On the learning curve, there will probably be some anomalies in pricing and availability. Yet I also watch savvy companies at all points on the production chain overcome these occasional difficulties every day and coming to see FSC and the certified wood trade as an asset to their operations' as it brings them to build closer relationships with their suppliers. In the longer term, as the industry overcomes its initial skepticism and sees the parallels between a system like FSC's and other well-accepted third party verifiers, like UL and certified public accountants, and as the system benefits from industry's insight and input into howit works, forest certification will become an everyday, accept- ed norm for forest management and wood products marketing. As in UL's work or a CPA's work, there is an added colt of doing business associated with doing what is expected of a company. But the benefits-public accountability and a sustainable supply of high-quality timberwill make it something for which no one will question the good sense of having.

By Eddie McMillan Executive V.P.-Building Materials Group Willamette Industries, Inc.

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I here's no question that third-party certification of forestlands is a trend that is here to say. This is primarily due to the fact that it is a significant way to assure the public that private and industrial lands are being well managed and have gone through a rigorous verification by an independent party. I believe that this may be the only way that we, as forest products companies, can give the public the assurance they are looking for.

Third-party certification by small, private landowners will be slower to evolve but will happen over time' The success of small landowner certification will depend on how active and helpful the larger industrial landowners are in offering assistance to help achieve this goal. It's critical that all certification systems (SFI, FSC, etc.) develop programs for these independent landowners that facilitate program compliance in a cost-effective way. An effortof cooperation and communication about what the future holds in this area will help independent landowners to understand the advantages of timberland certification' Regarding product certification, there is currently very little demand from the consuming public for certified wood products. Interest in certified wood products is being generated by a very few companies as a way to demonstrate to various environmental groups that they are purchasing products from well managed forests.

Little progress has been made thus far in the area of certified products because of efforts to promote only one certification program. As acceptance of responsible product certification systems is broadened to recognize them as logical choices, product certification may grow. If the only effort in the future is to argue about a single product certification system, I believe that little will be accomplished.

In summary, forest certification will work to the advantage of many forest product companies. It is an effective way to demonstrate that we are doing what we say we are doing in the forests. Once certification becomes standard, landowners who are not performing to code will make improvements for fear of falling too far behind their competitors.

Product certification can only succeed once we broaden the idea of forest certification to the private landowner base, which makes up the majority of the available wood fiber. A great deal of work is yet to be done in this area.

The details around certification systems need to be better defined so those participants in the programs can understand what is expected of them. All parties need to under- stand that in the U.S. market, just one product certification system will not succeed. Forest product companies should welcome certification of our forestlands as the most inexpensive and effective way to convey the message that our forests are being well managed for today and the future.