A conference recently took place in Green Bay WI, sponsored by the Hardwood Plywood and Veneer Assoc. and the Lake States Lumber Assoc. Educ. Inc. and the American Forests and Paper Assoc.
The forest products industry is working to promote responsible forestry through their Sustainable Forestry Initiative and is studying Certification

As a small businessman and forest owner, I had an interesting time listening  and talking to industry leaders from all over the country discuss the pros and cons of Certification.  It appeared that the 100 people were pretty much split on the value of this new effort. 

The conference started with a tour of Menominee Tribal Enterprises and a presentation by several of their foresters.  The Menominee forest was one of the first forests to be Certified, and in fact they are Certified by two separate companies.  Their approach to Sustainable Forestry is to maximize the quality and quantity of wood products while increasing the diversity of native species.  They support their industry with the natural output of the forest and allow the forest to dictate what should be harvested - not the sawmill deciding which trees are to be cut.  An allowable cut is determined that  supports the mill while continuing to build their inventory of quality timber every year.  This is obviously a perfect example of Sustainable Forestry in action.  They insisted that having third party certification was a benefit to their overall operation.

Several other businesses that produced certified products also agreed that Certification was already a benefit, and would be more important in the near future.  Certification for a wood company starts at the forest and continues all the way to final product.    The "Chain of Custody" is necessary to be certified at each level to assure consumers that the wood is indeed from a Certified forest.

On the other side of the issue were businesses that were not Certified and were skeptical that all the fuss would ever pay off.  Consumers in general may not be willing to pay extra when it comes right down to it at the time of purchase.  And who is doing the Certification?  Is a third party capable of judging Sustainable Forestry operations? 

Underlying the discussion was the obvious fact that this movement has in just a few years reached worldwide proportions.  Scott Berg of the American Forest and Paper Assoc. gave an ominous warning to everyone that was skeptical that Certification was worth pursuing.  His point was that several major environmental groups were behind this movement, and that the industry as a whole would have to at least make a serious compromise with them.            Next page