Sustainable Forest Products Conference Proceedings

Sustainable Forest Products Conference

The First North American Conference on Trade in Sustainable Forest Products took place this past May in Washington, D.C. Organized on very short notice by The Forest Partnership of Burlington, Vermont, the conference drew a highly select group of experts in ecologically sound forest practices, environmental certifiers of forest products, and forest product companies. The conference was timed to take advantage of the national attention on forest practices that was created by President Clinton’s timber summit, and also to influence the work of the committees established at that summit.

While many different perspectives and approaches to forestry and forest policy were represented, there was a general consensus among attendees in condemning the traditional harvesting practices of most North American timber operations. Roy Keene, formerly a forester within the mainstream industry and now director of the ecologically oriented Public Forestry Foundation, set the overall tone for the conference with the statement: “All sustainable forestry operations have one thing in common: the focus is not on what you take, but on what you leave behind.” He added: “This view represents a total paradigm shift for the timber industry.”

Conferees shared information about forest practices in various parts of the world. Many environmentalists who have been working to prevent deforestation in tropical areas were pleased to see that temperate forests, such as those in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, are now subject to scrutiny as well. There was also general agreement among attendees that “sustainable” forestry is an ideal to be worked towards, while the term “well-managed” may be more appropriate for existing operations.

How effectively market forces can be used to influence forest management practices was a hotly debated topic. Independent certifiers are committed to the idea that once credible, environ­mentally positive sources of wood supply are available, the public will demand them, even to the point of paying a premium for such products. Others argued that market research to date suggests that consumers support the idea of sustainable forestry but are unwilling to pay extra for the products.

On the retail level, companies like Home Depot are driving the push towards certified timber sources. “The quantities of lumber we move,” says Mark Eisen, Home Depot’s Manager of Environmental Marketing, “require that we have a simple stamp, like a lumber grade, that we can look to for a guarantee of sound forest management.”

Proceedings from the conference will be available in late summer from The Forest Partnership, PO Box 426, Burlington, VT 05402; 802/865-1111, 802/863-4344 (fax).

– NM